The Octree Encoding Method for Efficient Solid Modeling.

Abstract : Solid modeling is the subject of representing solid objects in a computer - to permit their analysis, manipulation and display. This thesis describes the development of a new solid modeling method called octree encoding, in which arbitrary objects are represented to a specified resolution in 8-ary hierarchical trees or octrees. The number of nodes in an object's octree is used as a measure of object complexity. This number is shown to be on the order of the product of object surface area and the inverse of the square of the resolution. A dual data-base approach is proposed. A general-purpose solid-modeling system based on octree encoding would interactively perform geometric, analytical and display operations in conjunction with specialized application data bases.