PARAMETERIZED SURFACE FITTING TECHNIQUE HAVING INDEPENDENT CONTROL OF FITTING AND PARAMETERIZATION

A method for creating a smooth parameterization and fitting it to an input surface in a 3-D computer graphics system comprises specifying a plurality of boundary curves on the surface that define a patch of the surface. The boundary curves are typically specified using a user-interactive curve editing procedure, but may also be specified automatically. The method then automatically generates a parameterization of the patch such that a discretized higher order energy functional defined on the surface is minimized. The method further comprises the step of fitting a smooth surface to the input surface, where the smooth surface has a parameterization as generated in the previous step. The fitting and parameterization steps are independently controlled to give the user a high degree of flexibility and control over both steps. The method is useful for converting dense irregular polygon meshes into surface models suitable for interactive modification and animation.