Polygonal Mesh Library for Postprocessing 3D Scan Data

By Margaret S. Gurney

Solid Modeling Solutions (SMS; Bellevue, WA) offers application developers PolyMLib 2.0, an object-oriented software library of tools designed for postprocessing meshes resulting from 3D scanning processes. PolyMLib provides a set of objects and corresponding geometric processing methods to repair, optimize, review, and edit triangle mesh models, which often contain topological inconsistencies and geometric artifacts such as measurement noise.

The modular PolyMLib toolkit also includes tools that can be used to analyze such surface properties as smoothness and curvature distribution, repair and optimize surfaces, and to reduce mesh complexity.

A fully functioning graphical demonstration program is provided to illustrate how to use the functionality. Full documentation, examples, and training can be provided to allow quick and easy understanding of the functions available.

PolyMLib 2.0,  described as an interactive modular-geometry processing toolkit, offers triangle mesh processing with a graphical user interface that offers flap dialogs and menus as input, and interaction via mouse or keyboard. Output dialogs and a message area enable users to render arbitrary geometry.

Using the Inspect Plug-in, PolyMLib users can evaluate mesh smoothness (both curvature analysis and reflection lines) as well as gain high-quality visualization with phong shading and up to 70M triangles per second.

Inspect Plug-in enables Mean Curvature.	Inspect Plug-in enables Gaussian Curvature.
Inspect Plug-in enables Reflection Lines.	Inspect Plug-in enables Realistic Material.

With Manual Topology Fixing, users can delete, add, or split triangles and flip or split edges. In Degeneracy removal, users can detect and remove degeneracies, and the hole-filling functionality allows users to detect, zoom to, and fill holes. Selection metaphors enable differing types of selection, such as screen region, surface region, vertices, components, and paint selection, plus actions can be restricted to selection.

Functionality Summary
Solid Modeling Solutions’ datasheet (see link below) offers a Functionality Summary for PolyMLib that encapsulates the library’s various capabilities. Notable features include mesh repair, which involves mesh statistics, detect/remove short edges,  detect/remove caps or triangles with very large angle, detect/remove valence 3 vertices, detect/remove skinny triangles, detect fold-overs, flip orientation,  and snap boundary.

At left is shown 264K faces; at right, 54K faces, 3-degree normal deviation, 3mm approximate error.

Other capabilities include delete, add, and split face; delete, flip, and split edge; remove degeneracy; and hole repair with the ability to handle both detect and fill. By Fill, SMS means smoothly interpolate hole boundary, avoid self-intersections, adapt vertex density to hole boundary, and construct regular tessellation to fill-in patch.

PolyMLib can compare and inspect meshes as well as perform smoothing, decimation, and re-meshing. Its shape-editing tools enable region definitions where you can define a deformable area or a handle as well as translate, rotate,  and scale.

Distance surface behavior capabilities include tangent continuity maintained, isotropic or anisotropic deformations, and maintain small surface detail.

Part of Geometric Suite
PolyMLib is but one of the trademarks of Solid Modeling Solutions, which has offered advanced geometry solutions since 1998. The company is best known for its geometry libraries SMLib (solid modeling), GSNLib (general surface), NLib (NURBS), TSNLib (trimmed surface), and VSLib (variational shapes), and its subdivision surface source code library, SDLib.

Solutions encompass extensive definition and manipulation of NURBS curves and surfaces with the latest fully functional non-manifold topology. The company’s expertise is found in software products in such diverse areas as 3D graphics and modeling, animation, CAD/CAM/CAE, graphic design systems, image-based modeling,  medical imaging software, and rendering.

Selection metaphors include the hood of a car, or its windshield for example.

Jim Presti, president of Solid Modeling Solutions, said, “Solid Modeling Solutions is very happy to introduce PolyMLib, a new element in our software suite of geometry products. This product continues to provide an expanding set of tools for the application developer who requires high-resolution robust geometry software in order to enable its applications.”

The PolyMLib polygonal mesh library costs $1000. Other product pricing ranges from $500 (NLib) to $2500 (SMLib). Data exchange translators (ranging from $100 to $250) are available for DATAKIT/CATIA,  DATAKIT/ProENGINEER, DATAKIT/UG, IGES, STEP, openNURBS, Parasolid, SAT,  SolidWorks, and VDAFS.

The SMS geometric modeling libraries are distributed in C++ source code (NLib is written in C). Run-time use is unlimited and there are no royalties,  plus the monthly fee for a site license includes maintenance, support, and upgrades. Additional resources that are available from SMS include consulting services, as well as onsite and/or remote training.

Follow-up on more information about Solid Modeling Solutions’ (SMS) PolyMLib.

Read why DE’s editors chose this as a Pick of the Week.

See SMS’ PolyMLib Modeling Demo Slideshow (PPS).

Contact SMS for a pdf of the technical specs in the Product Datasheet for PolyMLib.

Contact SMS for a pdf containing the SMSLib Pricing effective October 2008.

Contact SMS for a PowerPoint presentation offering supporting material.

Find out about the services offered by SMS.

Gallery of capabilities includes samples figures for Solid Modeling Solutions’ geometry kernels including GSNLib and TSNLib.

Margaret S. Gurney is the editor for new products at Desktop Engineering magazine.