Principal component and Voronoi skeleton alternatives for curve reconstruction from noisy point sets

Surface reconstruction from noisy point samples must take into consideration the stochastic nature of the sample -- In other words, geometric algorithms reconstructing the surface or curve should not insist in following in a literal way each sampled point -- Instead, they must interpret the sample as a “point cloud” and try to build the surface as passing through the best possible (in the statistical sense) geometric locus that represents the sample -- This work presents two new methods to find a Piecewise Linear approximation from a Nyquist-compliant stochastic sampling of a quasi-planar C1 curve C(u) : R → R3, whose velocity vector never vanishes -- One of the methods articulates in an entirely new way Principal Component Analysis (statistical) and Voronoi-Delaunay (deterministic) approaches -- It uses these two methods to calculate the best possible tape-shaped polygon covering the planarised point set, and then approximates the manifold by the medial axis of such a polygon -- The other method applies Principal Component Analysis to find a direct Piecewise Linear approximation of C(u) -- A complexity comparison of these two methods is presented along with a qualitative comparison with previously developed ones -- It turns out that the method solely based on Principal Component Analysis is simpler and more robust for non self-intersecting curves -- For self-intersecting curves the Voronoi-Delaunay based Medial Axis approach is more robust, at the price of higher computational complexity -- An application is presented in Integration of meshes originated in range images of an art piece -- Such an application reaches the point of complete reconstruction of a unified mes

Adaptive Sampling for Geometric Approximation

Geometric approximation of multi-dimensional data sets is an essential algorithmic component for applications in machine learning, computer graphics, and scientific computing. This dissertation promotes an algorithmic sampling methodology for a number of fundamental approximation problems in computational geometry. For each problem, the proposed sampling technique is carefully adapted to the geometry of the input data and the functions to be approximated. In particular, we study proximity queries in spaces of constant dimension and mesh generation in 3D. We start with polytope membership queries, where query points are tested for inclusion in a convex polytope. Trading-off accuracy for efficiency, we tolerate one-sided errors for points within an epsilon-expansion of the polytope. We propose a sampling strategy for the placement of covering ellipsoids sensitive to the local shape of the polytope. The key insight is to realize the samples as Delone sets in the intrinsic Hilbert metric. Using this intrinsic formulation, we considerably simplify state-of-the-art techniques yielding an intuitive and optimal data structure. Next, we study nearest-neighbor queries which retrieve the most similar data point to a given query point. To accommodate more general measures of similarity, we consider non-Euclidean distances including convex distance functions and Bregman divergences. Again, we tolerate multiplicative errors retrieving any point no farther than (1+epsilon) times the distance to the nearest neighbor. We propose a sampling strategy sensitive to the local distribution of points and the gradient of the distance functions. Combined with a careful regularization of the distance minimizers, we obtain a generalized data structure that essentially matches state-of-the-art results specific to the Euclidean distance. Finally, we investigate the generation of Voronoi meshes, where a given domain is decomposed into Voronoi cells as desired for a number of important solvers in computational fluid dynamics. The challenge is to arrange the cells near the boundary to yield an accurate surface approximation without sacrificing quality. We propose a sampling algorithm for the placement of seeds to induce a boundary-conforming Voronoi mesh of the correct topology, with a careful treatment of sharp and non-manifold features. The proposed algorithm achieves significant quality improvements over state-of-the-art polyhedral meshing based on clipped Voronoi cells

Geometric and Topological Methods for Applications to Materials and Data Skeletonisation

