Collaborative Research: Fundamentals and Algorithms for Streaming Meshes

提案0429901/0430065摘要现代技术可以创建具有令人难以置信的细节的数字3D多边形网格。当前的网格格式是在模型和网格都小了几个数量级时设计的，使处理大量详细数据变得复杂。该项目将全面开发一种新的流式网格表示，并将其用作生成和/或消耗大型多边形和多面体网格的算法的框架。其核心是几个简单的新想法，这些想法绕过了当前计算机内存层次结构的限制。压缩存储、更快的加载速度和更好的内存使用的直接好处吸引了任何创建大型模型的应用程序，包括用于数据探索的科学和工程可视化、用于艺术和博物馆展示的扫描工件、用于洪水或火灾控制的景观建模、用于科学计算的网格生成、用于协作和教育的虚拟环境以及用于电子商务的3D模型。该项目确定了流网格的特征参数，然后设计并实现了可以根据这些参数分析其行为的算法。最初的算法包括表面简化，压缩和计算机图形学的几何模型的传输，并扩展到包括2D和3D基于流的Delaunay三角形。这些关键思想来自于计算机图形学中的几何模型;该项目的研究人员将把它们应用到更一般的环境中。其结果将是有用的软件，体现了一个计算范例，可以处理任意大的网格，同时避免几何工件，质量下降，以及其他困难的方法，将网格切成碎片，以适应可用的内存。该项目将确保其更广泛的影响，通过分发软件（包括源代码和可执行文件），用于流和压缩网格，以及基于流的2D和3D Delaunay三角测量。该项目将影响本科生和研究生的教育，并通过示范日向高中和小学生推广。主要的研究人员使用几种方法来接触在计算机科学中代表性不足的群体。

Abstract for proposal 0429901/0430065Modern technology enables the creation of digital 3D polygon meshes with incredible detail. Current mesh formats, which were designed when models and meshes were orders of magnitude smaller, complicate the processing of large, detailed data. This project will fully develop a new streaming mesh representation, and use it as a framework for algorithms that produce and/or consume large polygonal and polyhedral meshes. At its core are several simple, new ideas that get around current limitations in computer memory hierarchies. The immediate benefit of compressed storage, faster loading, and better memory use appeal to any application creating large models, including scientific and engineering visualization for data exploration, scanned artifacts for artistic and museum displays, landscape modeling for flood or fire control, mesh generation for scientific computing, virtual environments for collaboration and education, and 3D models for e-commerce. This project identifies the parameters that characterize a streaming mesh, then designs and implements algorithms whose behavior can be analyzed in terms of these parameters. Initial algorithms include surface simplification, compression, and transmission for geometric models for computer graphics, and extend to include 2D and 3D stream-based Delaunay triangulators. The key ideas grew out of work on geometric models in computer graphics; the project's investigators will apply them in more general contexts. The result will be useful software, embodying a computation paradigm that can process arbitrarily large meshes while avoiding geometric artifacts, degradation of quality, and other difficulties of approaches that cut meshes into pieces to fit into available memory. This project will ensure its broader impact though distribution of software (both source code and executables) for streaming and compressing meshes, and stream-based 2D and 3D Delaunay triangulation. The project will impact education of undergraduate and graduate students, and reach out to high school and elementary students through demonstration days. The principle investigators use several means to reach groups that are underrepresented in computer science.