A Generalized Cracks Simulation on 3D-Meshes

Abstract

This article describes a method for simulating the formation and the development of cracks on the surface of a shrinking volume. The simulated cracks are applied afterwards to any surface provided with a parameterization. The 2D path of the cracks is automatically precalculated by an appropriate algorithm which gives a graph of discrete ways. We newly propose to take into account a possibly inhomogeneous thickness of the shrinking layer by using a watershed transformation to compute this path. The propagation of one crack is then based on the respect of the primary orientation of the crack. Another originality of our method is the calculation of the enlargement of each crack by a discrete shrinkage volume propagation. We consider the shrinking layer as a set of cubic cells which contain volumes of matter and pores. During the dessiccation process, the matter shrinks, creating what we call a shrinkage volume . We propagate this shrinkage volume among the cells up to the cracked ones, and we deduce the width of the cracks from the resulting shrinkage volume in these cells. In this paper, this method is presented in detail and we give images obtained from different simulations. Initially designed to help for the prediction of seedlings emergence in an agronomic environment, the method we present can also be applied to enhance the realism of virtual 3D objects.