Discrete Conformal Maps Research Articles

Decorated Discrete Conformal Maps and Convex Polyhedral Cusps

Abstract We discuss a notion of discrete conformal equivalence for decorated piecewise Euclidean surfaces (PE-surface), that is, PE-surfaces with a choice of circle about each vertex. It is closely related to inversive distance and hyperideal circle patterns. Under the assumption that the circles are non-intersecting, we prove the corresponding discrete uniformization theorem. The uniformization theorem for discrete conformal maps corresponds to the special case that all circles degenerate to points. Our proof relies on an intimate relationship between decorated PE-surfaces, canonical tessellations of hyperbolic surfaces and convex hyperbolic polyhedra. It is based on a concave variational principle, which also provides a method for the computation of decorated discrete conformal maps.

Metric Optimization in Penner Coordinates

Many parametrization and mapping-related problems in geometry processing can be viewed as metric optimization problems, i.e., computing a metric minimizing a functional and satisfying a set of constraints, such as flatness. Penner coordinates are global coordinates on the space of metrics on meshes with a fixed vertex set and topology, but varying connectivity, making it homeomorphic to the Euclidean space of dimension equal to the number of edges in the mesh, without any additional constraints imposed. These coordinates play an important role in the theory of discrete conformal maps, enabling recent development of highly robust algorithms with convergence and solution existence guarantees for computing such maps. We demonstrate how Penner coordinates can be used to solve a general class of optimization problems involving metrics, including optimization and interpolation, while retaining the key solution existence guarantees available for discrete conformal maps.

Discrete conformal geometry of polyhedral surfaces and its convergence

The paper proves a result on the convergence of discrete conformal maps to the Riemann mappings for Jordan domains. It is a counterpart of Rodin-Sullivan's theorem on convergence of circle packing mappings to the Riemann mapping in the new setting of discrete conformality. The proof follows the same strategy that Rodin-Sullivan used by establishing a rigidity result for regular hexagonal triangulations of the plane and estimating the quasiconformal constants associated to the discrete conformal maps.

Discrete conformal equivalence of polyhedral surfaces

This paper describes a numerical method for surface parameterization, yielding maps that are locally injective and discretely conformal in an exact sense. Unlike previous methods for discrete conformal parameterization, the method is guaranteed to work for any manifold triangle mesh, with no restrictions on triangulatiothat each task can be formulated as a convex problem where the triangulation is allowed to change---we complete the picture by introducing the machinery needed to actually construct a discrete conformal map. In particular, we introduce a new scheme for tracking correspondence between triangulations based on normal coordinates , and a new interpolation procedure based on layout in the light cone. Stress tests involving difficult cone configurations and near-degenerate triangulations indicate that the method is extremely robust in practice, and provides high-quality interpolation even on meshes with poor elements.

Conformally Symmetric Triangular Lattices and Discrete ϑ-Conformal Maps

Abstract Two immersed triangulations in the plane with the same combinatorics are considered as preimage and image of a discrete immersion $F$. We compare the cross-ratios $Q$ and $q$ of corresponding pairs of adjacent triangles in the two triangulations. If for every pair the arguments of these cross-ratios (i.e., intersection angles of circumcircles) agree, $F$ is a discrete conformal map based on circle patterns. Similarly, if for every pair the absolute values of the corresponding cross-ratios $Q$ and $q$ (i.e., length cross-ratios) agree, the two triangulations are discretely conformally equivalent. We introduce a new notion, discrete $\vartheta $-conformal maps, which interpolates between these two known notions of discrete conformality for planar triangulations. We prove that there exists an associated variational principle. In particular, discrete $\vartheta $-conformal maps are unique maximizers of a locally defined concave functional ${\mathcal{F}}_{\vartheta}$in suitable variables. Furthermore, we study conformally symmetric triangular lattices that contain examples of discrete $\vartheta $-conformal maps.

