Unwrapping Highly-Detailed 3D Meshes of Rotationally Symmetric Man-Made Objects

Rotationally symmetric objects commonly occur at archæological finds. Instead of creating 2D images for documentation purposes by manual drawing or photographic methods, we propose a method based on digitally colored surface models that are acquired by 3D scanners, thereby including color information. We then transform these highly-detailed meshes using simple geometrical objects such as cones and spheres and unwrap the objects onto a plane. Our method can handle curved vessel profiles by dividing the surface into multiple segments and approximating each segment with a cone frustum that serves as an auxiliary surface. In order to minimize distortions, we introduce a simple quality measure based on distances of points to a fitted cone. We then extend our method to approximately spherical objects by fitting a sphere on the surface of the object and applying a map projection, namely the equirectangular projection known from cartography. Our implementation generates true-to-scale images from triangular meshes. Exemplary results demonstrate our methods on real objects, ranging from small and medium-sized objects such as clay cones from the Ancient Orient and figural friezes of Greek vessels to extremely large objects such as the remains of a cylindrical tower of Heidelberg Castle

Cartan Ribbonization of Surfaces and a Topological Inspection

We develop the concept of Cartan ribbons and a method by which they can be used to ribbonize any given surface in space by intrinsically flat ribbons. The geodesic curvature along the center curve on the surface agrees with the geodesic curvature of the corresponding Cartan development curve, and this makes a rolling strategy successful. Essentially, it follows from the orientational alignment of the two co-moving Darboux frames during the rolling. Using closed center curves we obtain closed approximating Cartan ribbons that contribute zero to the total curvature integral of the ribbonization. This paves the way for a particular simple topological inspection -- it is reduced to the question of how the ribbons organize their edges relative to each other. The Gauss-Bonnet theorem leads to this topological inspection of the vertices. Finally, we display two examples of ribbonizations of surfaces, namely of a torus using two ribbons, and of an ellipsoid using its closed curvature lines as center curves for the ribbons. The topological inspection of the torus ribbonization is particularly simple as it has no vertex points, giving directly the Euler characteristic $0$. The ellipsoid has $4$ vertices -- corresponding to the $4$ umbilical points -- each of degree one and each therefore contributing one-half to the Euler characteristic

Unwind: Interactive Fish Straightening

The ScanAllFish project is a large-scale effort to scan all the world's 33,100 known species of fishes. It has already generated thousands of volumetric CT scans of fish species which are available on open access platforms such as the Open Science Framework. To achieve a scanning rate required for a project of this magnitude, many specimens are grouped together into a single tube and scanned all at once. The resulting data contain many fish which are often bent and twisted to fit into the scanner. Our system, Unwind, is a novel interactive visualization and processing tool which extracts, unbends, and untwists volumetric images of fish with minimal user interaction. Our approach enables scientists to interactively unwarp these volumes to remove the undesired torque and bending using a piecewise-linear skeleton extracted by averaging isosurfaces of a harmonic function connecting the head and tail of each fish. The result is a volumetric dataset of a individual, straight fish in a canonical pose defined by the marine biologist expert user. We have developed Unwind in collaboration with a team of marine biologists: Our system has been deployed in their labs, and is presently being used for dataset construction, biomechanical analysis, and the generation of figures for scientific publication

Meta-models of repeated dissipative joints for damping design phase

Developing tools to predict dissipation in mechanical assemblies starting from the design process is a subject of increasing interest. Design phases imply numerous computations resulting from the use of families of models with varying properties. Model reduction is thus a critical tool to make such design studies affordable. Existing model reduction methods make computation of models with detailed non-linear parts accessible although costly although allowing the generation of a small size model for the linear part. One is, thus, interested in introducing meta-models of the behavior in the non-linear part by determining a basis of principal joint deformations. In this work, one seeks to validate the ability to predict macro-forces associated with the principal deformation shapes. Taking the case of aeronautic structures as cylindrical ones with multiple joints, one seeks to validate the construction of a meta-model associated to the joint. The ability to use such a meta-model to predict damping associated with viscoelastic behavior in a specifically designed bolted joint will be illustrated

