Fitting a surface to 3-D points using an inflating balloon model

We address the problem of fitting a surface to a cloud of 3-D points, as obtained from a set of registered range images. Our approach is based on a dynamic balloon model represented using a triangulated mesh. The vertices in the mesh are linked to their neighboring vertices through springs to simulate the surface tension and to keep the shell smooth. Unlike other dynamic models proposed by previous researchers, our balloon model is purely driven by an applied inflation force towards the object surface from inside of the object, until all the triangles have reached the surface. We present results on simple as well as nonstar-shaped objects from real range images.< <ETX xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">></ETX>