Feature-Preserving Mesh Decimation for Normal Integration
Journal:
arXiv
Published Date:
Apr 1, 2025
Abstract
Normal integration reconstructs 3D surfaces from normal maps obtained e.g. by
photometric stereo. These normal maps capture surface details down to the pixel
level but require large computational resources for integration at high
resolutions. In this work, we replace the dense pixel grid with a sparse
anisotropic triangle mesh prior to normal integration. We adapt the triangle
mesh to the local geometry in the case of complex surface structures and remove
oversampling from flat featureless regions. For high-resolution images, the
resulting compression reduces normal integration runtimes from hours to minutes
while maintaining high surface accuracy. Our main contribution is the
derivation of the well-known quadric error measure from mesh decimation for
screen space applications and its combination with optimal Delaunay
triangulation.
