US 11,816,396 B2
Constraint based automatic terrain surface design
Valentin R. Koch, Kelowna (CA); Patrick A. Bergeron, Anjou (CA); Nicholas James Zeeben, Bedford, NH (US); Qing Xue, Shanghai (CN); and Weiwei Hu, Shanghai (CN)
Assigned to AUTODESK, INC., San Francisco, CA (US)
Filed by Autodesk, Inc., San Francisco, CA (US)
Filed on Nov. 12, 2020, as Appl. No. 17/096,421.
Claims priority of provisional application 62/934,817, filed on Nov. 13, 2019.
Prior Publication US 2021/0141966 A1, May 13, 2021
Int. Cl. G06G 7/48 (2006.01); G06F 30/13 (2020.01); G06F 30/12 (2020.01); G06T 17/20 (2006.01); G06F 111/04 (2020.01)
CPC G06F 30/13 (2020.01) [G06F 30/12 (2020.01); G06T 17/20 (2013.01); G06F 2111/04 (2020.01)] 20 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A computer-implemented method for designing a terrain surface, comprising:
(a) obtaining, in a computer, a triangular surface mesh in three-dimensions representative of an existing surface, wherein the triangular surface mesh comprises two or more triangles that are connected by vertices and edges;
(b) specifying one or more constraints to control the triangular surface mesh, wherein:
(1) one or more of the constraints comprise a minimum or a maximum grading slope in a direction;
(2) the direction is based on a location of a closest drain element, of one or more drain elements, to each of the two or more triangles;
(c) automatically determining drainage for the triangular surface mesh based on the constraints; and
(d) optimizing the triangular surface mesh based on the drainage and one or more design options, wherein the optimizing modifies the triangular surface mesh to define drainage flow for the drainage;
wherein specifying the one or more constraints comprises:
determining a shortest distance between each of the two or more triangles and each of one or more drain elements;
selecting the drain element that has a smallest of the shortest distances; and
determining the direction for each of the two or more triangles based on a line that represents the smallest shortest distance, wherein the direction is the minimum oriented slope constraint for each of the two or more triangles.