Multiresolution mesh representation using vertex cluster contraction

3D models constructed by free-form modeling using triangular meshes have placed rigorous demands upon transmission bandwidth, storage capacity and computational complexity in rendering. This paper discusses the construction and application of multiresolution mesh representation that can accomodate the growing complexity of 3D models by providing streamability, scalability and compression to 3D meshes. A novel mesh simplification algorithm is proposed to generate a series of approximating meshes. The proposed algorithm computes a distortion metric that satisfies the volume preservation and shape preservation criteria. The simplification results are shown to have better visual quality than other algorithms in literature. A new data format was proposed for efficient storage, streaming and scalable recovery with different level-of-details. The bitstream is progressively structured to minimize storage and transmission requirement when compared to ordinary storage methods.