[x3d-public] simulating surgery > realtime plastics > cuttable, deformable

[doug sanden]

Q. has (something like) this already been done:

simulating surgery > realtime plastics > cuttable, deformable
- similar to volume rendering
-- separate shader for this type
-- raycasting
- unlike volume rendering
-- voxels are connected by dense set of connector edges |X =|
-- raycast to first edge-delimited triangle (surface)
-- raycasting has to figure out where surface is, expensive
-- connector edges can be stretched to deform 
-- edges can be cut ie surgery cut 
--- no need to create new edges/faces during cut, just destroy
--- 'healing' would re-join based on proximity
options:
- voxels just geometry - connector edges and xyz vertices - and texture xyz and texture ID
- 2-step deformation: 1) change edge lengths based on springiness/stickiness, cuts 2) recompute per-voxel xyz
- 3-step deformation: 2-step, then re-compute 2D surface for normal rendering
- outer vertices initialized to different texture ID, for surface texture 
- slice textures rendered on-demand from dense models