3D mesh compression and coding

A method of encoding a three dimensional model represented by polyhedral meshes to provide a compressed data representation of the three dimensional model, said method comprising the steps:

• coding the structure data of the polyhedral meshes representing the three dimensional model, wherein the step of coding the structure data comprises the steps of selecting a starting node ns and a principle link associated with the starting node ns, and traversing a selected link associated with the starting node ns in a counter clockwise direction starting with the principle link;
• coding the attribute data of the polyhedral meshes representing the three dimensional model;
• and
• multiplexing the encoded structure data and the encoded attribute data into a single data stream.

A method of encoding a tree dimensional model represented by polyhedral meshes to provide a compressed data representation of the three dimensional model, said method comprising the steps of:

• A. treating the mesh structure according to the following sequence:
• 1. select a starting node ns and a principle link I associated with the starting node ns;
• 2. traverse each link associated with the starting node in a clockwise direction starting with the principle link;
• 3. for each link traversed in Step 2, add the traversed link ending node ns to a queue and set the link as the principle link, if the ending node is not already in the queue;
• 4. after each link associated with the starting node ns has been traversed go to the next node in the queue and repeat Steps 3 and 4 until all nodes in the queue have been traversed, and then terminate;
• B. recording each link associated with each node of the mesh traversed.

A method of encoding a three dimensional model represented by polyhedral meshes to provide a compressed data representation of the three dimensional model, said method comprising the steps:

• coding the structure data of the polyhedral meshes representing the three dimensional model, wherein the step of coding the structure data comprises the steps of selecting a starting node ns and a principle link associated with the starting node ns, and traversing a selected link associated with the starting node ns in a clockwise direction starting with the principle link;
• coding the attribute data of the polyhedral meshes representing the three dimensional model;
• and
• multiplexing the encoded structure data and the encoded attribute data into a single data stream.