Compression of triangulated solids’ surfaces by Decimating Reconstructable Triangles

Abstract

This paper introduces a new programming solution for reducing the size of files needed to store 3D geometric solids, whose surfaces are interpolated by watertight irregular triangle meshes. Unlike other approaches, the software does not introduce any special storage data format, but, instead, utilises popular CAD formats such as STL, OBJ, or PLY. This increases the software’s interoperability significantly. The software comprises an encoder and a decoder. The encoder estimates which facets may be removed in such a way that they can later be reconstructed unambiguously by the decoder. The decoder also ensures that the reconstructed triangles are oriented correctly. The encoder and the decoder are straightforward to understand and to implement. They are asymmetric, making any potential programming error easier to identify and correct.

Keywords

• Data compression
• Geometric modelling
• Computer-aided design
• Boundary representation
• Topology
• Watertightness