An advancing front point generation technique

An algorithm to construct boundary-conforming, isotropic clouds of points w ith variable density in space is described. The input required consists of a specified mean point distance and an initial triangulation of the surface . Borrowing a key concept from advancing front grid generators, one point a t a time is removed and, if possible, surrounded by admissible new points. This operation is repeated until no active points are left. Timings show th at the scheme is about an order of magnitude faster than volume grid genera tors based on the advancing front technique, making it possible to generate large (> 10(6)) yet optimal clouds of points in a matter of minutes on a w orkstation. Several examples are included that demonstrate the capabilities of the technique. (C) 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.