An improved mesh simplification method using additional attributes with optimal positioning

The use of highly detailed models is continuously increasing in computer-aided design (CAD) design and computer graphics field as the technology of range scanners advances. Real-time rendering and manipulating applications are also increasing to support applications in various areas such as collaborative design and scientific visualization. Although graphics hardware technology has been improved rapidly, more attributes such as color, material property, texture coordinate, and curvature are added to CAD models, and it becomes a challenge to handle and render such heavy models. Consequently, the models with complex mesh need to be approximated to improve the efficiency of rendering and manipulation and to reduce computation time. A considerable amount of work has been done regarding geometry preservation, but relatively little research has been performed to preserve both geometry and additional attributes. We present a feature sensitive simplification method using curvature color as an additional attribute. We also use curvature color filtering and optimal positioning methods after edge collapse to preserve feature more sensitively. Our method is applied to several models, and the performance is demonstrated by comparing it with other methods.