diff --git a/.gitmodules b/.gitmodules
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..8df4615
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.gitmodules
@@ -0,0 +1,6 @@
+[submodule "external/python-plyfile"]
+	path = external/python-plyfile
+	url = git@github.com:dranjan/python-plyfile.git
+[submodule "external/general_tools"]
+	path = external/general_tools
+	url = git@github.com:optas/general_tools.git
diff --git a/external/general_tools b/external/general_tools
new file mode 160000
index 0000000..c0abbb3
--- /dev/null
+++ b/external/general_tools
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+Subproject commit c0abbb3ac631bbb4a4219bd72689e3668852915b
diff --git a/external/python_plyfile b/external/python_plyfile
new file mode 160000
index 0000000..efd69ec
--- /dev/null
+++ b/external/python_plyfile
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+Subproject commit efd69ec9205b82cdf0cf8790add9beac55ab569d
diff --git a/src/in_out.py b/src/in_out.py
index f47dc14..f58285b 100755
--- a/src/in_out.py
+++ b/src/in_out.py
@@ -2,9 +2,11 @@
 import warnings
 import numpy as np
 from multiprocessing import Pool
+
 from general_tools.rla.three_d_transforms import rand_rotation_matrix
 from general_tools.in_out.basics import files_in_subdirs
 from geo_tool.in_out.soup import load_ply
+
 import os
 import os.path as osp
 import re