A visibility algorithm for converting 3D meshes into editable 2D vector graphics

Abstract

Artists often need to import and embellish 3D models coming from CAD-CAM into 2D vector graphics software to produce, e.g., brochures or manuals. Current automatic solutions tend to result, at best, in a 2D triangle soup and artists often have to trace over 3D renderings. We describe a method to convert 3D models into 2D layered vector illustrations that respect visibility and facilitate further editing. Our core contribution is a visibility method that can partition a mesh into large components that can be layered according to visibility. Because self-occluding objects and objects forming occlusion cycles cannot be represented by layers without being cut, we introduce a new cut algorithm that uses a graph representation of the mesh and curvature-aware geodesic distances.

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Index Terms

• Applied computing

  • Document management and text processing

    • Document capture

      • Graphics recognition and interpretation

  • Physical sciences and engineering

    • Engineering

• Computing methodologies

  • Artificial intelligence

    • Computer vision

      • Image and video acquisition

        • 3D imaging

  • Computer graphics

    • Animation

    • Shape modeling

• Theory of computation

  • Randomness, geometry and discrete structures

    • Computational geometry