Tessellation is the process of tiling the curves' shapes with polygons. Flame offers three different tessellation methods:
Standard (GLU) is the least taxing tessellation option, although it is also the least efficient.
Delaunay generates a mesh composed entirely of triangular polygons. This method gives consistent and predictable results, and in particular, it will not give different results if the tessellated objects are rotated.
Medial Axis creates concentric contour lines along the medial axes (averages between the input boundary curves), morphing from one boundary shape to the next.
Each method has its own set of options, described in the sections that follow.
The Standard (GLU) tessellation method is the legacy tesselation option; while being very light in its processing requirements, it is also the least efficient and precise. And compared to Delaunay and Medial Axis tesselation methods, it has no options to fine tune the resulting tessellation.
The Delaunay tessellation method (or more precisely, constrained Delaunay tessellation) generates a mesh composed entirely of triangular polygons. This method gives consistent and predictable results, and in particular, it does not give different results if the curves are rotated.
With this method, there are several options for fine-tuning the tessellation further.
Min Angle = 20
Max Area = 5
Use this option as a precaution against accidentally setting the other options to values that would create huge amounts of geometry with long processing times.
It is not recommended that you rely on this option to control the final number of vertices because it can force the tessellation to stop before the process is completed, thereby giving an unpredictable combination of polygon shapes and sizes.
The Medial Axis tessellation method creates concentric contour lines along the medial axes (averages between the input boundary curves), morphing from one boundary shape to the next. This method creates mainly quads with some triangles, so it is well-suited for subdivision surfaces.
With this method, there are several options for fine-tuning the tessellation further.
Loops = 2
Set to: | To have: |
---|---|
0 | The medial axis intersects boundaries at each point of concavity, which can often create many small triangles especially in sharp extremities. |
Positive value | The medial axis does not extend completely to the boundary and the remaining area is tessellated with a fan shape. |
Negative value | Sharper embossing effects |
Select: | To: |
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None | Have long edges that are not split. This results in fewer polygons and lighter geometry, but the resulting long, thin polygons may not deform well. |
Equal on Both Sides | Have a tessellation made of squarer polygons that deform better, at the cost of a heavier tessellation. |