On Rigidity and Convergence of Circle Patterns

Two planar embedded circle patterns with the same combinatorics and the same intersection angles can be considered to define a discrete conformal map. We show that two locally finite circle patterns covering the unit disc are related by a hyperbolic isometry. Furthermore, we prove an analogous rigidity statement for the complex plane if all exterior intersection angles of neighboring circles are uniformly bounded away from 0. Finally, we study a sequence of two circle patterns with the same combinatorics each of which approximates a given simply connected domain. Assume that all kites are convex and all angles in the kites are uniformly bounded and the radii of one circle pattern converge to 0. Then a subsequence of the corresponding discrete conformal maps converges to a Riemann map between the given domains.

$$C^\infty $$ C ∞ -Convergence of Conformal Mappings for Conformally Equivalent Triangular Lattices

Two triangle meshes are conformally equivalent if for any pair of incident triangles the absolute values of the corresponding cross-ratios of the four vertices agree. Such a pair can be considered as preimage and image of a discrete conformal map. In this article we study discrete conformal maps which are defined on parts of a triangular lattice $T$ with strictly acute angles. That is, $T$ is an infinite triangulation of the plane with congruent strictly acute triangles. A smooth conformal map $f$ can be approximated on a compact subset by such discrete conformal maps $f^\varepsilon$, defined on a part of $\varepsilon T$ for $\varepsilon>0$ small enough, see [U. B\"ucking, Approximation of conformal mappings using conformally equivalent triangular lattices, in "Advances in Discrete Differential Geometry" (A.I. Bobenko ed.), Springer (2016), 133--149]. We improve this result and show that the convergence is in fact in $C^\infty$. Furthermore, we describe how the cross-ratios of the four vertices for pairs of incident triangles are related to the Schwarzian derivative of $f$.

Abelian Higgs vortices and discrete conformal maps

We establish a connection between recent developments in the study of vortices in the abelian Higgs models, and in the theory of structure-preserving discrete conformal maps. We explain how both are related via conformal mapping problems involving prescribed linear combinations of the curvature and volume form, and show how the discrete conformal theory can be used to construct discrete vortex solutions.

Similarity maps and field-guided T-splines

A variety of techniques were proposed to model smooth surfaces based on tensor product splines (e.g. subdivision surfaces, free-form splines, T-splines). Conversion of an input surface into such a representation is commonly achieved by constructing a global seamless parametrization, possibly aligned to a guiding cross-field (e.g. of principal curvature directions), and using this parametrization as domain to construct the spline-based surface. One major fundamental difficulty in designing robust algorithms for this task is the fact that for common types, e.g. subdivision surfaces (requiring a conforming domain mesh) or T-spline surfaces (requiring a globally consistent knot interval assignment) reliably obtaining a suitable parametrization that has the same topological structure as the guiding field poses a major challenge. Even worse, not all fields do admit suitable parametrizations, and no concise conditions are known as to which fields do. We present a class of surface constructions (T-splines with halfedge knots ) and a class of parametrizations ( seamless similarity maps ) that are, in a sense, a perfect match for the task: for any given guiding field structure, a compatible parametrization of this kind exists and a smooth piecewise rational surface with exactly the same structure as the input field can be constructed from it. As a byproduct, this enables full control over extraordinary points. The construction is backward compatible with classical NURBS. We present efficient algorithms for building discrete conformal similarity maps and associated T-meshes and T-spline surfaces.

Approximation of conformal welding for finitely connected regions

For a fixed integer , let be an m-connected region in the Riemann sphere whose complement is a union of m disjoint closed disks and let be quasisymmetric mappings defined on for . We construct discrete conformal welding for based on the circle packing approach. We show that the discrete conformal welding mappings induced by circle packings converge uniformly on compact subsets to their continuous counterparts and that the corresponding discrete conformal welding curves converge uniformly to quasicircles determined by . This gives a constructive proof of the existence and uniqueness theorem for conformal welding of finitely connected regions.

