Weighted Mesh Simplification of 3D Triangular Surfaces

Information

• Publication Type: Master Thesis
• Workgroup(s)/Project(s):
  • Rendering and Modeling
• Date: March 2011
• First Supervisor:
  • Werner Purgathofer
  • Robert F. Tobler

Abstract

Representing huge triangular datasets in a real-time rendering environment is a challenge receiving continuous attention. There is a growing complexity of geometric meshes on the one hand and increasing computational power of graphics hardware on the other hand. Although hardware acceleration is very powerful, simplification using software is much cheaper and more flexible. Additionally, for a large class of geometric models, simplification can be performed as a preprocessing step that does not need to run in real-time. The underlying theory of this diploma thesis is based on mesh simplification using quadric error metrics. This algorithm was first published by Michael Garland. It was implemented into Aardvark, a sophisticated rendering framework. It contains a comprehensive set of libraries dealing with data structures in general and polygonal mesh data structures in particular. The application takes a triangulated mesh as input and iteratively creates a more and more simplified approximation by weighting and collapsing suitable mesh areas. Some surface details will be lost, but the overall shape of the model will be preserved. The presented code can handle models by preprocessing static, closed triangular meshes. The iterative computation stops if an user specified percentage of the original mesh size is reached. A further improvement in a later research project will try to add vertex colors and texture coordinates to the simplification procedure.

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BibTeX

@mastersthesis{NK_2011,
  title =      "Weighted Mesh Simplification of 3D Triangular Surfaces",
  author =     "Norbert Ketterl",
  year =       "2011",
  abstract =   "Representing huge triangular datasets in a real-time
               rendering  environment is a challenge receiving continuous
               attention. There is a  growing complexity of geometric
               meshes on the one hand and increasing  computational power
               of graphics hardware on the other hand. Although  hardware
               acceleration is very powerful, simplification using software
               is  much cheaper and more flexible. Additionally, for a
               large class of geometric models, simplification can  be
               performed as a preprocessing step that does not need to run
               in real-time. The underlying theory of this diploma thesis
               is based on mesh  simplification using quadric error
               metrics. This algorithm was first  published by Michael
               Garland. It was implemented into Aardvark, a  sophisticated
               rendering framework. It contains  a comprehensive set of 
               libraries dealing with data structures in general and
               polygonal mesh  data structures in particular. The
               application takes a triangulated mesh as input and
               iteratively  creates a more and more simplified
               approximation by weighting and  collapsing suitable mesh
               areas. Some surface details will be lost, but  the overall
               shape of the model will be preserved. The presented code can
                handle models by preprocessing static, closed triangular
               meshes. The  iterative computation stops if an user
               specified percentage of the  original mesh size is reached.
               A further improvement in a later research project will try
               to add vertex colors and texture coordinates to the
               simplification procedure.",
  month =      mar,
  address =    "Favoritenstrasse 9-11/E193-02, A-1040 Vienna, Austria",
  school =     "Institute of Computer Graphics and Algorithms, Vienna
               University of Technology ",
  URL =        "https://www.cg.tuwien.ac.at/research/publications/2011/NK_2011/",
}