Real-Time Simulation for Global Deformation of Soft-Tissue Using Deformable Centerline and Medial Representation. ISBMS

Abstract. Real-time simulation for global deformation of soft tissue, using Mass-Spring or traditional finite element method (FEM), is difficult because of the following reasons: (1) The linear elastic model is inappropriate for simulating large deformation for the probably unreasonable distortion; (2) The size of the 3D problem (the number of elements in the Mass-Spring or FEM mesh) is much larger than a 2D issue. In this paper, we propose a novel approach for these 2 problems: (1) deploying a deformable centerline, combined with medial representation method instead of the traditional linear elastic model, to simulate large motion and global deformation of a 3D tube like object; (2) applying a simplified algorithm which reconstructs the soft tissue surface by the medial representation method and reduces the complexity of a 3D problem.