Shape-adaptive 3D mesh simplification based on local optimality measurement

Mesh simplification is the process of reducing the number of triangles in a mesh representation of object surface. For a given level of detail or error tolerance, the conventional mesh simplification algorithms maximize the edge length globally, without explicitly considering the local object shape. In this paper we present a shape-adaptive mesh simplification algorithm that locally maximizes the edge length, depending on the local shape. The proposed algorithm achieves shape-adaptive simplification by iteratively maximizing edges between vertices, based on a comparison with the "optimal" edge lengths derived from local directional curvatures for a given error tolerance.