Tensor Topology Tracking: A Visualization Method for Time-Dependent 2D Symmetric Tensor Fields

Topological methods produce simple and meaningful depictions of symmetric, second order two-dimensional tensor fields. Extending previous work dealing with vector fields, we propose here a scheme for the visualization of time-dependent tensor fields. Basic notions of unsteady tensor topology are discussed. Topological changes - known as bifurcations - are precisely detected and identified by our method which permits an accurate tracking of degenerate points and related structures.     

Accurate and Fast Proximity Queries Between Polyhedra Using Convex Surface Decomposition

The need to perform fast and accurate proximity queries arises frequently in physically-based modeling, simulation, animation, real-time interaction within a virtual environment, and game dynamics. The set of proximity queries include intersection detection, tolerance verification, exact and approximate minimum distance computation, and (disjoint) contact determination. Specialized data structures and algorithms have often been designed to perform each type of query separately. We present a unified approach to perform any of these queries seamlessly for general, rigid polyhedral objects with boundary representations which are orientable 2-manifolds. The proposed method involves a hierarchical data structure built upon a surface decomposition of the models. Furthermore, the incremental query algorithm takes advantage of coherence between successive frames. It has been applied to complex benchmarks and compares very favorably with earlier algorithms and systems.     

Coarse-to-fine surface simplification with geometric guarantees

Let PC be a 3D point cloud and ε be a positive value called tolerance. We aim at constructing a triangulated surface S based on a subset PCU of PC such that all the points in PCL = PC ∖ PCU are at distance at most ε from a facet of S . (PCU and PCL respectively stand for Point Cloud Used and Point Cloud Left .) We call this problem simplification with geometric guarantees.
This paper presents a new framework to simplify with geometric guarantees. The approach relies on two main ingredients. First an oracle providing information on the surface being reconstructed even though the triangulated surface itself has not been computed. Second, a reconstruction algorithm providing incremental updates of the reconstructed surface, as well as a fast point-to-triangles distance computation. The oracle is used to guess a subset of the point cloud from which a triangulated surface is reconstructed. It relies on an implicit surface the triangulated surface is an approximation of, and is therefore available before the triangle mesh. The point-to-triangles distance computation and the local updates are then invoked to insert new vertices until the tolerance is met.
We also present a detailed experimental study which shows the efficiency of the simplification process both in terms of simplification rate and running time.
To the best of our knowledge, this algorithm is the first one performing coarse-to-fine surface simplification with geometric guarantees.     

Spatial Patches - A Primitive for 3D Model Representation

The commonly used solution for real-life 3D model representation is polygonal spatially consistent geometry, with texture, and, optionally, bump or displacement maps attached. Although the idea of displacement mapping is well known, there are just a few approaches to its efficient implementation. In this paper we develop a technique that allows for efficient representation and rendering of 3D models by getting a new angle on the displacement mapping concept. We introduce a new primitive that is defined as the range image of a small part of the model's surface; therefore, it is called a spatial patch. The whole model is just a collection of patches with no connectivity information between them. Such a representation can be directly acquired by 3D scanning machinery, and stored in a compact uniform form. It also allows for efficient visualization, which is the major focus of this paper. Thus, we present the logical structure of a rendering unit based on conventional z-buffering, and discuss the involved algorithms in detail. These algorithms benefit from modern features of computing units for which we believe the proposed technique can be used in a wide range of applications dealing with real-life 3D data.     

Valence-Driven Connectivity Encoding for 3D Meshes

In this paper, we propose a valence-driven, single-resolution encoding technique for lossless compression of triangle mesh connectivity. Building upon a valence-based approach pioneered by Touma and Gotsman²² , we design a new valence-driven conquest for arbitrary meshes that always guarantees smaller compression rates than the original method. Furthermore, we provide a novel theoretical entropy study of our technique, hinting the optimality of the valence-driven approach. Finally, we demonstrate the practical efficiency of this approach (in agreement with the theoretical prediction) on a series of test meshes, resulting in the lowest compression ratios published so far, for both irregular and regular meshes, small or large.     

基于轮廓线的非真实感绘制技术

从NPR技术的形成和特点出发,详细论述了NPR中轮廓线的检测和绘制技术等问题。轮廓线在NPR中占有重要地位,它的表现不仅关系到NPR最终效果的好坏,而且也是实时绘制中一个提高速度的关键。重点介绍了NPR中流行的和最新的轮廓线检测与绘制技术,并对这些算法和技术进行了分类与分析,总结了其优缺点和适用场景。     

加速体绘制技术

根据体绘制成像的各个操作环节,对体绘制的加速技术进行了较全面且系统的介绍,包括色彩合成、光线与数据的求交、插值计算、排序及视见变换、对体绘制的基于硬件及系统方面的加速技术（如并行体绘制和漫游体绘制）也进行了一些讨论,在实际应用中,只有将各种加速技术进行有机地结合才能充分发挥体绘制的可视化作用。     

四种体绘制算法的分析与评价

体绘制技术是科学计算可视化的重要组成部分,具有较大的研究价值和广阔的应用前景。体绘制有两种方法即间接体绘制和直接体绘制,直接体绘制(简称体绘制)以其在体数据处理及特征信息表现方面的优势,已经得到了研究者越来越多的重视。文章对四种典型的体绘制算法进行了描述,并概述了它们的改进之处,同时对它们各自的性能进行了分析和评价。