Daniel K

Computer science MSc

DanielKahsu317@gmail.
com

Chapter 5
Representing 3D Objects
Contents

 Representing 3D Objects

 Modeling Using Polygons

 Techniques for Creating Representational Polygon Meshes

 Non-Polygonal representations

2
 3D Object
Representation
 3D object representation is divided into two categories:

1. Boundary Representations (B-reps)

 It describes a 3D object as a set of surfaces that separates the object interior from

the environment.

2. Space–partitioning representations

 It is used to describe interior properties, by partitioning the spatial region containing

an object into a set of small, non-overlapping, contiguous solids (usually cubes).

3
Modeling Using
Polygons
Polygon Surfaces

Objects are represented as a collection of surfaces.

The most commonly used boundary representation for a 3D graphics object is a

set of surface polygons that enclose the object interior.

Many graphics system use this method.

 Set of polygons are stored for object description.

This simplifies and speeds up the surface rendering and display of object since

all surfaces can be described with linear equations.

The polygon surfaces are common in design and solid-modeling applications,

since their wireframe display can be done quickly to give general indication of

surface structure.
4
Cont'd
 Then realistic scenes are produced by interpolating
shading patterns across polygon surface to illuminate.

 Three ways to represent polygon surfaces:

1. Polygon Tables
2. Plane Equations
3. Polygon Meshes

5
 Cont'd…

 Returns GL_TRUE or GL_FALSE, depending on whether or not the

queried capability is currently activated.

6
Cont'd…
Polygon Tables
The object is store by using three
tables:
i. Vertex Table
ii. Edge Table
iii. Polygon-Surface Table
i.Vertex Table
 It store x, y, and z coordinate
information of all the vertices as
v 1 : x 1 , y 1 , z1 .

7
Cont'd…
ii. Edge Table
 The Edge table is used to store the edge information of
polygon.
 In the following figure, edge E1 lies between vertex v1 and

v2 which is represented in the table as E1: v1, v2.

8
Cont'd…

iii. Polygon-Surface Table

 Polygon surface table stores the number of surfaces present
in the polygon.
 From the following figure, surface S1 is covered by edges E1,

E2 and E3 which can be represented in the polygon surface

table as S1: E1, E2, and E3.

9
Cont'd…
2. Plane Equations
 The equation for plane surface can be expressed as:
Ax + By + Cz + D = 0
 Where (x, y, z) is any point on the plane, and the coefficients A, B,
C, and D are constants describing the spatial properties of the
plane.
 We can obtain the values of A, B, C, and D by solving a set of
three plane equations.
 Let us assume that three vertices of the plane are (x1, y1, z1), (x2,

y2, z2) and (x3, y3, z3).

10
Cont'd…
 Let us solve the following simultaneous equations for ratios A/D,
B/D, and C/D.
 You get the values of A, B, C, and D.
(A/D) x1 + (B/D) y1 + (C/D) z1 = -1

(A/D) x2 + (B/D) y2 + (C/D) z2 = -1

(A/D) x3 + (B/D) y3 + (C/D) z3 = -1

 To obtain the above equations in determinant form, apply
Cramer’s rule to the above equations.

11
Cont'd…
 For any point x, y, z with parameters A, B, C, and D, we can say
that:
 Ax + By + Cz + D ≠ 0 means the point is not on the plane.
 Ax + By + Cz + D < 0 means the point is inside the surface.
 Ax + By + Cz + D > 0 means the point is outside the surface.
3.Polygon Meshes
 3D surfaces and solids can be approximated by a set of polygonal
and line elements.
 Such surfaces are called polygonal meshes.
 In polygon mesh, each edge is shared by at most two polygons.
 The set of polygons or faces, together form the “skin” of the
object.
12
Cont'd…

 This method can be used to represent a broad class of

solids/surfaces in graphics.

 A polygonal mesh can be rendered using hidden surface

removal algorithms.

 The polygon mesh can be represented by three ways:

 Explicit representation
 Pointers to a vertex list
 Pointers to an edge list

13
Cont'd…
Advantages

 It can be used to model almost any object.

 They are easy to represent as a collection of vertices.

 They are easy to transform.

 They are easy to draw on computer screen.

Disadvantages

 Curved surfaces can only be approximately described.

 It is difficult to simulate some type of objects like hair or liquid.

14
 Techniques for Creating Representational
Polygon Meshes

 A polygonal mesh is a surface that is constructed out of a set of

polygons that are joined together by common edges.
 A polygon mesh is a collection of vertices, edges and faces that
define the shape of a polyhedral object in 3D computer graphics and
solid modelling.
 Polygon meshes may be represented in a variety of ways, using
different methods to store the vertex, edge and face data.
 These include:
3. Winged-edge
1. Vertex-vertex meshes
meshes
2. Face-vertex meshes
4. Render dynamic
meshes
15
 Cont'd
…

1. Vertex-vertex meshes(VV)
 Represent an object as a set of vertices connected to other
vertices.

16
 Cont'd
…

2. Face-vertex meshes
 Represent an object as a set of faces and a set of vertices.

17
 Cont'd…
3. Winged-edge meshes

 Render Dynamic Mesh, which explicitly stores both the vertices of a face and

face of a vertex( like Face Vertices Meshes ) and the faces and vertices of an

edge.

 Introduce by Baumgart 1975, winged-edge meshes explicitly represent the

vertices, faces, and edges of a mesh.

 This representation is widely used in modeling programs to provide the greatest

flexibility in dynamically changing the mesh geometry, because split and merge

operations can be done quickly.

