Simplification, LOD and Multiresolution Principles and Applications

These tutorial notes provide an introduction, review, and discussion of the state-of-the-art on simplification methods, Level Of Detail, and multiresolution models for surface meshes, and of their applications. The problem of approximating a surface with a triangular mesh is formally introduced, and major simplification techniques are classified, reviewed, and compared. A general framework is introduced next, which encompasses all multiresolution surface models based on decomposition, and major multiresolution meshes are classified, reviewed, and compared in the context of such a framework. Applications of simplification methods, LOD, and multiresolution to computer graphics, virtual reality, geographical information systems, flight simulation, and volume visualization are also reviewed.