Computing geometry-aware handle and tunnel loops in 3D models

Many applications such as topology repair, model editing, surface parameterization, and feature recognition benefit from computing loops on surfaces that wrap around their 'handles' and 'tunnels'. Computing such loops while optimizing their geometric lengths is difficult. On the other hand, computing such loops without considering geometry is easy but may not be very useful. In this paper we strike a balance by computing topologically correct loops that are also geometrically relevant. Our algorithm is a novel application of the concepts from topological persistence introduced recently in computational topology. The usability of the computed loops is demonstrated with some examples in feature identification and topology simplification.