Surface Representations
Parametric surface — x(u,v), y(u,v), z(u,v)
- e.g. plane, sphere, cylinder, torus, bicubic surface, swept surface
- parametric functions let you iterate over the surface by incrementing u and v in nested loops
- great for making polygon meshes, etc
- terrible for intersections: ray/surface, point-inside-boundary, etc
Implicit surface: F(x,y,z) = 0
- e.g. plane, sphere, cylinder, quadric, torus, blobby models
- terrible for iterating over the surface
- great for intersections, morphing
Subdivision surfaces
- defined by a control mesh and a recursive subdivision procedure
- good for interactive design