Generation of 3D isosurfaces by means of the marching cube algorithm

Within the electromagnetic computer-aided design the postprocessing and visualisation of vector and scalar fields is one of the most important applications. This paper deals with the 3-dimensional generation of isosurfaces for solutions of finite element (FE) and finite difference (FD) systems by means of the marching cube algorithm. It is shown how to obtain triangulated surfaces for scalar fields. Cube or HE-8 hexahedral elements with 6 faces and 8 nodes are used as base cells for the surface subtriangulation. In conjunction with an edge-orientated field allocation, unique surface triangulations are found which maintain the basic properties of fields and surfaces. Examples showing the components or the absolute of vector fields, potentials, temperature distributions, and far field patterns illustrate the quality and functionality of the method.