Shape preserving data reduction for 3D surface points

In reverse engineering, vast amounts of point data captured by certain types of scanners significantly increase the complexity and reduce the efficiency in downstream activities, such as surface modelling and manufacturing. Data reduction has therefore become an important issue. A new data reduction algorithm for surface points is developed to preserve the original shape using an error metric based on a Hausdorff distance of principal curvature vectors. The performance of the proposed method is illustrated by its application to a test surface and an industrial surface.

► A new shape preserving data reduction algorithm for surface points is presented.
► An error metric is based on a Hausdorff distance of principal curvature vectors.
► A high quality limit surface is used to determine whether points can be removed.