[vtkusers] points on a surface

[Rasmus Reinhold Paulsen]

On Fri, 12 Aug 2005, Norman Rzezovski wrote:

> > Short question: Is there a quick way to get a collection of evenly
> > distributed points on a surface?

Well, I believe it depends a lot on the definition of your surface. If it
is a parametric surface or a polygonal surface for example. I am using an
ad-hoc method to resample a polygonal surface myself. However, I have no
proof if it is "good" or not.

I basically create a vtkCellLocator with the original polygonal surface as
target. Secondly, I calculate the bounding box of the original
surface. Then I create a set of points randomly distributed in that
bounding box (twice the bounding box actually). For each point I use the
locator to determine the closest point on the surface. This set of
"located" points finally constitutes my resampling.

This method do not keep the triangulation and depending on the complexity
of your manifold I am sure that parts of the surface will not be sampled.

Best regards,
Rasmus