Problem: pngs not saving with PLY
Detail: I have a large model which needs reducing in size, I apply filter: Quadratic edge collapse decimation (with texture) then I export the PLY, there is a list of png files listed in the texture name box. I export and only the PLY is created, no pngs. Therefore there is no texture, the filter states it preserves the UV parameterization. I've been googling for a few days, any idea where I'm going wrong?
That filter doesn't create texture atlas. It only takes care of preserving/deleting/merging texture coordinates while collapsing edges, if the original mesh has any.
If your original mesh has texture atlas (as well as texture coordinates) associated with it, you can use the same texture atlas with the decimated mesh.