View-dependent simplification using parallel half edge collapses

Abstract

Highly detailed models are a requirement for many applications in computer graphics. The necessary level of detail, however, may vary depending on the application. To provide a tradeoff, mesh simplification is used to generate approximations of a model which can be used to reduce processing time. We present a parallel approach to triangle mesh simplification that is designed to allow fast, view-dependent simplification of manifold triangle meshes. Our approach performs a vertex analysis on every vertex of a given triangle mesh and selects a set of vertices for removal. Vertex removal is executed using the parallel half edge collapse. Based on the half edge collapse that replaces an edge with one of its endpoints, we have devised a set of boundaries that enable parallel application of half edge collapses even on neighbouring vertices. Since the mesh topology may not allow removal of all vertices marked for removal in one step, we apply multiple iterations of the parallel half edge collapse, reevaluating remaining vertices marked for removal for further improvement of results.