Simplification Techniques for Interactive Applications

Abstract

Interactive applications with 3D graphics are used everyday in a lot of different fields, such as games, teaching, learning environments and virtual reality. The scenarios showed in interactive applications usually tend to present detailed worlds and characters, being the most realistic as possible. Detailed 3D models require a lot of geometric complexity. But not always the available graphics hardware can handle and manage all this geometry maintaining a realistic frame rate. Simplification methods attempt to solve this problem, by generating simplified versions of the original 3D models. These simplified models present less geometry than the original ones. This simplification has to be done with a reasonable criterion in order to maintain as possible the appearance of the original models. But the geometry is not the only important factor in 3D models. They are also composed of additional attributes that are important for the final aspect of the models for the viewer. In the literature we can find a lot of work presented about simplification. However, there are still several points without an efficient solution. Therefore, this thesis focuses on simplification techniques for 3D models usually used in interactive applications.