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Polygonal Surface Advection applied to Strange Attractors
Author(s) -
Yan S.,
Max N.,
Ma K.L.
Publication year - 2010
Publication title -
computer graphics forum
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.578
H-Index - 120
eISSN - 1467-8659
pISSN - 0167-7055
DOI - 10.1111/j.1467-8659.2010.01817.x
Subject(s) - fractal , fractal dimension , attractor , flow (mathematics) , fractal landscape , subdivision surface , computer science , surface (topology) , visualization , geometry , turbulence , decimation , fractal dimension on networks , computer graphics (images) , fractal analysis , mathematics , mathematical analysis , polygon mesh , physics , computer vision , mechanics , artificial intelligence , filter (signal processing)
Abstract Strange attractors of 3D vector field flows sometimes have a fractal geometric structure in one dimension, and smooth surface behavior in the other two. General flow visualization methods show the flow dynamics well, but not the fractal structure. Here we approximate the attractor by polygonal surfaces, which reveal the fractal geometry. We start with a polygonal approximation which neglects the fractal dimension, and then deform it by the flow to create multiple sheets of the fractal structure. We use adaptive subdivision, mesh decimation, and retiling methods to preserve the quality of the polygonal surface in the face of extreme stretching, bending, and creasing caused by the flow. A GPU implementation provides efficient visualization, which we also apply to other turbulent flows.