Persistence-guided Prescribed Topological Simplification

摘要

We present a new method for simplifying the topology of a 3D shape. Unlike existing methods that either remove all topological features or offer indirect control over the target topology, our method aims at exactly preserving the user-prescribed numbers of topological features of each type (e.g., components, handles, and voids), while making minimal geometric changes. Guided by persistent homology, our method removes features with low persistence by performing either cutting or filling. This is achieved by an algorithm for computing candidate cuts and fills that remove only low-persistence features, an efficient algorithm for selecting an optimal subset of candidates by computing a weighted independent set, and an iterative framework that alternates between candidate computation and selection. Our method is shown to be highly successful in achieving the prescribed topology on a large test suite involving many complex 3D shapes and target topologies.