In
3D computer graphics
3D computer graphics, or “3D graphics,” sometimes called CGI, 3D-CGI or three-dimensional computer graphics are graphics that use a three-dimensional representation of geometric data (often Cartesian) that is stored in the computer for t ...
and
modeling
A model is an informative representation of an object, person or system. The term originally denoted the plans of a building in late 16th-century English, and derived via French and Italian ultimately from Latin ''modulus'', a measure.
Models c ...
, volumetric meshes are a polygonal representation of the interior volume of an object. Unlike
polygon mesh
In 3D computer graphics and solid modeling, a polygon mesh is a collection of , s and s that defines the shape of a polyhedral object. The faces usually consist of triangles ( triangle mesh), quadrilaterals (quads), or other simple convex p ...
es, which represent only the surface as polygons, volumetric meshes also discretize the interior structure of the object.
Applications
One application of volumetric meshes is in
finite element analysis, which may use regular or irregular volumetric meshes to compute internal stresses and forces in an object throughout the entire volume of the object.
Volume meshes may also be used for
portal rendering
In computer-generated imagery and real-time 3D computer graphics, portal rendering is an algorithm for visibility determination. For example, consider a 3D computer game environment, which may contain many polygons, only a few of which may be ...
.
See also
*
B-rep
In solid modeling and computer-aided design, boundary representation (often abbreviated B-rep or BREP) is a method for representing a 3D shape by defining the limits of its volume. A Solid modeling, solid is represented as a collection of conn ...
*
Voxels
In 3D computer graphics, a voxel represents a value on a regular grid in three-dimensional space. As with pixels in a 2D bitmap, voxels themselves do not typically have their position (i.e. coordinates) explicitly encoded with their values. Ins ...
*
Hypergraph
In mathematics, a hypergraph is a generalization of a graph in which an edge can join any number of vertices. In contrast, in an ordinary graph, an edge connects exactly two vertices.
Formally, an undirected hypergraph H is a pair H = (X,E) w ...
*
Volume rendering
In scientific visualization and computer graphics, volume rendering is a set of techniques used to display a 2D projection of a 3D discretely sampled data set, typically a 3D scalar field.
A typical 3D data set is a group of 2D slice imag ...
References
3D computer graphics
Computer graphics data structures
Mesh generation
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