Progressive representation, transmission, and visualization of 3D objects

Abstract

Files containing 3D objects, typically represented as 3D meshes with certain geometry and texture information, are very large. Therefore, not only do 3D objects take a lot of storage space, it is also extremely time-consuming to transmit them over the network for visualization. In addition, most 3D visualization applications need the entire 3D data file to render the 3D object even though the user may be interested in only a small part or a low-resolution version of the object. Progressive coding of 3D objects can resolve these problems. In this paper, we report our recent progress in progressive representation, transmission, and visualization of 3D objects. In our scheme, both geometry and the texture of the 3D object are progressively coded and transmitted. More perceptually important information is transmitted before the less important information, which allows the user to stop the transmission at any time and yet retain the best available perceptual quality of the object at that time. Furthermore, the visible portion of the object is transmitted first and the non-visible portion is transmitted later, or not transmitted at all, in order to save the overall bandwidth.