Decimation of isosurfaces with deformable models

Abstract

For many medical applications including computer-assisted surgery, it is necessary to perform scientific computations, such as mechanical deformation, on anatomical structure models. Such patient-based anatomical models are often extracted from volumetric medical images as isosurfaces. In this paper, we introduce a new algorithm for the decimation of isosurfaces based on deformable models. The method emphasizes the creation of mesh of high geometric and topological properties well suited for performing scientific computation. It allows a close control of the distance of the mesh to the isosurface as well a the overall smoothness of the mesh. The isosurface is stored in a data-structure that enables the fast computation of the distance to the isosurface. Finally, our method can handle very large datasets by merging pieces of isosurfaces.