A robust efficient tracing scheme for triangulating trimmed parametric surfaces

An efficient, robust parametric trimmed surface triangulation method is presented. Efficiency is gained during trimmed curve tracing by minimising the number of cells processed. Key feature is the efficient tracing algorithm, and knowledge of orientation of the trimming curves is not required. The method is applicable to NURBS surfaces and operates on the untrimmed surface, constructing a rectangular parametric grid onto which the trimming curves are traced. This approach also minimises the occurrence of degenerate triangles and copes with holes independently of the grid size.

Research highlights► The paper introduces a new tracing algorithm that: Is more efficient than previous ones; ► Avoids cracks and triangulation discontinuities; ► Supports cases where the trimming loops are contained in a single cell.