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h i g h l i g h t s• A point-based iso-parametric tool-path planning method was proposed.• The formulas for computing forward and side step were simplified significantly.• Boundary conformed tool-path was generated for point clouds.a r t i c l e i n f o t r a c tDue to the compute-intensiveness and the lack of robustness of the algorithms for reconstruction of meshes and spline surfaces from point clouds, there is a need for further research in the topic of direct tool-path planning based on point clouds. In this paper, a novel approach for planning iso-parametric tool-path from a point cloud is presented. Since such planning falls into the iso-parametric category, it intrinsically depends on the parameterization of point clouds. Accordingly, a point-based conformal map is employed to build the parameterization. Based on it, formulas of computing path parameters are derived, which are much simpler than the conventional ones. By regularizing parameter domain and on the basis of the previous formulas, boundary conformed tool-path can be generated with forward and side step calculated against specified chord deviation and scallop height, respectively. Experimental results are given to illustrate the effectiveness of the proposed methods.