Manifold Voxel Mesh Conversion for Arbitrary Genus Manufacturing

Resolve Bottlenecks,
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions

Solution Overview

Problem

Conventional techniques fail to generate manifold surface meshes of arbitrary genus from non-manifold voxel meshes, limiting their manufacturability and applicability in simulations and rendering due to inability to handle non-manifold geometry effectively.

Innovation Solution

A method is disclosed to convert non-manifold voxel meshes into manifold meshes by detecting and converting non-manifold geometry into manifold geometry, allowing the creation of manifold surface meshes of arbitrary genus suitable for manufacturing and simulations.

Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles

VSEngineering Contradiction Analysis

1Ease of manufacture

If conventional techniques are used to extract surface mesh from non-manifold voxel mesh, then the process is simple, but the resulting mesh cannot be manufactured and lacks manifold geometry

Engineering Contradiction:

Improvemanufacturability of meshVSAvoidcomplexity of mesh construction process

Core Design Contradiction:

Ease of manufactureVSDevice complexity

Solution Approach 1:

The system performs preliminary detection of non-manifold geometry in the voxel mesh before surface extraction, identifying locations that would otherwise create non-manifold vertices or edges in the final mesh. This advance detection allows preprocessing the voxel mesh to ensure manifold properties in the output surface mesh.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #10Preliminary action

Solution Approach 2:

The system introduces an intermediary processing step between voxel mesh input and surface mesh output that converts non-manifold geometry to manifold geometry by inserting additional voxels. This intermediary transformation ensures the final surface mesh has manifold properties suitable for manufacturing while maintaining fidelity to the original input.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #24Intermediary (Mediator)

2Adaptability or versatility

If conventional techniques are used for topology prediction, then the reconstruction pipeline remains simple, but meshes of arbitrary topology and genus cannot be generated

Engineering Contradiction:

Improvecapability to generate arbitrary genus meshesVSAvoidcomplexity of reconstruction pipeline

Core Design Contradiction:

Adaptability or versatilityVSDevice complexity

Solution Approach 1:

The system changes the topological parameters of the voxel mesh by inserting additional voxels at strategically determined locations. This parameter modification allows the generation of surface meshes with arbitrary genus (number of holes) while maintaining manifold properties, enabling topologies that conventional techniques cannot produce.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #35Parameter changes

3Reliability

If non-manifold geometry is preserved in the voxel mesh, then the original input structure is maintained, but the extracted surface mesh cannot be used for manufacturing or physical simulation

Engineering Contradiction:

Improveinternal consistency of mesh for simulation and renderingVSAvoidconformity to manufacturable geometry

Core Design Contradiction:

ReliabilityVSManufacturing precision

Solution Approach 1:

The system takes the harmful non-manifold geometry that would otherwise prevent manufacturing and simulation use, and converts it into benefit by detecting these locations and inserting voxels to create manifold geometry. The previously problematic non-manifold vertices and edges are transformed into valid manifold structures that satisfy both manufacturing requirements and physical simulation needs.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #22Blessing in disguise (Convert harm into benefit)

Data Source

PatentUS11830145B2Generation of differentiable, manifold meshes of arbitrary genus

Publication Date: 2023.11.28 NVIDIA CORP

AI summary

A manifold voxel mesh or surface mesh is manufacturable by carving a single block of material and a non-manifold mesh is not manufacturable. Conventional techniques for constructing or extracting a surface mesh from an input point cloud often produce a non-manifold voxel mesh. Similarly, extracting a surface mesh from a voxel mesh that includes non-manifold geometry produces a surface mesh that includes non-manifold geometry. To ensure that the surface mesh includes only manifold geometry, locations of the non-manifold geometry in the voxel mesh are detected and converted into manifold geometry. The result is a manifold voxel mesh from which a manifold surface mesh of the object may be extracted.