Distance field manipulation of surface models

Abstract

A surface manipulation technique that uses distance fields-scalar fields derived geometrically from surface models-to combine, modify, and analyze surfaces is presented. It is intended for application to complex models arising in scientific visualization. Computing distance from single triangles is discussed, and an optimized algorithm for computing the distance field from an entire closed surface is built. The use of the fields for surface removal, interpolation and blending is examined. The strength of the approach is that it lets simple 3D algorithms substitute for potentially very complex 2D methods.