Octrees: A Data Structure for Solid-Object Modeling

Abstract

This paper describes a novel data structure for modeling solid objects. The new data structure, called the octree modeling scheme, can be regarded as an extension to three dimensions of the familiar quad-tree method for modeling two-dimensional images. The method is hierarchical and permits the user precisely to select the amount of resolution that is required by his application (and thereby to control the amount of storage space and computation time consumed). Algorithms for processing objects represented with the octree data structure require only simple arithmetic and logic operations, thus making the data structure an ideal candidate for processing using highly parallel VLSI technology.