Intuitive procedure for constructing geometrically complex objects using cyclides

In the past, cyclide surfaces have been used effectively for the variable radius blending of natural quadric intersections. However, attempts to use cyclides for constructing realistic, freeform composite surfaces met with rather limited success. The paper presents a simple procedure for creating and manipulating geometrically complex objects using tubular cyclide pieces. The method described is intuitive from the designer's point of view, and it is based on the fundamental definitions and properties of the cyclide. Various practical issues involved in this design procedure are discussed, several extensions of the basic technique are described, and implemented examples are provided.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/31678/1/0000614.pd

Curvature line parametrized surfaces and orthogonal coordinate systems. Discretization with Dupin cyclides

Cyclidic nets are introduced as discrete analogs of curvature line parametrized surfaces and orthogonal coordinate systems. A 2-dimensional cyclidic net is a piecewise smooth $C^1$-surface built from surface patches of Dupin cyclides, each patch being bounded by curvature lines of the supporting cyclide. An explicit description of cyclidic nets is given and their relation to the established discretizations of curvature line parametrized surfaces as circular, conical and principal contact element nets is explained. We introduce 3-dimensional cyclidic nets as discrete analogs of triply-orthogonal coordinate systems and investigate them in detail. Our considerations are based on the Lie geometric description of Dupin cyclides. Explicit formulas are derived and implemented in a computer program.Comment: 39 pages, 30 figures; Theorem 2.7 has been reformulated, as a normalization factor in formula (2.4) was missing. The corresponding formulations have been adjusted and a few typos have been correcte

Enumerating the morphologies of non-degenerate Darboux cyclides

International audienceWe provide an enumeration of all possible morphologies of non-degenerate Darboux cyclides. Based on the fact that every Darboux cyclide in R 3 is the stereographic projection of the intersection surface of a sphere and a quadric in R 4 , we transform the enumeration problem of morphologies of Darboux cyclides to the enumeration of the algebraic sequences that characterize the intersection of a sphere and a quadric in R 4

Tangent-ball techniques for shape processing

Shape processing defines a set of theoretical and algorithmic tools for creating, measuring and modifying digital representations of shapes.  Such tools are of paramount importance to many disciplines of computer graphics, including modeling, animation, visualization, and image processing.  Many applications of shape processing can be found in the entertainment and medical industries. In an attempt to improve upon many previous shape processing techniques, the present thesis explores the theoretical and algorithmic aspects of a difference measure, which involves fitting a ball (disk in 2D and sphere in 3D) so that it has at least one tangential contact with each shape and the ball interior is disjoint from both shapes. We propose a set of ball-based operators and discuss their properties, implementations, and applications.  We divide the group of ball-based operations into unary and binary as follows: Unary operators include: * Identifying details (sharp, salient features, constrictions) * Smoothing shapes by removing such details, replacing them by fillets and roundings * Segmentation (recognition, abstract modelization via centerline and radius variation) of tubular structures Binary operators include: * Measuring the local discrepancy between two shapes * Computing the average of two shapes * Computing point-to-point correspondence between two shapes * Computing circular trajectories between corresponding points that meet both shapes at right angles * Using these trajectories to support smooth morphing (inbetweening) * Using a curve morph to construct surfaces that interpolate between contours on consecutive slices The technical contributions of this thesis focus on the implementation of these tangent-ball operators and their usefulness in applications of shape processing. We show specific applications in the areas of animation and computer-aided medical diagnosis.  These algorithms are simple to implement, mathematically elegant, and fast to execute.Ph.D.Committee Chair: Jarek Rossignac; Committee Member: Greg Slabaugh; Committee Member: Greg Turk; Committee Member: Karen Liu; Committee Member: Maryann Simmon

Discrete Differential Geometry

This is the collection of extended abstracts for the 26 lectures and the open problem session at the fourth Oberwolfach workshop on Discrete Differential Geometry

Collection of abstracts of the 24th European Workshop on Computational Geometry

International audienceThe 24th European Workshop on Computational Geomety (EuroCG'08) was held at INRIA Nancy - Grand Est & LORIA on March 18-20, 2008. The present collection of abstracts contains the 63 scientific contributions as well as three invited talks presented at the workshop

Articulating Space: Geometric Algebra for Parametric Design -- Symmetry, Kinematics, and Curvature

To advance the use of geometric algebra in practice, we develop computational methods for parameterizing spatial structures with the conformal model. Three discrete parameterizations – symmetric, kinematic, and curvilinear – are employed to generate space groups, linkage mechanisms, and rationalized surfaces. In the process we illustrate techniques that directly benefit from the underlying mathematics, and demonstrate how they might be applied to various scenarios. Each technique engages the versor – as opposed to matrix – representation of transformations, which allows for structure-preserving operations on geometric primitives. This covariant methodology facilitates constructive design through geometric reasoning: incidence and movement are expressed in terms of spatial variables such as lines, circles and spheres. In addition to providing a toolset for generating forms and transformations in computer graphics, the resulting expressions could be used in the design and fabrication of machine parts, tensegrity systems, robot manipulators, deployable structures, and freeform architectures. Building upon existing algorithms, these methods participate in the advancement of geometric thinking, developing an intuitive spatial articulation that can be creatively applied across disciplines, ranging from time-based media to mechanical and structural engineering, or reformulated in higher dimensions

Domänen parallele Maschinen

A computational model is introduced, which abstracts and idealizes computers with access to fragment shaders. While the set of functions computable by this model remains the same, the running times can be drastically reduced through parallelization compared to conventional models. Some of the algorithms designed for the model can be approximated using fragment shaders. With an automatic transcompilation scheme, fragment shader programs can be generated automatically from a description in a high-level language.In dieser Arbeit wird ein Rechenmodell, das Computer mit Zugriff zu Fragment Shader abstrahiert und idealisiert, eingeführt. Zwar bleibt der Umfang der durch dieses Modell berechenbarer Funktionen gleich, jedoch können die Laufzeiten durch Parallelisierung im Vergleich zu herkömmlichen Modellen drastisch verkürzt werden. Einige der für das Modell entworfenen Algorithmen lassen sich mithilfe von Fragment Shadern approximieren. In einer Hochsprache beschriebene Algorithmen werden automatisiert in Fragment Shader Programme übersetzt