Exact mesh-to-function conversion using BSP fields
Oleg Fryazinov, Alexander Pasko and Valery Adzhiev, “BSP-fields: An exact representation of polygonal objects by differentiable scalar fields based on binary space partitioning”, Computer-Aided Design, Volume 43, Issue 3, pages 265-277, March 2011 PDF (preprint)
Abstract: The problem considered in this work is to find a dimension independent algorithm for the generation of signed scalar fields exactly representing polygonal objects and satisfying the following requirements: the defining real function takes zero value exactly at the polygonal object boundary; no extra zero-value isosurfaces should be generated; C1 continuity of the function in the entire domain. The proposed algorithms are based on the binary space partitioning (BSP) of the object by the planes passing through the polygonal faces and are independent of the object genus, the number of disjoint components, and holes in the initial polygonal mesh. Several extensions to the basic algorithm are proposed to satisfy the selected optimization criteria. The generated BSP-fields allow for applying techniques of the function-based modeling to already existing legacy objects from CAD and computer animation areas, which is illustrated by several examples.