Michael Prostka offers a free add-on that will alleviate some of the new restrictions in the native PLY importer in Blender 4.0.
Import-PLY-As-Verts Addon v3.0
As of Blender 4.0 the original Python PLY import/export will be deprecated in favor of the new C++ modules. These modules are a great deal faster (at the moment) but nowhere near as source-friendly as Python. Due to the flexible nature of the PLY format, compatibility with Blender has remained an issue. Our open-source Python Addon is currently the most compatible and flexible option for 'nonstandard' models such as point clouds.
Thanks to Ms. Katherine Jarvis of the Triforce Institute of Multiphysics Modeling, the Addon now correctly imports all 'extra' data in a PLY file into usable Blender Attributes.
Excellent compatibility with MandelBulb3D, J-Wildfire, CloudCompare, MeshLab, and VisualSFM. If your PLY won't load, let us know and we'll figure out why.
Users of previous versions will be happy to see it is now a proper Addon and not the kludgey install hack from before :)
The Addon is free, open-source, and available from our Github repo here.
