Surface construction from planar contours / Patrick G. Hogan, Michael J. Zyda.

Abstract

Many scientific and technical endeavors require the reconstruction of a three-dimensional solid from a collection of two-dimensional contours. One method for this reconstruction involves a procedure whereby individual pairs of contours are mapped together to form triangular surface patches. In this paper, we present an algorithm which not only handles mapping situations of simple, closed contours but also mappings of multiple contours per plane and partial contour mappings. Also included is a discussion of the algorithm's limitations and heuristics