Isosurface Extraction for Signed Distance Functions using Power Diagrams

Abstract Contouring an implicit function typically considers function values in the vicinity of the desired level set, only. In a recent string of works, Sellán at al. have demonstrated that signed distance values contain useful information also if they are further away from the surface. This can be exploited to increase the resolution and amount of detail in surface reconstruction from signed distance values. We argue that the right tool for this analysis is a regular triangulation of the distance samples, with the weights chosen based on the distance values. The resulting triangulation is better suited for reconstructing the surface than a standard Delaunay triangulation of the samples. Moreover, the dual power diagram encodes the envelope enclosing the surface, consisting of spherical caps. We discuss how this information can be exploited for reconstructing the surface. In particular, the approach based on regular triangulations lends itself well to refining the sample set. Refining the sample set based on the power diagram outperforms other reconstruction methods relative to the sample count.