Mesh: Vertices, Edges, and Faces
CS-116A: Introduction to Computer Graphics
Instructor: Rob Bruce
Fall 2016

SLIDE 1: Mesh: Anatomy

2D illustration of a mesh.

SLIDE 2: Mesh: Anatomy

2D illustration of a mesh with vertices labeled.

SLIDE 3: Mesh: Anatomy

2D illustration of a mesh with edges labeled.

SLIDE 4: Mesh: Anatomy

2D illustration of a mesh with face labeled.

SLIDE 5: Mesh: Normal

2D illustration of a mesh with normal labeled.

SLIDE 6: Meshes

3D solid view of the Utah teapot with smooth shading.
Smooth shading on a solid surface.

3D wireframe mesh view of the Utah teapot.
Wireframe mesh.

SLIDE 7: Mesh: Normals

3D view of the Utah teapot displaying only the normals to the surface.
The blue lines indicate direction of the normal for each face.

SLIDE 8: Mesh: Normal

Normal

  • Indicates the direction light will reflect from the surface.
  • Check to make sure the normal isn’t inverted (pointing inside).
  • Inverted normals may result in dark spots on the surface where the light doesn’t reflect.

SLIDE 9: Traversing a Mesh: Reasons

Why traverse a mesh?

  • To describe the shape (edges, faces, and vertices).
  • To determine how light reflects off surface.
  • For animation: think in terms of cloth simulation.
  • For collision detection (when two surfaces collide) how should these surfaces interact?
  • To create an OBJ (Alias/Wavefront format file) for importing a mesh description into modelling or CAD software.

SLIDE 10: Describing a Mesh: Methods

Common methods for describing a mesh:

  • Face-vertex
  • Winged-Edge
  • Half-Edge
  • There are other methods as well!

SLIDE 11: For further reading…

Robert Bruce

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Fall 2016, CS-116A:

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