A mass-spring model for surface mesh deformation based on shape matching
In this paper, we propose a mass-spring model based on shape matching for real-time deformable modeling in virtual reality systems. By defining a rigid core for surface mesh model and adding a new generalized spring for each mass, our surface mesh model can preserve its original geometric features such as volume and shape. Then, we use shape matching approaches to update the rigid core of the model dynamically so as to simulate global deformations. At last, we adopt an inverse dynamics technique to deal with the resulting deformations. We correct the non-real "super-elastic" effect for linear elastic models so that the visual reality is improved.

title: An adaptive octree textures painting algorithm
abstract: Traditional Texturing using a set of two dimensional image maps is an established and widespread practice. However, it is difficult to parameterize a model in texture space, particularly with representations such as implicit surfaces, subdivision surfaces, and very dense or detailed polygonal meshes. Based on an adaptive octree textures definition, this paper proposes a direct reverse-projecting pixel-level painting approach which has less storage requirements to general octree textures maps. In addition, it depends on texture lookup in the GPU, which particularly lookup faster than the non-GPU program.

title: A Mesh Meaningful Segmentation Algorithm Using Skeleton and Minima-Rule
abstract: In this paper, a hierarchical shape decomposition algorithm is proposed, which integrates the advantages of skeleton-based and minima-rule-based meaningful segmentation algorithms. The method makes use of new geometrical and topological functions of skeleton to define initial cutting critical points, and then employs salient contours with negative minimal principal curvature values to determine natural final boundary curves among parts. And sufficient experiments have been carried out on many meshes, and shown that our framework can provide more reasonable perceptual results than single skeleton-based [8] or minima-rule-based [15] algorithm. In addition, our algorithm not only can divide a mesh of any genus into a collection of genus zero, but also partition level-of-detail meshes into similar parts.

title: Dynamic harmonic fields for surface processing
abstract: Harmonic fields have been shown to provide effective guidance for a number of geometry processing problems. In this paper, we propose a method for fast updating of harmonic fields defined on polygonal meshes, enabling real-time insertion and deletion of constraints. Our approach utilizes the penalty method to enforce constraints in harmonic field computation. It maintains the symmetry of the Laplacian system and takes advantage of fast multi-rank updating and downdating of Cholesky factorization, achieving both speed and numerical stability. We demonstrate how the interactivity induced by fast harmonic field update can be utilized in several applications, including harmonic-guided quadrilateral remeshing, vector field design, interactive geometric detail modeling, and handle-driven shape editing and animation transfer with a dynamic handle set.

title: Non-rigid Registration in 3D Implicit Vector Space
abstract: We present an implicit approach for pair-wise non-rigid registration of moving and deforming objects. Shapes of interest are implicitly embedded in the 3D implicit vector space. In this implicit embedding space, registration is performed using a global-to-local framework. Firstly, a non-linear optimization functional defined on the vector distance function is used to find the global alignment between shapes. Secondly, an incremental cubic B-spline free form deformation is used to recover the non-rigid transformation parameters. Local non-rigid registration is posed in terms of minimising an energy functional, for which we give a closed-form linear system and solve it using an improved iterative Gauss-Seidel method. Our approach can consistently produce smooth and continuous registration fields, and correctly establish dense one-to-one correspondences. It can naturally deal with both open partial and closed shapes, and imperfect models with gaps and noise, through its use of the implicit vector representation. Experimental results on several datasets demonstrate the robustness of the proposed method.

title: Partial intrinsic reflectional symmetry of 3D shapes
abstract: While many 3D objects exhibit various forms of global symmetries, prominent intrinsic symmetries which exist only on parts of an object are also well recognized. Such partial symmetries are often seen as more natural than a global one, even when the symmetric parts are under complex pose. We introduce an algorithm to extract partial intrinsic reflectional symmetries (PIRS) of a 3D shape. Given a closed 2-manifold mesh, we develop a voting scheme to obtain an intrinsic reflectional symmetry axis (IRSA) transform, which is a scalar field over the mesh that accentuates prominent IRSAs of the shape. We then extract a set of explicit IRSA curves on the shape based on a refined measure of local reflectional symmetry support along a curve. The iterative refinement procedure combines IRSA-induced region growing and region-constrained symmetry support refinement to improve accuracy and address potential issues arising from rotational symmetries in the shape. We show how the extracted IRSA curves can be incorporated into a conventional mesh segmentation scheme so that the implied symmetry cues can be utilized to obtain more meaningful results. We also demonstrate the use of IRSA curves for symmetry-driven part repair.

