Consistent calculations for solids modeling
Mark Segal, Carlo H. Séquin · 1985
Algorithms for computer graphics or solids modeling must often infer the structure of geometrical objects from numerical data. Unavoidable errors (due to limited precision) affect the calculations from which these data are produced and may thus affect topological information so derived. Ambiguities or even contradictions may result from inferences made from an object's representation.To resolve these ambiguities for arbitrary polyhedral objects, we introduce a minimum feature size and a face thickness and show how to convert any object description into a form which insures topological immunity to numerical perturbations. The minimum feature size depends on the object's overall dimensions and on its placement in space. The face thickness depends on how well a face's vertices conform to its computed plane.