Flexible G1 Interpolation of Quad Meshes

International audienceTransforming an arbitrary mesh into a smooth G1 surface has been the subject of intensive research works. To get a visual pleasing shape without any imperfection even in the presence of extraordinary mesh vertices is still a challenging problem in particular when interpolation of the mesh vertices is required. We present a new local method, which produces visually smooth shapes while solving the interpolation problem. It consists of combining low degree biquartic Bézier patches with minimum number of pieces per mesh face, assembled together with G1-continuity. All surface control points are given explicitly. The construction is local and free of zero-twists. We further show that within this economical class of surfaces it is however possible to derive a sufficient number of meaningful degrees of freedom so that standard optimization techniques result in high quality surfaces

PARAMETRIZATION AND SHAPE RECONSTRUCTION TECHNIQUES FOR DOO-SABIN SUBDIVISION SURFACES

This thesis presents a new technique for the reconstruction of a smooth surface from a set of 3D data points. The reconstructed surface is represented by an everywhere -continuous subdivision surface which interpolates all the given data points. And the topological structure of the reconstructed surface is exactly the same as that of the data points. The new technique consists of two major steps. First, use an efficient surface reconstruction method to produce a polyhedral approximation to the given data points. Second, construct a Doo-Sabin subdivision surface that smoothly passes through all the data points in the given data set. A new technique is presented for the second step in this thesis. The new technique iteratively modifies the vertices of the polyhedral approximation 1CM until a new control meshM, whose Doo-Sabin subdivision surface interpolatesM, is reached. It is proved that, for any mesh M with any size and any topology, the iterative process is always convergent with Doo-Sabin subdivision scheme. The new technique has the advantages of both a local method and a global method, and the surface reconstruction process can reproduce special features such as edges and corners faithfully

Polynomial-based non-uniform interpolatory subdivision with features control

Starting from a well-known construction of polynomial-based interpolatory 4-point schemes, in this paper we present an original affine combination of quadratic polynomial samples that leads to a non-uniform 4-point scheme with edge parameters. This blending-type formulation is then further generalized to provide a powerful subdivision algorithm that combines the fairing curve of a non-uniform refinement with the advantages of a shape-controlled interpolation method and an arbitrary point insertion rule. The result is a non-uniform interpolatory 4-point scheme that is unique in combining a number of distinctive properties. In fact it generates visually-pleasing limit curves where special features ranging from cusps and flat edges to point/edge tension effects may be included without creating undesired undulations. Moreover such a scheme is capable of inserting new points at any positions of existing intervals, so that the most convenient parameter values may be chosen as well as the intervals for insertion. Such a fully flexible curve scheme is a fundamental step towards the construction of high-quality interpolatory subdivision surfaces with features control

Point-Normal Subdivision Curves and Surfaces

This paper proposes to generalize linear subdivision schemes to nonlinear subdivision schemes for curve and surface modeling by refining vertex positions together with refinement of unit control normals at the vertices. For each round of subdivision, new control normals are obtained by projections of linearly subdivided normals onto unit circle or sphere while new vertex positions are obtained by updating linearly subdivided vertices along the directions of the newly subdivided normals. Particularly, the new position of each linearly subdivided vertex is computed by weighted averages of end points of circular or helical arcs that interpolate the positions and normals at the old vertices at one ends and the newly subdivided normal at the other ends. The main features of the proposed subdivision schemes are three folds: (1) The point-normal (PN) subdivision schemes can reproduce circles, circular cylinders and spheres using control points and control normals; (2) PN subdivision schemes generalized from convergent linear subdivision schemes converge and can have the same smoothness orders as the linear schemes; (3) PN $C^2$ subdivision schemes generalizing linear subdivision schemes that generate $C^2$ subdivision surfaces with flat extraordinary points can generate visually $C^2$ subdivision surfaces with non-flat extraordinary points. Experimental examples have been given to show the effectiveness of the proposed techniques for curve and surface modeling.Comment: 30 pages, 17 figures, 22.5M

Subdivision and manifold techniques for isogeometric design and analysis of surfaces

Design of surfaces and analysis of partial differential equations defined on them are of great importance in engineering applications, e.g., structural engineering, automotive and aerospace. This thesis focuses on isogeometric design and analysis of surfaces, which aims to integrate engineering design and analysis by using the same representation for both. The unresolved challenge is to develop a desirable surface representation that simultaneously satisfies certain favourable properties on meshes of arbitrary topology around the extraordinary vertices (EVs), i.e., vertices not shared by four quadrilaterals or three triangles. These properties include high continuity (geometric or parametric), optimal convergence in finite element analysis as well as simplicity in terms of implementation. To overcome the challenge, we further develop subdivision and manifold surface modelling techniques, and explore a possible scheme to combine the distinct appealing properties of the two. The unique advantages of the developed techniques have been confirmed with numerical experiments. Subdivision surfaces generate smooth surfaces from coarse control meshes of arbitrary topology by recursive refinement. Around EVs the optimal refinement weights are application-dependent. We first review subdivision-based finite elements. We then proceed to derive the optimal subdivision weights that minimise finite element errors and can be easily incorporated into existing implementations of subdivision schemes to achieve the same accuracy with much coarser meshes in engineering computations. To this end, the eigenstructure of the subdivision matrix is extensively used and a novel local shape decomposition approach is proposed to choose the optimal weights for each EV independently. Manifold-based basis functions are derived by combining differential-geometric manifold techniques with conformal parametrisations and the partition of unity method. This thesis derives novel manifold-based basis functions with arbitrary prescribed smoothness using quasi-conformal maps, enabling us to model and analyse surfaces with sharp features, such as creases and corners. Their practical utility in finite element simulation of hinged or rigidly joined structures is demonstrated with Kirchhoff-Love thin shell examples. We also propose a particular manifold basis reproducing subdivision surfaces away from EVs, i.e., B-splines, providing a way to combine the appealing properties of subdivision (available in industrial software) for design and manifold basis (relatively new) for analysis.Cambridge International Scholarship Scheme (CISS) by Cambridge Trus

New strategies for curve and arbitrary-topology surface constructions for design

This dissertation presents some novel constructions for curves and surfaces with arbitrary topology in the context of geometric modeling. In particular, it deals mainly with three intimately connected topics that are of interest in both theoretical and applied research: subdivision surfaces, non-uniform local interpolation (in both univariate and bivariate cases), and spaces of generalized splines. Specifically, we describe a strategy for the integration of subdivision surfaces in computer-aided design systems and provide examples to show the effectiveness of its implementation. Moreover, we present a construction of locally supported, non-uniform, piecewise polynomial univariate interpolants of minimum degree with respect to other prescribed design parameters (such as support width, order of continuity and order of approximation). Still in the setting of non-uniform local interpolation, but in the case of surfaces, we devise a novel parameterization strategy that, together with a suitable patching technique, allows us to define composite surfaces that interpolate given arbitrary-topology meshes or curve networks and satisfy both requirements of regularity and aesthetic shape quality usually needed in the CAD modeling framework. Finally, in the context of generalized splines, we propose an approach for the construction of the optimal normalized totally positive (B-spline) basis, acknowledged as the best basis of representation for design purposes, as well as a numerical procedure for checking the existence of such a basis in a given generalized spline space. All the constructions presented here have been devised keeping in mind also the importance of application and implementation, and of the related requirements that numerical procedures must satisfy, in particular in the CAD context