title: A Multiresolution Terrain Model for Efficient Visualization Query Processing
abstract: Multiresolution triangular mesh (MTM) models are widely used to improve the performance of large terrain visualization by replacing the original model with a simplified one. MTM models, which consist of both original and simplified data, are commonly stored in spatial database systems due to their size. The relatively slow access speed of disks makes data retrieval the bottleneck of such terrain visualization systems. Existing spatial access methods proposed to address this problem rely on main-memory MTM models, which leads to significant overhead during query processing. In this paper, we approach the problem from a new perspective and propose a novel MTM called direct mesh that is designed specifically for secondary storage. It supports available indexing methods natively and requires no modification to MTM structure. Experiment results, which are based on two real-world data sets, show an average performance improvement of 5-10 times over the existing methods

title: Semi-bipartite Graph Visualization for Gene Ontology Networks
abstract: In this paper we propose three layout algorithms for semi-bipartite graphs—bipartite graphs with edges in one partition—that emerge from microarray experiment analysis. We also introduce a method that effectively reduces visual complexity by removing less informative nodes. The drawing quality and running time are evaluated with five real-world datasets, and the results show significant reduction in crossing number and total edge length. All the proposed methods are available in visualization package GEOMI , and are well received by domain users.

title: A Pilot Study of Robot-Assisted Cochlear Implant Surgery Using Steerable Electrode Arrays
abstract: This paper presents results of a pilot study evaluating the efficacy of robotic assistance using novel steerable electrode arrays for cochlear implant surgery. The current surgical setup of cochlear implant surgery is briefly reviewed and its limitations are highlighted. In an effort to reduce trauma to the structure of the cochlea, the kinematics and path planning for novel cochlear steerable electrodes are developed to minimize the interaction forces between the electrode and the cochlea. An experimental robotic system is used to compare the electrode insertion forces of steerable implants with those of nonsteerable electrodes. The results of these experiments show about 70% reduction in the insertion forces when steerable electrodes are used with our proposed path planning and control. A distance metric explaining this reduction in the insertion force is defined and experimentally validated. Although this is only a preliminary study, we believe that these results provide a strong indication to the potential of robot-assisted cochlear implant surgery to provide a significant reduction in trauma rates during cochlear implant surgery.

title: Multiresolution Spatial Databases: Making Web-Based Spatial Applications Faster
abstract: Spatial data has now been used extensively in the Web environment, providing online customized maps and supporting map-based applications. The full potential of Web-based spatial applications, however, has yet to be achieved due to performance issues related to the large sizes and high complexity of spatial data. In this paper, we introduce a multiresolution approach to spatial data management and query processing such that the database server can choose spatial data at the right resolution level for different Web applications. One highly desirable property of the proposed approach is that the server-side processing cost and network traffic can be reduced when the level of resolution required by applications are low. Another advantage is that our approach pushes complex multiresolution structures and algorithms into the spatial database engine. That is, the developer of spatial Web applications needs not to be concerned with such complexity. This paper explains the basic idea, technical feasibility and applications of multiresolution spatial databases.

title: GraphScape: integrated multivariate network visualization
abstract: In this paper, we introduce a new method, GraphScape, to visualize multivariate networks, i.e., graphs with multivariate data associated with their nodes. GraphScape adopts a landscape metaphor with network structure displayed on a 2D plane and the surface height in the third dimension represents node attribute. More than one attribute can be visualized simultaneously by using multiple surfaces. In addition, GraphScape can be easily combined with existing methods to further increase the total number of attributes visualized. One of the major goals of GraphScape is to reveal multivariate graph clustering, which is based on both network structure and node attributes. This is achieved by a new layout algorithm and an innovative way of constructing attribute surface, which also allows visual clustering at different scales through interaction. A simplified attribute surface model is also proposed to reduce computation requirement when visualizing large networks. GraphScape is applied to networks of three different size (20, 100, and 1500) to demonstrate its effectiveness.