Patent ID: 8502818

Claim:
A method for surface tracking, comprising: (i) providing an initial mesh representing a surface, the initial mesh comprising a plurality of mesh faces; (ii) constructing a grid utilizing a processor, the grid having a plurality grid edges, wherein each grid edge is connected between two grid nodes, wherein each grid node has a predefined value associated therewith, and wherein a grid edge is intersected by an even number of oppositely oriented mesh faces of the initial mesh; (iii) computing a value for a first grid node connected to said intersected grid edge based upon the intersection of said grid edge by said even number of oppositely oriented mesh faces, wherein the value for the first grid node is the same as a value of a second grid node connected to the grid edge intersected by the even number of oppositely oriented mesh faces; and (iv) modifying the initial mesh based upon the grid edge being intersected by the even number of mesh faces between the first grid node and the second grid node having the same values to produce a modified mesh by creating at least two vertices along the grid edge, wherein the modified mesh provides an updated representation of the surface.