Deformable mesh for virtual shape sculpting

A novel, interactive virtual sculpting framework based upon a deformable mesh model generated by a self-organizing feature map (SOFM) is described in this paper. The three-dimensional lattice of the SOFM maintains the relative connectivity of neighbouring nodes in the hexahedral mesh as it transforms from the initial reference geometry into the desired shape. Material and dynamic properties are incorporated into the deformable mesh by treating surface and internal nodes as point masses connected by a network of springs. The initial SOFM mesh can be either retrieved from a library of primitive shapes, or created by automatically adapting the 3D mesh to fit selected surface points. Once the initial mesh has been generated, the designer reshapes the virtual object by introducing external forces to the nodal mesh. The process of virtual sculpting is analogous to hand moulding of clay in the physical world where the material mass remains constant. During sculpting, the dynamically changing mesh can be easily rendered in VRML for visualization in a virtual reality environment. The deformable mesh generator and shape-sculpting system are illustrated by reshaping solid meshes created from scanned human heads.