Quad layouts with high valence singularities for flexible quad meshing

TL;DR

This paper introduces a new algorithm for generating quad layouts with high valence singularities, enabling flexible quad meshing by incorporating natural or user-defined singularity patterns and ensuring high-quality mesh output.

Contribution

It develops a formulation to compute cross-fields from singularities via linear PDEs and introduces a correction scheme for non-quadrilateral patches, advancing quad meshing techniques.

Findings

Effective handling of high valence singularities in quad layouts

Successful generation of high-quality block-structured quad meshes

Robust correction of limit cycles and non-quadrilateral patches

Abstract

A novel algorithm that produces a quad layout based on imposed set of singularities is proposed. In this paper, we either use singularities that appear naturally, e.g., by minimizing Ginzburg-Landau energy, or use as an input user-defined singularity pattern, possibly with high valence singularities that do not appear naturally in cross-field computations. The first contribution of the paper is the development of a formulation that allows computing a cross-field from a given set of singularities through the resolution of two linear PDEs. A specific mesh refinement is applied at the vicinity of singularities to accommodate the large gradients of cross directions that appear in the vicinity of singularities of high valence. The second contribution of the paper is a correction scheme that repairs limit cycles and/or non-quadrilateral patches. Finally, a high quality block-structured quad mesh is generated from the quad layout and per-partition parameterization.