las2ply.py

from __future__ import print_function
import sys

from liblas import file

# usage
# $ python las2ply > output.ply

# http://stackoverflow.com/questions/5574702/how-to-print-to-stderr-in-python
def eprint(*args, **kwargs):
    print(*args, file=sys.stderr, **kwargs)

# input file
f = file.File('defi1.las',mode='r')

count = f.header.count

eprint(count)

print ("""ply
format ascii 1.0
comment VCGLIB generated
element vertex %d
property float x
property float y
property float z
property uchar red
property uchar green
property uchar blue
element face 0
property list uchar int vertex_indices
end_header""" % count)

count = 0
for p in f:
    print ("%f %f %f %d %d %d" % (p.x, p.y, p.z, p.color.red, p.color.green, p.color.blue))
    if count % 1000000 == 0:
        eprint(count)
    count += 1