Techniques for parallel edge decimation of a mesh

Abstract

Various embodiments include techniques for performing parallel edge decimation on a high resolution mesh by collapsing multiple edges in parallel by blocking only the neighbor edges of the edges selected as collapse candidates. Effectively, the disclosed techniques dynamically partition the mesh into small partitions around the collapse candidates. In this manner, the techniques identify all the edges that may be independently collapsed in a single, now parallel, iteration. Edge decimation may be performed so that certain computational geometry techniques can be efficiently applied to a simpler mesh. In so doing, the disclosed techniques preserve the history of how the edge decimation process displaces the vertices of the original mesh to generate the simplified mesh. As a result, the results of the computational geometry techniques as applied to the simplified mesh can be propagated back to the original mesh.