Sparse Meshless Models of Complex Deformable Solids

International audienceA new method to simulate deformable objects with heterogeneous material properties and complex geometries using an arbitrary number of control frames is presented. Given a volumetric map of the material properties of an object and a number of control nodes, a distribution of the nodes is computed automatically, as well as the associated shape functions. Reference frames are attached to the nodes, and deformations are applied to the object using linear blend skinning. A continuum mechanics formulation is derived from the displacements and the material properties. We introduce novel material-aware shape functions in place of the traditional radial basis functions used in meshless frameworks. These allow coarse deformation functions to very efficiently resolve nonuniform stiffnesses. Complex models can thus be simulated at high frame rates using a small number of control nodes