Mesh Simplification

A functional representation of a surface, such as FarFeilds's RBF, allows the error between a surface and a point on a mesh approximating the surface to be determined analytically. This facilitates the positioning of faces and vertices when simplfying a mesh. The example below demonstrates RBF-based mesh simplification of laser scan data. Initially an RBF was fitted to laser scans of a bust in order to automatically fill holes and generate a water-tight mesh. The RBF description was converted to the very fine mesh shown below left. Next the same RBF was used to simplify the mesh, while maintaining a high degree of accuracy.

In the second example surface colour and geometry are modelled by RBFs and jointly considered when simplifying the mesh to preserve both colour and geometry.



Fine mesh (105,000 faces)

Mesh after FastRBF simplification (29,000 faces)


Fine mesh (detail)

Mesh after FastRBF simplification (detail)

Colour & geometry mesh simplification



Simplification of a mesh while preserving surface geometry and surface colour