Skeleton texture mapping

Abstract

In the article an idea for a novel way of mapping of textures onto a surface of 3D model is introduced. Our technique is based on two interlocking mappings. The first one maps surface vertices onto a computed skeleton and the second one maps the surrounding area of each skeleton segment into a rectangle with size based on the surface properties around the segment. Furthermore, these rectangles are packed into a squared texture called skeleton texture map (STM) by approximately solving a palette loading problem. Our technique enables the mapping of a texture onto the surface without necessity to store texture coordinates with the model data and it is also suitable for surfaces with a topology non-homotopic to a sphere with higher order genus and unlimited structure branching.