Method and apparatus for flattening three-dimensional surfaces
AssigneeComputer Design, Inc.
InventorChien T. Wu
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A method and apparatus for flattening a three-dimensional surface into a two-dimensional pattern piece extracts a three-dimensional mesh from the surface to define surface elements and maps these elements in groups to a flat plane where they are reassembled. The position of data points in the flat plane are recursively adjusted in order to cancel error and to provide an optimum solution. Tools are provided to the user to determine the correctness of the flattening process and to insert darts into, and make other modifications to, the resulting flat pattern in order to further optimize the result.
Claims23
A method of generating a two-dimensional pattern image that approximates a three-dimensional pattern image that approximates a three-dimensional surface mapped to a flat plane and displayed on a graphic display using a computer-assisted design system having at least one graphic display comprising:
- generating a three-dimensional mesh conforming to the topology of the three-dimensional surface, said mesh including lines intersecting at nodal points, said lines defining polygonal elements between said nodal points;
- mapping one of said polygonal elements to a location in said flat plane where said one of said polygonal elements will share at least one side with another one of said polygonal elements previously mapped to said flat plane;
- distorting the length of the shared side to conform to the length of the share side of said another said polygonal element;
- comparing the distance between one of said nodal points and an adjacent nodal point on said three-dimensional surface with the distance between the same said nodal points in said flat plane after said step of distorting;
- adjusting the position of said one of said nodal points in said flat plane in response to the results of said step of comparing;
- and
- displaying said polygonal elements in said flat plane on said at least one graphic display.
A method of generating a two-dimensional pattern image that approximates a three-dimensional surface mapped to a flat plane and displayed on a graphic display using a computer-assisted design system having at least one graphic display comprising:
- generating a three-dimensional mesh conforming to the topology of the three-dimensional surface, said mesh including lines intersecting at nodal points, said lines defining polygonal small elements between said nodal points;
- grouping said polygonal small elements into polygonal large elements, each said polygonal large element including a predefined plurality of said polygonal small elements and defining polygonal large element data points at the intersection of the sides of said polygonal large elements;
- mapping one of said polygonal large elements to said flat plane;
- assembling said one of said polygonal large elements to another large element at a location in said flat plane where said one of said polygonal large elements will share at least one side with said another one of said polygonal large elements;
- distorting the length of the shared side to conform to the length of the shared side of said another one of said polygonal large elements;
- comparing the distance between one of said data points and an adjacent data point on said three-dimensional surface with the distance between the same said data points in said flat plane after said step of distorting;
- adjusting the position of said one of said data points in said flat plane in response to the results of said step of comparing;
- and
- displaying said polygonal elements in said flat plane on said at least one graphic display.
A computer-assisted design apparatus for generating a two-dimensional pattern image that is an approximation of a flattened three-dimensional surface, said pattern image being displayed on a graphic display comprising:
- a programmed computer including at least one graphic display and corresponding display buffer for storing an image, said three-dimensional surface defined by data points in said computer;
- generating means for generating a three-dimensional mesh conforming to the topology of the three-dimensional surface, said mesh including intersecting lines defining polygonal elements between said lines;
- mapping means for mapping said polygonal elements to a two-dimensional flat plane, the polygonal elements in said flat plane being displayed on said graphic display;
- assembling means for assembling said polygonal elements in a pattern in said flat plane, wherein each polygonal element shares a common side with an adjacent polygonal element, by translating said polygonal elements toward each other and distorting the length of each side shared with another polygonal element to conform to the length of the shared side of the other said polygonal element;
- stress determining means for determining the differences between the distance separating pairs of said data points on said three-dimensional surface with the distance separating the corresponding pairs of data points in said flat plane;
- stress indicating means for indicating the value of said difference on said pattern image being displayed on one said graphic display;
- and
- stress reducing means for varying the distance separating selected pairs of said data points, whereby said stress indicating means will indicate the results of operating said stress reducing means.
A computer-assisted design apparatus for generating a two-dimensional pattern image that approximates a three-dimensional surface mapped to a flat plane comprising:
- generating means for generating a three-dimensional mesh conforming to the topology of the three-dimensional surface, said mesh including lines intersecting at nodal points, said lines defining polygonal elements between said nodal points;
- mapping means for mapping said nodal points of said polygonal elements to said flat plane, said polygonal elements defined in said flat plane by sides extending between said nodal points mapped to said flat plane;
- assembling means for assembling said polygonal elements in a pattern in said flat plane wherein each polygonal element shares a common side with an adjacent polygonal element by translating said polygonal elements toward each other and distorting the length of each side shared with another polygonal element to conform to the length of the shared side of the other said polygonal element;
- comparison means for comparing the distance between said nodal points on said three-dimensional surface with the distance between said nodal points in said flat plane;
- global adjusting means for adjusting the position of said nodal points in said flat plane responsive to said comparison means;
- and
- graphic display means for displaying said polygonal elements in said flat plane.
A computer-assisted design apparatus for generating a two-dimensional pattern image that approximates a three-dimensional surface mapped to a flat plane comprising:
- generating means for generating a three-dimensional mesh conforming to the topology of a three-dimensional surface, said three-dimensional mesh including lines intersecting at nodal points, said lines defining polygonal small elements between said nodal points;
- grouping means for grouping said polygonal small elements into polygonal large elements such that each of said polygonal large elements includes a predefined plurality of said polygonal small elements and define polygonal large element data points at the intersection of the sides of said polygonal large elements;
- mapping means for mapping said polygonal large element data points to said flat plane, said polygonal large elements defined in said flat plane by sides extending between polygonal large element data points mapped to said flat plane;
- assembling means for assembling said polygonal large elements together in a pattern in said flat plane with adjacent ones of said polygonal large elements sharing at least one side;
- distorting means for distorting the length of the shared sides to conform to adjoining polygonal large elements;
- comparison means for comparing the distance between said polygonal large element data points in said three-dimensional space with the distance between said polygonal large element data points in said flat plane;
- adjusting means for adjusting the position of said polygonal large element data points in said plane responsive to said comparison means;
- and
- a graphic display and display buffer adapted to displaying said polygonal elements in said flat plane.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.