Mesh Edge Construction

In this post I will present three equivalent algorithms to compute the edges of a polygonal mesh. The algorithms are subsequent optimization steps to produce the exact same result with progressively increased efficiency. In the first part of this text, I will describe the typical representation of a mesh topology, distinguish between different concepts of edges. To better define the subject, picture the wireframe of a polygonal mesh. Assuming there is no overlapping geometry in the scene, if you’d have to draw each single segment once, you would be drawing edges. That would be different than drawing polygons outline, because in drawing adjacent polygons you would end up drawing some, if not most of the segments twice. What this post is not This post is not about topological acceleration structure, like half-edges, winged-mesh, corner table, vertex-vertex, or similar. I borrow some of the terms though. I will refer to half-edges throughout the text, to distinguish from unique edges, ... Read full article.