Free-form tetrahedron deformation

Abstract

Deformation mechanics in combination with artistic control allows the creation of remarkably fluid and life-like 3-dimensional models. Slightly deforming and distorting a graphical mesh injects vibrant harmonious characteristics that would otherwise be lacking. Having said that, the deformation of high poly complex shapes is a challenging and important problem (e.g., a solution that is computationally fast, exploits parallel architecture, such as, the graphical processing unit, is controllable, and produces aesthetically pleasing results). We present a solution that addresses these problems by combining a tetrahedron interpolation method with an automated tetrahedronization partitioning algorithm. For this paper, we focus on 3-dimensional tetrahedron meshes, while our technique is applicable to both 3-dimensional (tetrahedron) and 2-dimensional (triangulated planar) meshes. With this in mind, we compare and review free-form deformation techniques over the past few years. We also show experimental results to demonstrate our algorithm’s advantages and simplicity compared to other more esoteric approaches.