3D Reconstruction Using High Resolution Implicit Surface Representations and Memory Management Strategies

La disponibilité de capteurs de numérisation 3D rapides et précis a permis de capturer de très grands ensembles de points à la surface de différents objets qui véhiculent la géométrie des objets. La métrologie appliquée consiste en l'application de mesures dans différents domaines tels que le contrôle qualité, l'inspection, la conception de produits et la rétroingénierie. Une fois que le nuage de points 3D non organisés couvrant toute la surface de l'objet a été capturé, un modèle de la surface doit être construit si des mesures métrologiques doivent être effectuées sur l'objet. Dans la reconstruction 3D en temps réel, à l'aide de scanners 3D portables, une représentation de surface implicite très efficace est le cadre de champ vectoriel, qui suppose que la surface est approchée par un plan dans chaque voxel. Le champ vectoriel contient la normale à la surface et la matrice de covariance des points tombant à l'intérieur d'un voxel. L'approche globale proposée dans ce projet est basée sur le cadre Vector Field. Le principal problème abordé dans ce projet est la résolution de l'incrément de consommation de mémoire et la précision du modèle reconstruit dans le champ vectoriel. Ce tte approche effectue une sélection objective de la taille optimale des voxels dans le cadre de champ vectoriel pour maintenir la consommation de mémoire aussi faible que possible et toujours obtenir un modèle précis de la surface. De plus, un ajustement d e surface d'ordre élevé est utilisé pour augmenter la précision du modèle. Étant donné que notre approche ne nécessite aucune paramétrisation ni calcul complexe, et qu'au lieu de travailler avec chaque point, nous travaillons avec des voxels dans le champ vectoriel, cela réduit la complexité du calcul.The availability of fast and accurate 3D scanning sensors has made it possible to capture very large sets of points at the surface of different objects that convey the geometry of the objects. A pplied metrology consists in the application of measurements in different fields such as quality control, inspection, product design and reverse engineering. Once the cloud of unorganized 3D points covering the entire surface of the object has been capture d, a model of the surface must be built if metrologic measurements are to be performed on the object. In realtime 3D reconstruction, using handheld 3D scanners a very efficient implicit surface representation is the Vector Field framework, which assumes that the surface is approximated by a plane in each voxel. The vector field contains the normal to the surface and the covariance matrix of the points falling inside a voxel. The proposed global approach in this project is based on the Vector Field framew ork. The main problem addressed in this project is solving the memory consumption increment and the accuracy of the reconstructed model in the vector field. This approach performs an objective selection of the optimal voxels size in the vector field frame work to keep the memory consumption as low as possible and still achieve an accurate model of the surface. Moreover, a highorder surface fitting is used to increase the accuracy of the model. Since our approach do not require any parametrization and compl ex calculation, and instead of working with each point we are working with voxels in the vector field, then it reduces the computational complexity

Adaptive locomotion of artificial microswimmers

Bacteria can exploit mechanics to display remarkable plasticity in response to locally changing physical and chemical conditions. Compliant structures play a striking role in their taxis behavior, specifically for navigation inside complex and structured environments. Bioinspired mechanisms with rationally designed architectures capable of large, nonlinear deformation present opportunities for introducing autonomy into engineered small-scale devices. This work analyzes the effect of hydrodynamic forces and rheology of local surroundings on swimming at low Reynolds number, identifies the challenges and benefits of utilizing elastohydrodynamic coupling in locomotion, and further develops a suite of machinery for building untethered microrobots with self-regulated mobility. We demonstrate that coupling the structural and magnetic properties of artificial microswimmers with the dynamic properties of the fluid leads to adaptive locomotion in the absence of on-board sensors