18
Cont'd…
 The actual collection of pixels on the screen which are drawn for
various point widths depends on whether antialiasing is enabled.
 Antialiasing is a technique for smoothing points and lines as they are
rendered.
 If antialiasing is disabled (the default), fractional widths are rounded to
integer widths, and a screen−aligned square region of pixels is drawn.
 Thus, if the width is 1.0,the square is 1 pixel by 1 pixel;
 If the width is 2.0, the square is 2 pixels by 2 pixels, and so on.
 With antialiasing enabled, a circular group of pixels is drawn, and the
pixels on the boundaries are typically drawn at less than full intensity
to give the edge a smoother appearance.
 In this mode, non−integer widths aren’t rounded.
19
Cont'd…
 Most OpenGL implementations support very large point sizes.
You can query the minimum and maximum sized for aliased points by
using glGetFloatv(GL_ALIASED_POINT_SIZE_RANGE, size)
 Likewise, you can obtain the range of supported sizes for antialiased
points by passing GL_SMOOTH_POINT_SIZE_RANGE to glGetFloatv().
 The sizes of supported antialiased points are evenly spaced
between the minimum and maximum sizes for the range.
 Calling GetFloatv() with the parameter
GL_SMOOTH_POINT_SIZE_GRANULARITY
will return how accurately a given antialiased point size is
supported.

20
Cont'd…

 For example, if you request glPointSize(2.37) and the

granularity returned is 0.1, then the point size is rounded to
2.4.
2.Line Details
 With OpenGL, you can specify lines with different widths and
lines that are stippled in various ways:
 dotted
 dashed
 drawn with alternating dots and dashes,
 and so on.

21
Cont'd…
Wide Lines
void glLineWidth(GLfloat width);
Sets the width, in pixels, for rendered lines; width must be greater
than 0.0 and by default is 1.0.
The actual rendering of lines is affected if either antialiasing or
multisampling is enabled.
Without antialiasing, widths of 1, 2, and 3 draw lines 1, 2, and 3
pixels wide.
With antialiasing enabled, no-integer line widths are possible without
antialiasing, widths of 1, 2, and 3 draw lines 1, 2, and 3 pixels wide.
With antialiasing enabled, non-integer line widths are possible, and
pixels on the boundaries are typically drawn at less than full intensity.
22
 Cont'd…
 Similar to points you can obtain the range of supported aliased line
widths by using GL_ALIASED_LINE_WIDTH_RANGE with glGetFloatv().
 To determine the supported minimum and maximum sizes of antialiased
line widths, and what granularity your implementation supports,
 call glGetFloatv(),
 with GL_SMOOTH_LINE_WIDTH_RANGE and
 GL_SMOOTH_LINE_WIDTH_GRANULARITY.
Stippled Lines
 To make stippled (dotted or dashed) lines, you use the
command glLineStipple() to define the stipple pattern,
and then you enable line stippling with
glEnable(GL_LINE_STIPPLE).
23
 Cont'd…
 To make stippled (dotted or dashed) lines, you use the command
glLineStipple() to define the stipple pattern, and then you enable
line stippling with glEnable(GL_LINE_STIPPLE).
void glLineStipple(GLint factor, GLushort pattern);
 Sets the current stippling pattern for lines.
 The pattern argument is a 16-bit series of 0s and 1s, and it’s repeated
as necessary to stipple a given line.
 A 1 indicates that drawing occurs, and a 0 that it does not, on a pixel-
by-pixel basis, beginning with the low-order bit of the pattern.
 The pattern can be stretched out by using factor.

24
 Non-Polygonal Representations
1. Wireframe
 A wireframe is a three-dimensional model that only includes
vertices and lines.
 It does not contain surfaces, textures, or lighting like a 3D
mesh.
 Instead, a wireframe model is a 3D image comprised of only
"wires" that represent three-dimensional shapes.
 A wire-frame model is a visual presentation of a 3-
dimensional (3D) or physical object used in 3D computer
graphics.

25
Cont'd…
 Wireframes provide the most basic representation of a three-
dimensional scene or object.
 They are often used as the starting point in 3D modeling since they
create a "frame" for 3D structures.
 For example, a 3D graphic designer can create a model from scratch
by simply defining points (vertices) and connecting them with lines
(paths).
 Once the shape is created, surfaces or textures can be added to
make the model appear more realistic.

26
 Cont'd…
3. Dereferencing and Rendering
 In Step 3, contents of the arrays are obtained, sent to the server, and
then sent down the graphics processing pipeline for rendering.
 Dereferencing a Single Array Element:
void glArrayElement(GLint ith)
 Obtains the data of one (the ith) vertex for all currently enabled arrays.
 For the vertex coordinate array, the corresponding command would be
glVertex[size][type]v(), where size is one of [2, 3, 4], and type is one of
[s,i,f,d] for GLshort, GLint, GLfloat, and GLdouble, respectively.
 Both size and type were defined by glVertexPointer().
 For other enabled arrays, glArrayElement() calls glEdgeFlagv(),
glTexCoord[size][type]v(), glColor[size][type]v(),
glSecondaryColor3[type]v(), glIndex[type]v(), glNormal3[type]v(), and
glFogCoord[type]v().
 glArrayElement()
27
is usually called between glBegin() and glEnd().
Cont'd…
 Example Using glArrayElement() to Define Colors and
Vertices:
 glEnableClientState(GL_COLOR_ARRAY);
 glEnableClientState(GL_VERTEX_ARRAY);
 glColorPointer(3, GL_FLOAT, 0, colors);
 glVertexPointer(2, GL_INT, 0, vertices);
 glBegin(GL_TRIANGLES);
 glArrayElement(2);
 glArrayElement(3);
 glArrayElement(5);
 glEnd();
28
29