Superfaces: polyhedral approximation with bounded error

We describe superfaces, a new method for simplifying closed polyhedra. The superfaces algorithm performs the simplification based on a bounded approximation criterion that produces a simplified polyhedron that approximates the original one to within a prespecified tolerance. The vertices in the simplified polyhedron are a proper subset of the original vertices, so the algorithm is well-suited for creating hierarchical representations of polyhedra.