Incompressibility of domain-filling circle packings

A Jordan domain G whose boundary is decomposed into four arcs \(\alpha \), \(\beta \), \(\gamma \) and \(\delta \) is said to be a quadrilateral. A circle packing filling the quadrilateral is a finite collection \(\mathcal {P}\) of circles, which are contained in the closure of G, and touch each other as well as the four boundary arcs in a prescribed way (encoded in a so-called quad-complex). Using the concept of prime ends, we extend these definitions to arbitrary simply connected domains, and prove incompressibility of circle packings (and more general circle ensembles, which we call circle agglomerations) filling quadrilaterals. As immediate consequence we obtain uniqueness of appropriately normalized discrete conformal mappings in the spirit of Caratheodory’s theorem. Moreover, the results lead to a novel concept of the discrete conformal modulus of (planar) simplicial quad-complexes.

Discrete conformal maps and ideal hyperbolic polyhedra

We establish a connection between two previously unrelated topics: a particular discrete version of conformal geometry for triangulated surfaces, and the geometry of ideal polyhedra in hyperbolic three-space. Two triangulated surfaces are considered discretely conformally equivalent if the edge lengths are related by scale factors associated with the vertices. This simple definition leads to a surprisingly rich theory featuring M\"obius invariance, the definition of discrete conformal maps as circumcircle preserving piecewise projective maps, and two variational principles. We show how literally the same theory can be reinterpreted to addresses the problem of constructing an ideal hyperbolic polyhedron with prescribed intrinsic metric. This synthesis enables us to derive a companion theory of discrete conformal maps for hyperbolic triangulations. It also shows how the definitions of discrete conformality considered here are closely related to the established definition of discrete conformality in terms of circle packings.

Rigidity of circle packings with crosscuts

Circle packings with specified patterns of tangencies form a discrete counterpart of analytic functions. In this paper we study univalent packings (with a combinatorial closed disk as tangent graph) which are embedded in (or fill) a bounded, simply connected domain. We introduce the concept of crosscuts and investigate the rigidity of circle packings with respect to maximal crosscuts. The main result is a discrete version of an indentity theorem for analytic functions (in the spirit of Schwarz’ Lemma), which has implications to uniqueness statements for discrete conformal mappings.

Discrete Conformal Deformation: Algorithm and Experiments

In this paper, we introduce the definition of discrete conformality for triangulated surfaces with flat cone metrics and describe an algorithm for solving the problem of prescribing curvature, which is to deform the metric discrete conformally so that the curvature of the resulting metric coincides with the prescribed curvature. We explicitly construct a discrete conformal map between the input triangulated surface and the deformed triangulated surface. Our algorithm can handle a surface with any topology, with or without boundary, and can find a deformed metric for any prescribed curvature satisfying the Gauss--Bonnet formula. In addition, we present the numerical examples to show the convergence of our discrete conformality and to demonstrate the efficiency and the robustness of our algorithm.

How round is a protein? Exploring protein structures for globularity using conformal mapping.

We present a new algorithm that automatically computes a measure of the geometric difference between the surface of a protein and a round sphere. The algorithm takes as input two triangulated genus zero surfaces representing the protein and the round sphere, respectively, and constructs a discrete conformal map f between these surfaces. The conformal map is chosen to minimize a symmetric elastic energy ES(f) that measures the distance of f from an isometry. We illustrate our approach on a set of basic sample problems and then on a dataset of diverse protein structures. We show first that ES(f) is able to quantify the roundness of the Platonic solids and that for these surfaces it replicates well traditional measures of roundness such as the sphericity. We then demonstrate that the symmetric elastic energy ES(f) captures both global and local differences between two surfaces, showing that our method identifies the presence of protruding regions in protein structures and quantifies how these regions make the shape of a protein deviate from globularity. Based on these results, we show that ES(f) serves as a probe of the limits of the application of conformal mapping to parametrize protein shapes. We identify limitations of the method and discuss its extension to achieving automatic registration of protein structures based on their surface geometry.

Discrete Extremal Length and Cube Tilings in Finite Dimensions

Extremal length is a conformal invariant that transfers naturally to the discrete setting, giving square tilings as a natural combinatorial analog of conformal mappings. Recent work by S. Hersonsky has explored generalizing these ideas to three-dimensional cube tilings. The connections between discrete extremal length and cube tilings survive the dimension jump, but a condition called the triple intersection property is needed to generalize existence arguments. We show that this condition is too strong to realize a tiling, thus showing that discrete conformal mappings are far more limited in dimension three, mirroring the classical phenomenon. We also generalize results about discrete extremal length beyond dimension three and introduce some necessary conditions for cube tilings.

