WSEAS Transactions on Computers
Print ISSN: 1109-2750, E-ISSN: 2224-2872
Volume 11, 2012
Adaptive Visualization of 3D Meshes Using Localized Triangular Strips
Authors: ,
Abstract: 3D meshes are the principal representation of 3D objects. They are very powerful in manipulation and easy to visualize. However, they often require a huge amount of data for storage and/or transmission. In this paper, we present an effective technique to stream triangular meshes using enhanced mesh stripification algorithm. In fact, stripification algorithms are used to speed up the rendering of geometric models because they reduce the number of vertices sent to the graphics pipeline by exploiting the fact that adjacent triangles share an edge. This enables to use our technique to adaptively visualize the 3D models during their transmission. The first step of the proposed technique is based on storing 3D objects as a set of strips. This encodes the geometry and the connectivity of the input model in a robust fashion. The stripification algorithm achieves compression ratios above 61 : 1 over ASCII encoded formats. Second, the strips are directly sent to the rendering pipeline in accordance with the viewpoint direction resulting in faster transmission and rendering of complex graphical objects. Binary space partitioning, kd-trees, is used to enhance our stripification algorithm. Some examples are given to demonstrate the effectiveness of our technique.