Efficient Mesh Generation Using Subdivision Surfaces

Polygonal meshes and particularly triangular meshes are the most used structure for 3D modelling. The ‘direct edges’ data structure is the most efficient way to represent them and subdivision surfaces is an appropri ate method to generate them. From a review of subdivision surfaces we chose the ‘!3 subdivision’ method for mesh generation. Our main challenge was to take advantage of the direct edges data structure and to find the right formulas for an efficient implementation. We decided to use files in the 3DS file format and convert them to the direct edges data structures for use in our application. We tested our algorithm with arbitrary mesh topologies and calculated efficiency. Our implementation will be used in the creation of a virtual dog head.