Energy-Based Distortion-Balancing Parameterization for Open Surfaces

Abstract

Surface parameterization is a fundamental concept in fields such as differential geometry and computer graphics. It involves mapping a surface in three-dimensional space onto a two-dimensional parameter space. This process allows for the systematic representation and manipulation of surfaces of complicated shapes by simplifying them into a manageable planar domain. In this paper, we propose a new iterative algorithm for computing the parameterization of simply connected open surfaces that achieves an optimal balance between angle and area distortions. We rigorously prove that the iteration in our algorithm converges globally, and numerical results demonstrate that the resulting mappings are bijective and effectively balance angular and area accuracy across various triangular meshes. Additionally, we present the practical usefulness of the proposed algorithm by applying it to represent surfaces as geometry images.