System and method for computer modeling of 3d objects and 2d images by mesh constructions that incorporate non-spatial data such as color or texture

Abstract

A system and method for modeling 3D objects and 2D images by wireframe mesh constructions having data points that combine both spatial data and surface information such as color or texture data. The use of the complex data points (e.g., X, Y, Z, R, G, B in 3D and x, y, R, G, B in 2D) allows the modeling system to incorporate both the spatial features of the object or image as well as its color or other surface features into the wireframe mesh. The present invention's 3D object models (such as those created by laser scanning systems) do not require a separate texture map file for generating display or other object manipulations. In an exemplary embodiment, the mesh constructions of the present invention contain sufficient color information such that the triangles of the meshes can be rendered by any processor supporting linear or bilinear interpolation such as Gouraud shading (available in many 3D and 2½D systems). For 2D systems (such as digitized photographs, film frames, video frames and other bitmap images) the 2D mesh models created from the teachings of the present invention replace bitmap files and present a greater level of data compression and flexibility in image manipulation than is currently available in compression systems such as JPEG. In addition, the presented modeling system has dynamic resolution capability, such that surface details like color or texture can be rapidly added or subtracted from the model.