An adaptive multi-resolution modeling technique based on viewing and animation parameters

Because most existing multi resolution methods are slow, a common approach is to pregenerate a few key models of the object at different resolutions. During run time, the object's distance from the viewer determines which model to use for rendering. Although this approach is simple, it suffers from the sudden change in resolution as the object moves across the threshold distance. In addition, the model used to represent an object at a particular frame is not optimized for the given dynamic viewing and animation parameters. The quadtree type of methods for arranging the surface model may allow adaptive multi resolution modeling in a simple way and it reduces the sudden change of resolution from the object level to the node level. However, the square shape of the node, together with the four-time increment in size for representing surfaces, limits the types of surfaces that it can handle without creating excessive nodes. We present a real time adaptive multi resolution method for models of arbitrary topology.