Methods and apparatus to encode and/or decode normals of geometric representations of surfaces

A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium having stored thereon computer executable program code which, when executed on a computer system, causes the computer system to perform operations, comprising:

• defining a tile having a plurality of regions, each of the plurality of regions of the tile corresponding with a surface from a plurality of surfaces of a geometric shape;
• arranging an edge of a first instance of the tile to abut an edge of a second instance of the tile to define a composite tile;
• determining a first vector between a first point on the composite tile in the first instance of the tile and a second point on the composite tile in the second instance of the tile;
• determining a second vector between the first point in the first instance of the tile and a third point on the composite tile in the first instance of the tile;
• and
• encoding, when the second vector is shorter than the first vector, the second vector to determine an approximation of a location of the second point relative to the first point.

An apparatus comprising:

• a processor;
• and
• a memory, the memory including instructions configured to cause the processor to:
• define a tile having a plurality of regions, each of the plurality of regions of the tile corresponding with a surface from a plurality of surfaces of a geometric shape;
• arrange an edge of a first instance of the tile to abut an edge of a second instance of the tile to define a composite tile;
• determine a first vector between a first point on the composite tile in the first instance of the tile and a second point on the composite tile in the second instance of the tile;
• determine a second vector between the first point in the first instance of the tile and a third point on the composite tile in the first instance of the tile;
• and
• encode, when the second vector is shorter than the first vector, the second vector to determine an approximation of a location of the second point relative to the first point.