Efficient Implementation of Progressive Meshes

In earlier work, we introduced the progressive mesh (PM) representation, a new format for storing and transmitting arbitrary triangle meshes. For a given mesh, the PM representation defines a continuous sequence of level-of-detail approximations, allows smooth visual transitions (geomorphs) between these approximations, supports progressive transmission, and makes an effective compression scheme. In this paper, we present data structures and algorithms for efficient implementation of the PM representation and its applications. Also, we report quantitative results using a variety of computer graphics models.