Enabling cuts on multiresolution representation

Multiresolution representations are widely used in many visualization contexts and applications. The adoption of a multiresolution approach provides an optimal management of a data representation, using at each instant of time the level of detail more adequate for the given action or task to be performed. Recently, multiresolution has been introduced also in the interactive physically based simulation of deformable objects (e.g. in virtual surgery applications). In this applications the processing resources available are often insufficient and pose a critical constraint. The adoption of multiresolution allows to improve the accuracy of the simulation in the proximity of the action focus, while maintaining computations under a given bound. In this particular context, the user should be able to perform cuts onto the object. The problem is that most multiresolution models need a preprocessing phase, in which the data structure is constructed. Such construction strictly depends on the topology of the object, which is supposed to be invariable. We propose a new approach for the dynamic topological modification of a multiresolution model, which allows easy updating of the multiresolution data structure (based on the Multiresolution Triangulation framework) and efficient decomposition of the cells intersected by the cut. With respect to previous methods, our solution supports a much lower degree of fragmentation of the decomposition and very short processing times, due to the design of a LUT-based split solution.