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Washington University in St. Louis

An Algorithm for Triangulating 3D Polygons

Abstract

dc:description.abstract

In this thesis, we present an algorithm for obtaining a triangulation of multiple, non-planar 3D polygons. The output minimizes additive weights, such as the total triangle areas or the total dihedral angles between adjacent triangles. Our algorithm generalizes a classical method for optimally triangulating a single polygon. The key novelty is a mechanism for avoiding non-manifold outputs for two and more input polygons without compromising opti- mality. For better performance on real-world data, we also propose an approximate solution by feeding the algorithm with a reduced set of triangles. In particular, we demonstrate experimentally that the triangles in the Delaunay tetrahedralization of the polygon vertices offer a reasonable trade off between performance and optimality.

Degree

thesis:*
Name thesis:degree_name
Master of Science (MS)
Level thesis:degree_level
Thesis
Discipline thesis:degree_discipline
Computer Science and Engineering
Year dc:date.available
2013

Author and committee

dc:creator, dc:contributor.*
Author dc:creator
  • Zou, Ming
Contributors dc:contributor
  • Tao Ju

Subjects

dc:subject × 2

Rights

Language dc:language
English (en)

Identifiers

dc:identifier.*
OAI identifier oai:identifier
oai:openscholarship.wustl.edu:etd-2212

Chain of custody

source
Harvested from
Washington University in St. Louis
Base URL
openscholarship.wustl.edu/do/oai/
Last updated
2026-07-24
Source record
OAI-PMH GetRecord
citation

Zou, Ming. An Algorithm for Triangulating 3D Polygons. Thesis thesis, 2013. https://openscholarship.wustl.edu/etd/1212