Locating the source of topological error in reconstructed 3D models

Abstract

Although range scanning technology has offered great improvements to digital model creation in recent years, it has also introduced some new concerns. Specifically, recent work shows that topological errors such as tiny handles can significantly lower the overall quality of range-scanned models for down-stream applications (such as simplification and parameterization). In this paper we present our investigation into the source of this topological error in the range scanning process, and our methods to alleviate the error. We concentrated our investigation of the scanning process on: (1) signal noise or calibration error in the laser scanner (resulting in bad data points) and (2) error during the model reconstruction phase. We found that by modifying the surface reconstruction phase of the range scanning process, we were able to reduce the amount of topological noise in the resulting 3D model by up to 60 percent.

An Exploration of Hole Filling Algorithms

“…As shown by our previous work [7], the number of handles increases significantly with the amount of the model that VRIP is hole filling. Due to its widespread use, but relatively poor genus numbers, we use VRIP as the minimum benchmark for our results.…”

“…One of the most reli able and prevalent methods is that employed by VRIP [5], which makes use of the additional scanner data present in the volumetric representation to extract an isosurface. This method works well for creating a manifold mesh, but our previous work [7] has shown that it introduces unnecessary complexity as well. This complexity comes in the form of excess topological handles, or loops on the surfaces of the model.…”

“…Our previous work [7] provides a solid exploration into where extraneous handles in a mesh are introduced. This work analyzes two of the four stages of the reconstruction pipeline [4].…”

“…In order to evaluate the effects of the hole filling stage on a mesh's genus, for our previous work [7] we implemented our own simplistic hole filler which uses a triangle fan patch over holes. The patch had its center vertex located at the geometric center of all points comprising the boundary edge of the hole, with one side of each patch face aligned along one of the hole's boundary edges.…”

“…The one approach that uses a purely mesh-based repair mechanism [7] hits a number of limitations which cannot be reasonably overcome without additional data. As an example, the problem of differentiating holes in the mesh on the ends of a tunnel from holes that happen to be aligned and need to be filled is nearly impossible to solve without some concept of how the original scan was made.…”