Subdivision as a fundamental building block of digital geometry processing algorithms

Abstract

Digital Geometry Processing (DGP) is a newly emerging discipline which aims to build the mathematical and algorithmic foundations for the next generation of digital multimedia. Digital signal processing was highly successful for earlier generations of digital multimedia such as sound, image, and video. Now that 3D scanning technologies make sampled surfaces broadly available a similar apparatus is needed to deal with this new multimedia datatype. Due to the inherent curvature of such surfaces though traditional tools are not immediately applicable. In this paper we give a brief overview of some recent developments in subdivision surfaces and how these help to build a foundation for DGP algorithms.