Generalized Swept Mid‐structure for Polygonal Models

We introduce a novel mid‐structure called the generalized swept mid‐structure (GSM) of a closed polygonal shape, and a framework to compute it. The GSM contains both curve and surface elements and has consistent sheet‐by‐sheet topology, versus triangle‐by‐triangle topology produced by other mid‐structure methods. To obtain this structure, a harmonic function, defined on the volume that is enclosed by the surface, is used to decompose the volume into a set of slices. A technique for computing the 1D mid‐structures of these slices is introduced. The mid‐structures of adjacent slices are then iteratively matched through a boundary similarity computation and triangulated to form the GSM. This structure respects the topology of the input surface model is a hybrid mid‐structure representation. The construction and topology of the GSM allows for local and global simplification, used in further applications such as parameterization, volumetric mesh generation and medical applications.