Efficient algorithms for computing Reeb graphs

  • Authors:
  • Harish Doraiswamy;Vijay Natarajan

  • Affiliations:
  • Department of Computer Science and Automation, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore 560012, India;Department of Computer Science and Automation, Supercomputer Education and Research Centre, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore 560012, India

  • Venue:
  • Computational Geometry: Theory and Applications
  • Year:
  • 2009

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Abstract

The Reeb graph tracks topology changes in level sets of a scalar function and finds applications in scientific visualization and geometric modeling. We describe an algorithm that constructs the Reeb graph of a Morse function defined on a 3-manifold. Our algorithm maintains connected components of the two dimensional levels sets as a dynamic graph and constructs the Reeb graph in O(nlogn+nlogg(loglogg)^3) time, where n is the number of triangles in the tetrahedral mesh representing the 3-manifold and g is the maximum genus over all level sets of the function. We extend this algorithm to construct Reeb graphs of d-manifolds in O(nlogn(loglogn)^3) time, where n is the number of triangles in the simplicial complex that represents the d-manifold. Our result is a significant improvement over the previously known O(n^2) algorithm. Finally, we present experimental results of our implementation and demonstrate that our algorithm for 3-manifolds performs efficiently in practice.