Assessment criteria for 2D shape transformations in animation

The assessment of 2D shape transformations (or morphing) for animation is a difficult task because it is a multi-dimensional problem. Existing morphing techniques pay most attention to shape information interactive control and mathematical simplicity. This paper shows that it is not enough to use shape information alone, and we should consider other factors such as structure, dynamics, timing, etc. The paper also shows that an overall objective assessment of morphing is impossible because factors such as timing are related to subjective judgement, yet local objective assessment criteria, e.g. based on shape, are available. We propose using “area preservation” as the shape criterion for the 2D case as an acceptable approximation to “volume preservation” in reality, and use it to establish cases in which a number of existing techniques give clearly incorrect results. The possibility of deriving objective assessment criteria for dynamics simulations and timing under certain conditions is discussed

A New 3D Tool for Planning Plastic Surgery

Face plastic surgery (PS) plays a major role in today medicine. Both for reconstructive and cosmetic surgery, achieving harmony of facial features is an important, if not the major goal. Several systems have been proposed for presenting to patient and surgeon possible outcomes of the surgical procedure. In this paper, we present a new 3D system able to automatically suggest, for selected facial features as nose, chin, etc, shapes that aesthetically match the patient's face. The basic idea is suggesting shape changes aimed to approach similar but more harmonious faces. To this goal, our system compares the 3D scan of the patient with a database of scans of harmonious faces, excluding the feature to be corrected. Then, the corresponding features of the k most similar harmonious faces, as well as their average, are suitably pasted onto the patient's face, producing k+1 aesthetically effective surgery simulations. The system has been fully implemented and tested. To demonstrate the system, a 3D database of harmonious faces has been collected and a number of PS treatments have been simulated. The ratings of the outcomes of the simulations, provided by panels of human judges, show that the system and the underlying idea are effectiv

Harmonious Simplification of Isolines

Current techniques for simplification focus on reducing complexity while maintaining the geometric similarity to the input. For isolines that jointly describe a scalar field, however, we postulate that geometric similarity of each isoline separately is not sufficient. Rather, we need to maintain the harmony between these isolines to make them visually relate and describe the structures of the underlying terrain. Based on principles of manual cartography, we propose an algorithm for simplifying isolines while considering harmony explicitly. Our preliminary visual and quantitative results suggest that our algorithm is effective

Planning Plastic Surgery in 3D. An innovative approach and tool

Face plastic surgery (PS) plays a major role in today medicine. Both for reconstructive and cosmetic surgery, achieving harmony of facial features is an important, if not the major goal. Several systems have been proposed for presenting to patient and surgeon possible outcomes of the surgical procedure. In this work, we present a new 3D system able to automatically suggest, for selected facial features as nose, chin, etc., shapes that aesthetically match the patient’s face. The basic idea is suggesting shape changes aimed to approach similar but more harmonious faces. To this goal, our system compares the 3D scan of the patient with a database of scans of harmonious faces, excluding the feature to be corrected. Then, the corresponding features of the k most similar harmonious faces, as well as their average, are suitably pasted onto the patient’s face, producing k+1 aesthetically effective surgery simulations. The system has been fully implemented and tested. To demonstrate the system, a 3D database of harmonious faces has been collected and a number of PS treatments have been simulated. The ratings of the outcomes of the simulations, provided by panels of human judges, show that the system and the underlying idea are effective

A semi-automatic computer-aided method for surgical template design

This paper presents a generalized integrated framework of semi-automatic surgical template design. Several algorithms were implemented including the mesh segmentation, offset surface generation, collision detection, ruled surface generation, etc., and a special software named TemDesigner was developed. With a simple user interface, a customized template can be semi- automatically designed according to the preoperative plan. Firstly, mesh segmentation with signed scalar of vertex is utilized to partition the inner surface from the input surface mesh based on the indicated point loop. Then, the offset surface of the inner surface is obtained through contouring the distance field of the inner surface, and segmented to generate the outer surface. Ruled surface is employed to connect inner and outer surfaces. Finally, drilling tubes are generated according to the preoperative plan through collision detection and merging. It has been applied to the template design for various kinds of surgeries, including oral implantology, cervical pedicle screw insertion, iliosacral screw insertion and osteotomy, demonstrating the efficiency, functionality and generality of our method.Comment: 18 pages, 16 figures, 2 tables, 36 reference

Geometric Guidance for the Deployment of Elastic Geodesic Grids

Elastic gridshells are advanced free-form structures enabling curved target shapes and material-efficient large spans. This paper focuses on a novel type of gridshells recently proposed employing a scissor-like deployment mechanism. While recent form-finding advancements have produced fascinating outcomes, a significant challenge arises when architecturally implementing such mechanisms: for the realization of real-world structures, professional FEA is necessary. However, performing Finite Element simulations of these structures proves surprisingly complex due to the requirement of simulating the deployment -- a task nearly unachievable using uninformed approaches. Therefore, geometric guidance of the highly elastic gridshells while simulating the expansion is essential. Present solutions to this predicament primarily involve rudimentary trial-and-error methods, suitable only for the most basic shapes. We propose a solution involving the provision of geometric guidance via sequences of linear displacements synchronized with a universal time parameter. When applied to chosen positions, this allows for multi-step gridshell deployment and successfully avoids undesirable buckling issues. We conclude with successful demonstrations of our method, anticipating our work to pave the way for further quantitative explorations of these intriguing structures.Comment: journal preprint, 10 pages including appendix, 13 figure