Enhancing Levin's method for computing quadric-surface intersections

Levin's method produces a parameterization of the intersection curve of two quadrics in the form p(u) = a(u) d(u)roots(u), where a(u) and d(u) are vector valued polynomials, and s(u) is a quartic polynomial. This method, however, is incapable of classifying the morphology of the intersection curve, in terms of reducibility, singularity, and the number of connected components, which is critical structural information required by solid modeling applications. We study the theoretical foundation of Levin's method, as well as the parameterization p(u) it produces. The following contributions are presented in this paper: (1) It is shown how the roots of s(u) can be used to classify the morphology of an irreducible intersection curve of two quadric surfaces. (2) An enhanced version of Levin's method is proposed that, besides classifying the morphology of the intersection curve of two quadrics, produces a rational parameterization of the curve if the curve is singular. (3) A simple geometric proof is given for the existence of a real ruled quadric in any quadric pencil, which is the key result on which Levin's method is based. These results enhance the capability of Levin's method in processing the intersection curve of two general quadrics within its own self-contained framework. (C) 2003 Published by Elsevier B.V.