Gap Filling Using a Blend of Morphing and Extension with Application in Footwear Design

AbstractSeveral techniques for filling gaps or holes in a sculptured surface are known; perhaps the best studied include morphs and surface blending functions. Both of these techniques have several desirable properties, as some shortcomings. Here we develop a new operator that creates a holefilling surface by interpolating the outputs of morphing and blending functions. By controlling the interpolating function, more control can be exhibited over the resulting shape than is provided by either of the standard operations individually. Further, we also demonstrate a method to produce a ‘fair’ surface (in the traditional, energy minimization sense) interpolating two gap-filling surfaces, created respectively by morphing and blending (or extension). The technique was motivated by problems encountered in the CAD of footwear.