ISPRS International Journal of Geo-Information (Jan 2020)

A Vertex Concavity-Convexity Detection Method for Three-Dimensional Spatial Objects Based on Geometric Algebra

  • Pengcheng Yin,
  • Jiyi Zhang,
  • Xiying Sun,
  • Di Hu,
  • Zhifeng Shi,
  • Chengyan Wu

DOI
https://doi.org/10.3390/ijgi9010025
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 9, no. 1
p. 25

Abstract

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Vertex concavity-convexity detection for spatial objects is a basic algorithm of computer graphics, as well as the foundation for the implementation of other graphics algorithms. In recent years, the importance of the vertex concavity-convexity detection algorithm for three-dimensional (3D) spatial objects has been increasingly highlighted, with the development of 3D modeling, artificial intelligence, and other graphics technologies. Nonetheless, the currently available vertex concavity-convexity detection algorithms mostly use two-dimensional (2D) polygons, with limited research on vertex concavity-convexity detection algorithms for 3D polyhedrons. This study investigates the correlation between the outer product and the topology of the spatial object based on the unique characteristic that the outer product operation in the geometric algebra has unified and definitive geometric implications in space, and with varied dimensionality. Moreover, a multi-dimensional unified vertex concavity-convexity detection algorithm framework for spatial objects is proposed, and this framework is capable of detecting vertex concavity-convexity for both 2D simple polygons and 3D simple polyhedrons.

Keywords