Random walks in the quarter plane, discrete harmonic functions and conformal mappings

We propose a new approach for finding discrete harmonic functions in the quarter plane with Dirichlet conditions. It is based on solving functional equations that are satisfied by the generating functions of the values taken by the harmonic functions. As a first application of our results, we obtain a simple expression for the harmonic function that governs the asymptotic tail distribution of the first exit time for random walks from the quarter plane. As another corollary, we prove, in the zero drift case, the uniqueness of the discrete harmonic function.

Automatic Alignment of Genus-Zero Surfaces

A new algorithm is presented that provides a constructive way to conformally warp a triangular mesh of genus zero to a destination surface with minimal metric deformation, as well as a means to compute automatically a measure of the geometric difference between two surfaces of genus zero. The algorithm takes as input a pair of surfaces that are topological 2-spheres, each surface given by a distinct triangulation. The algorithm then constructs a map $(f)$ between the two surfaces. First, each of the two triangular meshes is mapped to the unit sphere using a discrete conformal mapping algorithm. The two mappings are then composed with a Möbius transformation to generate the function $(f)$. The Möbius transformation is chosen by minimizing an energy that measures the distance of $(f)$ from an isometry. We illustrate our approach using several "real life" data sets. We show first that the algorithm allows for accurate, automatic, and landmark-free nonrigid registration of brain surfaces. We then validate our approach by comparing shapes of proteins. We provide numerical experiments to demonstrate that the distances computed with our algorithm between low-resolution, surface-based representations of proteins are highly correlated with the corresponding distances computed between high-resolution, atomistic models for the same proteins.

Periodic discrete conformal maps

A discrete conformal map (DCM) maps the square lattice to the Riemann sphere such that the image of every irreducible square has the same cross-ratio. This paper shows that every periodic DCM can be determined from spectral data (a hyperelliptic compact Riemann surface, called the spectral curve, equipped with some marked points). Each point of the map corresponds to a line bundle over the spectral curve so that the map corresponds to a discrete subgroup of the Jacobi variety. We derive an explicit formula for the generic maps using Riemann theta functions, describe the typical singularities and give a geometric interpretation of DCM's as a discrete version of the Schwarzian KdV equation. As such, the DCM equation is a discrete soliton equation and we describe the dressing action of a loop group on the set of DCM's. We also show that this action corresponds to a lattice of isospectral Darboux transforms for the finite gap solutions of the KdV equation.

Discrete conformal methods for cortical brain flattening

Locations and patterns of functional brain activity in humans are difficult to compare across subjects because of differences in cortical folding and functional foci are often buried within cortical sulci. Unfolding a cortical surface via flat mapping has become a key method for facilitating the recognition of new structural and functional relationships. Mathematical and other issues involved in flat mapping are the subject of this paper. It is mathematically impossible to flatten curved surfaces without metric and area distortion. Nevertheless, “metric” flattening has flourished based on a variety of computational methods that minimize distortion. However, it is mathematically possible to flatten without any angular distortion — a fact known for 150 years. Computational methods for this “conformal” flattening have only recently emerged. Conformal maps are particularly versatile and are backed by a uniquely rich mathematical theory. This paper presents a tutorial level introduction to the mathematics of conformal mapping and provides both conceptual and practical arguments for its use. Discrete conformal mapping computed via circle packing is a method that has provided the first practical realization of the Riemann Mapping Theorem (RMT). Maps can be displayed in three geometries, manipulated with Möbius transformations to zoom and focus on particular regions of interest, they respect canonical coordinates useful for intersubject registration and are locally Euclidean. The versatility and practical advantages of the circle packing approach are shown by producing conformal flat maps using MRI data of a human cerebral cortex, cerebellum and a specific region of interest (ROI).