Divided Voxels: An efficient algorithm for interactive cutting of deformable objects.

Area of Science:

• Computer Graphics
• Computational Physics

Background:

• Simulating progressive interactive cutting of deformable objects requires efficient algorithms for dynamic topological updates.
• Existing mesh-based methods often produce ill-shaped elements, while voxel grid methods need extra cut surfaces or look-up tables.

Purpose of the Study:

• To propose a novel voxel-based topological operator for efficient and dynamic cutting of deformable objects.
• To overcome the limitations of existing mesh and voxel-based cutting techniques.

Main Methods:

• Introduced a novel voxel-based topological operator named 'divide'.
• The 'divide' operator splits a voxel into two, dynamically distributing its elements to maintain connectivity.
• Ensures continuity of the cut by generating new connectivity between adjacent divided voxels.

Main Results:

• The proposed method directly generates cut surfaces on-the-fly from divided voxels.
• Maintains correspondence between the cut surface and simulation voxels without additional effort.
• Demonstrated efficiency through several example problems and comparisons with existing approaches.

Conclusions:

• The novel voxel-based 'divide' operator provides an efficient solution for dynamic topological updates in deformable object cutting simulations.
• This approach eliminates the need for ill-shaped element generation or pre-computed cutting patterns.
• Offers a robust method for on-the-fly cut surface generation and simulation voxel correspondence.