language: en

Fast Rendering of Subdivision Surfaces

Kari Pulli
University of Washington
Seattle, WA
Mark Segal
Silicon Graphics Inc.

Abstract Subdivision surfaces provide a curved surface representation that is useful in a number of applications, including modeling surfaces of arbitrary topological type [5] , fitting scattered data [6] , and geometric compression and automatic level-of-detail generation using wavelets [8] . Subdivision surfaces also provide an attractive representation for fast rendering, since they can directly represent complex surfaces of arbitrary topology. This direct representation contrasts with traditional approaches such as trimmed NURBS, in which tesselating trim regions dominates rendering time, and algebraic implicit surfaces, in which rendering requires resultants, root finders, or other computationally expensive techniques. We present a method for subdivision surface triangulation that is fast, uses minimum memory, and is simpler in structure than a naive rendering method based on direct subdivision. These features make the algorithm amenable to implementation on dedicated geometry engine processors, allowing high rendering performance on appropri ately equipped graphics hardware.

CR Categories and Subject Descriptors: I.3.6 [Computer Graphics]: Methodology and Techniques. Additional Key Words: subdivision surfaces, surface rendering.

1 Introduction