Abstract:
We present a new algorithm for extracting adaptive multiresolution triangle meshes
from volume datasets. The algorithm guarantees that the topological genus of the
generated mesh is the same as the genus of the surface embedded in the volume dataset
at all levels of detail. In addition to this "hard constraint" on the genus of the
mesh, the user can choose to specify some number of soft geometric constraints, such
as triangle aspect ratio, minimum or maximum total number of vertices, minimum and/or
maximum triangle edge lengths, maximum magnitude of various error metrics per triangle
or vertex, including maximum curvature (area) error, maximum distance to the surface,
and others. The mesh extraction process is fully automatic and does not require manual
adjusting of parameters to produce the desired results as long as the user does not
specify incompatible constraints. The algorithm robustly handles special topological
cases, such as trimmed surfaces (intersections of the surface with the volume
boundary), and manifolds with multiple disconnected components (several closed
surfaces embedded in the same volume dataset). The meshes may self-intersect at coarse
resolutions. However, the self-intersections are corrected automatically as the
resolution of the meshes increase. We show several examples of meshes extracted from
complex volume datasets.