Reconstruction and simplification of surfaces from contours

In this paper we consider the problem of reconstructing triangular surfaces from given contours. An algorithm solving this problem must decide which c ontours of two successive slices should be connected by the surface (branch ing problem) and, given that, which vertices of the assigned contours shoul d be connected for the triangular mesh (col-respondence problem). We presen t a new approach that solves both tasks in an elegant way. The main idea is to employ discrete distance fields enhanced with correspondence informatio n. This allows us not only to connect vertices from successive slices in a reasonable way but also to solve the branching problem by creating intermed iate contours where adjacent: contours differ too much. Last but not least we show how the 2D distance fields used in the reconstruction step can be c onverted to a 3D distance field that can be advantageously exploited for di stance calculations during a subsequent simplification step. (C) 2000 Acade mic Press.