Triangle Strip Multiresolution Modelling using Sorted Edges.pdfVIP

Triangle Strip Multiresolution Modelling using Sorted Edges ´ O. Belmonte Fern´andez, S. Aguado Gonz´alez, and S. Sancho Chust Department of Computer Languages and Systems Universitat Jaume I 12071 Castellon, Spain oscar.belmonte@uji.es Abstract. This paper presents a new multiresolution model based ex- clusively on the triangle strip primitive. The model is independent of the initial set of triangle strips and the simplification method used to ob- tain the lower resolution versions of the original model. The information stored in the data structures is sorted to minimise the time needed to recover a Level of Detail (LoD). The orientation of triangles in each strip is maintained as the model is simplified, so back-face culling can be used. The main result is a dramatic improvement in the rendering time. 1 Introduction Polygonal meshes are widely used to describe surfaces in Computer Graphics, es- pecially in Real Time Computer Graphics, and triangle meshes are the most pop- ular representation of such models. Triangle meshes currently used in Computer Graphics are composed of thousands of triangles. A good example of this are the polygonal models used in cultural heritage [7]. Rendering these highly detailed polygonal models is a challenging problem in interactive Computer Graphics applications, where a minimum rate of 15 frames per second is needed to mimic continuous movement. To address this problem, multiresolution models try to adapt the number of triangles in a scene according to some criterion [8, 5, 11]. The basic primitive in these models is the triangle. Only a few models use the triangle strip primitive in the rendering stage [6, 2], and on