Publication 1999 Issue No. 4 - October-December Abstract - The Ball-Pivoting Algorithm for Surface Reconstruction
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The Ball-Pivoting Algorithm for Surface Reconstruction
October-December 1999 (vol. 5 no. 4)
pp. 349-359
 ASCII Text x Fausto Bernardini, Joshua Mittleman, Holly Rushmeier, Cláudio Silva, Gabriel Taubin, "The Ball-Pivoting Algorithm for Surface Reconstruction," IEEE Transactions on Visualization and Computer Graphics, vol. 5, no. 4, pp. 349-359, October-December, 1999.
 BibTex x @article{ 10.1109/2945.817351,author = {Fausto Bernardini and Joshua Mittleman and Holly Rushmeier and Cláudio Silva and Gabriel Taubin},title = {The Ball-Pivoting Algorithm for Surface Reconstruction},journal ={IEEE Transactions on Visualization and Computer Graphics},volume = {5},number = {4},issn = {1077-2626},year = {1999},pages = {349-359},doi = {http://doi.ieeecomputersociety.org/10.1109/2945.817351},publisher = {IEEE Computer Society},address = {Los Alamitos, CA, USA},}
 RefWorks Procite/RefMan/Endnote x TY - JOURJO - IEEE Transactions on Visualization and Computer GraphicsTI - The Ball-Pivoting Algorithm for Surface ReconstructionIS - 4SN - 1077-2626SP349EP359EPD - 349-359A1 - Fausto Bernardini, A1 - Joshua Mittleman, A1 - Holly Rushmeier, A1 - Cláudio Silva, A1 - Gabriel Taubin, PY - 1999KW - 3D scanningKW - shape reconstructionKW - point cloudKW - range image.VL - 5JA - IEEE Transactions on Visualization and Computer GraphicsER -

Abstract—The Ball-Pivoting Algorithm (BPA) computes a triangle mesh interpolating a given point cloud. Typically, the points are surface samples acquired with multiple range scans of an object. The principle of the BPA is very simple: Three points form a triangle if a ball of a user-specified radius $\rho$ touches them without containing any other point. Starting with a seed triangle, the ball pivots around an edge (i.e., it revolves around the edge while keeping in contact with the edge's endpoints) until it touches another point, forming another triangle. The process continues until all reachable edges have been tried, and then starts from another seed triangle, until all points have been considered. The process can then be repeated with a ball of larger radius to handle uneven sampling densities. We applied the BPA to datasets of millions of points representing actual scans of complex 3D objects. The relatively small amount of memory required by the BPA, its time efficiency, and the quality of the results obtained compare favorably with existing techniques.

Index Terms:
3D scanning, shape reconstruction, point cloud, range image.
Citation:
Fausto Bernardini, Joshua Mittleman, Holly Rushmeier, Cláudio Silva, Gabriel Taubin, "The Ball-Pivoting Algorithm for Surface Reconstruction," IEEE Transactions on Visualization and Computer Graphics, vol. 5, no. 4, pp. 349-359, Oct.-Dec. 1999, doi:10.1109/2945.817351