An efficient data structure for calculation of unstructured T-spline surfaces

To overcome the topological constraints of non-uniform rational B-splines, T-splines have been proposed to define the freeform surfaces. The introduction of T-junctions and extraordinary points makes it possible to represent arbitrarily shaped models by a single T-spline surface. Whereas, the complexity and flexibility of topology structure bring difficulty in programming, which have caused a great obstacle for the development and application of T-spline technologies. So far, research literatures concerning T-spline data structures compatible with extraordinary points are very scarce. In this paper, an efficient data structure for calculation of unstructured T-spline surfaces is developed, by which any complex T-spline surface models can be easily and efficiently computed. Several unstructured T-spline surface models are calculated and visualized in our prototype system to verify the validity of the proposed method.