Real-time bas-relief generation from a 3D mesh

Most of the existing approaches to bas-relief generation operate in image space, which is quite time-consuming in practice. This paper presents a different bas-relief generation algorithm based on geometric compression and starting from a 3D mesh input. The feature details are first extracted from the original objects using a spatial bilateral filtering technique. Then, a view-dependent coordinate mapping method is applied to build the height domain for the current view. After fitting the compression datum plane, the algorithm uses an adaptive compression function to scale and combine the Z values of the base mesh and the fine details. This approach offers control over the level of detail, making it flexible for the adjustment of the appearance of details. For a typical input mesh with 100 k triangles, this algorithm computes a bas-relief in 0.214 s.

Graphical abstractFigure optionsDownload full-size imageDownload as PowerPoint slideHighlights► We generate the bas-relief based on height domain compression. ► The feature details are extracted from the original objects using spatial bilateral filtering technique. ► The detailed features of the input object are preserved in the bas-relief. ► When the user adjusts the position and the pose of the input mesh, the bas-relief will be generated in real-time.