title: PLY file specifications with texture coordinates
body: <p>I need to read PLY files (Stanford Triangle Format) with embedded texture for some purpose. I saw several specification of PLY files, but could not find a single source specifying the syntax for texture mapping. There seems to be so many libraries which reads PLY file, but most of them seems not to support texture (they just crashes; I tried 2-3 of them). 
  Following is in the header for a ply file with texture:</p>
  
  <pre><code>ply
  format binary_little_endian 1.0
  comment TextureFile Parameterization.png
  element vertex 50383               
  property float x
  property float y
  property float z
  property float nx
  property float ny
  property float nz
  element face 99994               
  property list uint8 int32 vertex_index
  property list uint8 float texcoord
  end_header
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>What I don't understand is the line <code>property list uint8 float texcoord</code>. Also the list corresponding to a face is </p>
  
  <pre><code>3 1247 1257 1279 6 0.09163 0.565323 0.109197 0.565733 0.10888 0.602539 6 9 0.992157 0.992157 0.992157 0.992157 0.992157 0.992157 0.992157 0.992157 0.992157`. 
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>What is this list; what is the format? While I understand that PLY gives you the opportunity to define  your own properties for the elements, but the handling textures seems to be pretty much a standard and quite a few applications (like the popular Meshlab) seems to open textured PLY files using the above syntax.</p>
  
  <p>I want to know what is the standard syntax followed for reading textured PLY files and if possible the source from where this information is found.</p>