Mesh Simplification Using an Area-Based Distortion Measure

A new area-based mesh simplification algorithm is described. The proposed algorithm removes the center vertex of a polygon which consists of $${n \geq 3}$$ faces and represents that polygon with $${n-2}$$ faces. A global search method is adapted that iteratively determines which vertex is to be removed using the proposed area-based distortion measurement. Although the global search method requires more computations compared to a local search method, it guarantees better quality of approximation. Various re-triangulations are also considered to improve the perceptual quality of the final approximation. From multiple re-triangulations, one with minimum distortion is selected to represent the original mesh. Experimental results demonstrate the performance of the proposed algorithm for data reduction while maintaining the quality of the rendered objects.