Interactive Variational Shape Modeling

Irregular triangle meshes are a powerful digital shape representation: they are flexible and can represent virtually any complex shape; they are efficiently rendered by graphics hardware; they are the standard output of 3D acquisition and routinely used as input to simulation software. Yet irregular meshes are difficult to model and edit because they lack a higher-level control mechanism. In this talk, I will survey a series of research results on surface modeling with meshes and show how high-quality shapes can be manipulated in a fast and intuitive manner. I will outline the current challenges in intelligent and more user-friendly modeling metaphors and will attempt to suggest possible directions for future work in this area.