(TIP) Use IMConvert to convert massive polygonal files to usable ones

[prehistory]

At times you may have a file in a particular file format (eg .obj) that you need to get into another format (eg .stl or text) quickly.  Perhaps the file is even too large to open in IMEdit, so you can't even open it and re-export.

PolyWorks has a tool for converting polygonal files into either other polygonal formats or point clouds, called IMConvert.  The help document is a little hard to understand, but an example translation would be (once you have specified the correct directory with cd):

To convert a file called meshy.obj to a pqk file instead...

imconvert d:\data\meshy.obj -fo pqk

by using the -cloud command, you can convert from polygonal mesh to points!

For more info, see the Help > Translators pdf document.

I just used this tool to convert a 1.8 Gb obj (which was un-openable) into a 332 Mb pqk.