CRYSTAL-LIKE GEOMETRIC MODELING

iii Crystal-Like Geometric Modeling. (May 2005) Eric Landreneau, B.S., Texas A&M University Chair of Advisory Committee: Dr. John Keyser Crystals are natural phenomena that exhibit high degrees of order, symmetry, and recursion. They naturally form interesting and inspiring geometric shapes. This thesis provides geometric modeling techniques for creating shapes with crystal-like geometry. The tiered extrusion method, along with a face grouping technique, sim-plifies the creation of complex, intricate faceted shapes. In combination with remeshing, these methods provide the capability to generate geometric shapes exhibiting planar faces, symmetry, and fractal geometry. The techniques have also been implemented in software, as a proof of concept. They are used in an interactive geometric modeling system, in which users can use these tech-niques to create crystal-like shapes