Animated models coarsening with local area distortion and deformation degree control

In computer graphics applications, mesh coarsening is an important technique to alleviate the workload of visualization processing. Compared to the extensive works on static model approximation, very little attentions have been paid to animated models. In this paper, we propose a new method to approximate animated models with local area distortion and deformation degree control. Our method uses an improved quadric error metric guided by a local area distortion measurement as a basic hierarchy. Also, we define a deformation degree parameter to be embedded into the aggregated quadric errors, so areas with large deformation during the animation can be successfully preserved. Finally, a mesh optimization process is proposed to further reduce the geometric distortion for each frame. Our approach is fast, easy to implement, and as a result good quality dynamic approximations with well-preserved sharp features can be generated at any given frame.