Crystal Structure Prediction (CSP) aims to speed up functional materials discovery by using supercomputers to predict whether an input molecule can form stable crystal struc- tures with desirable properties. The process produces large datasets where each entry is a simulated arrangement of copies of the input molecule to form a crystal. However, these datasets have little structure themselves, and it is the aim of this thesis to contribute towards simplifying and analysing such datasets. Crystals are unbounded collections of atoms or molecules, extending infinitely in the space they lie within. As such, rigorously quantifying the geometric similarity of crystal structures, and even just identifying identical structures, is a challenging problem. To solve it, we seek a continuous, complete, isometry classification of crystals. Consequently, by modelling crystals as periodic point sets, we introduce the density fingerprint, which is invariant under isometries, Lipschitz continuous, and complete for an open and dense space of crystal structures. Such a classification will be able to identify and remove near- duplicates from these large CSP datasets, and potentially even guide future searches. We describe how this fingerprint can be computed using periodic higher Voronoi zones. This geometric concept of concentric regions around a fixed centre characterises relative positions of points from the centre in a periodic point set. We present an algorithm to compute these zones in addition to proving key structural properties. We later discuss research into skeletonisation algorithms, proving theoretical guarantees of the homological persistent skeleton (HoPeS), subsequently formulating and performing an experimental comparison of HoPeS with other relevant algorithms. Such algorithms, if effectively used, can be applied to large datasets including those produced by CSP to reveal the shape of the data, helping to highlight regions of interest and branches that merit further study

Mathematics of 2-Dimensional Lattices

AbstractA periodic lattice in Euclidean space is the infinite set of all integer linear combinations of basis vectors. Any lattice can be generated by infinitely many different bases. This ambiguity was partially resolved, but standard reductions remain discontinuous under perturbations modelling atomic displacements. This paper completes a continuous classification of 2-dimensional lattices up to Euclidean isometry (or congruence), rigid motion (without reflections), and similarity (with uniform scaling). The new homogeneous invariants allow easily computable metrics on lattices considered up to the equivalences above. The metrics up to rigid motion are especially non-trivial and settle all remaining questions on (dis)continuity of lattice bases. These metrics lead to real-valued chiral distances that continuously measure lattice deviations from higher-symmetry neighbours. The geometric methods extend the past work of Delone, Conway, and Sloane.</jats:p

Mathematics of 2-dimensional lattices

A periodic lattice in Euclidean space is the infinite set of all integer linear combinations of basis vectors. Any lattice can be generated by infinitely many different bases. This ambiguity was only partially resolved, but standard reductions remained discontinuous under perturbations modelling crystal vibrations. This paper completes a continuous classification of 2-dimensional lattices up to Euclidean isometry (or congruence), rigid motion (without reflections), and similarity (with uniform scaling). The new homogeneous invariants allow easily computable metrics on lattices considered up to the equivalences above. The metrics up to rigid motion are especially non-trivial and settle all remaining questions on (dis)continuity of lattice bases. These metrics lead to real-valued chiral distances that continuously measure a lattice deviation from a higher-symmetry neighbour

Courbure discrète : théorie et applications

International audienceThe present volume contains the proceedings of the 2013 Meeting on discrete curvature, held at CIRM, Luminy, France. The aim of this meeting was to bring together researchers from various backgrounds, ranging from mathematics to computer science, with a focus on both theory and applications. With 27 invited talks and 8 posters, the conference attracted 70 researchers from all over the world. The challenge of finding a common ground on the topic of discrete curvature was met with success, and these proceedings are a testimony of this wor

LIPIcs, Volume 258, SoCG 2023, Complete Volume

LIPIcs, Volume 258, SoCG 2023, Complete Volum

2D shape similarity as a complement for Voronoi-Delone methods in shape reconstruction

In surface reconstruction from planar cross sections it is necessary to build surfaces between 2D contours in consecutive cross sections. This problem has been traditionally attacked by (i) direct reconstruction based on local geometric proximity between the contours, and (ii) classification of topological events between the cross sections. These approaches have been separately applied with limited success. In case (i), the resulting surfaces may have overstretched or unnatural branches. These arise from local contour proximity which does not reflect global similarity between the contours. In case (ii), the topological events are identified but are not translated into the actual construction of a surface. This article presents an integration of the approaches (i) and (ii). Similarity between the composite 2D regions bounded by the contours in consecutive cross sections is used to: (a) decide whether a surface should actually relate two composite 2D regions, (b) identify the type and location of topological transitions between cross sections and (c) drive the surface construction for the regions found to be related in step (a). The implemented method avoids overstretched or unnatural branches, rendering a surface which is both geometrically intuitive and topologically faithful to the cross sections of the original object. The presented method is a good alternative in cases in which correct reproduction of the topology of the surface (e.g. simulation of flow in conduits) is more important than its geometry (e.g. assessment of tumor mass in radiation planning). © 2004 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved