Visualizing and animating the winged-edge data structure

The winged- and half-edge data structures are commonly used representations for polyhedron models. Due to the complexity, students in an introductory course to computer graphics usually have difficulty in handling these data structures and developing applications. This paper describes the authors’ effort in the development of a visualization and animation tool for teaching and learning these data structures. This tool also includes a simple pseudo-code-like language for algorithm design. Instructors may employ this tool for presentation and demonstration purposes. Students may use the simple language to develop and experiment with new algorithms before their actual implementation. The visualization and animation system may be used to explore and understand the relationship among mesh elements and algorithm execution.