DigitLAB, an Environment and Language for Manipulation of 3D

Design the fitting of surfaces to massive series of data points has many applications, ranging from medicine to aerophotogrametry. However, even the mathematical meaning of fitting a surface to a set of points is dependent on functional considerations, and not only on the geometric properties of the point set. Also, characteristics of some parts of the data set must be interpreted as stochastic in nature, while others must be taken as literal and therefore they become constraints of the surface. For these reasons, among others, automated surface fitting alone does not produce results usable at industrial level. At the same time, it does not take advantage of sampling patterns, particular shapes of the cross sections, functionally different regions within the object, etc. The latest literature reviews show the need for utilities to process point data sets that must be asynchronous, (applicable at any time and upon any region of the point set). Addressing this need, this article reports new tools developed within DigitLAB, a language that allows topological traversal, retrieval and statistical modifications to the data, and surface fitting. They can handle arbitrary topology, as case studies in medicine, mathematics, landscaping, etc. discussed here demonstrate