Fast mesh rendering through efficient triangle strip generation

Abstract

The development of methods for storing, manipulating, and rendering large volumes of data efficiently is a crucial task in several scientific applications, such as medical image analysis, remote sensing, computer vision, and computer-aided design. Unless data reduction or compression methods are used, extremely large data sets cannot be analyzed or visualized in real time. Polygonal surfaces, typically defined by a set of triangles, are one of the most widely used representations for geometric models. This paper presents an efficient algorithm for compressing triangulated models through the construction of triangle strips. Experimental results show that these strips are significantly better than those generated by the leading triangle strip algorithms.