Simplification of surface annotations

Geometric models are often annotated to provide additional information during visualization. Maps may be marked with rivers, roads or topographical information, and CAD data models may highlight the underlying mesh structure. While this additional information may be extremely useful, there is a rendering cost associated with it. Texture maps have often been used to convey this information at relatively low cost, but they suffer from blurring and pixelization at high magnification. We present a technique for simplifying surface annotations based on directed, asymmetric tolerance. By maintaining the annotations as geometry, as opposed to textures, we are able to simplify them while still maintaining the overall appearance of the model over a wide range of magnifications. Texture maps may still be used to provide low-resolution surface detail, such as color. We demonstrate a significant gain in rendering performance while retaining the original appearance of objects from many application domains.