Numerical analyses of the boundary effect of radial basis functions in 3D surface reconstruction

Surface reconstruction is very important for surface characterization and graph processing. Radial basis function has now become a popular method to reconstruct 3D surfaces from scattered data. However, it is relatively inaccurate at the boundary region. To solve this problem, a circle of new centres are added outside the domain of interest. The factors that influence the boundary behaviour are analyzed quantitatively via numerical experiments. It is demonstrated that if the new centres are properly located, the boundary problem can be effectively overcome whilst not reducing the accuracy at the interior area. A modified Graham scan technique is introduced to obtain the boundary points from a scattered point set. These boundary points are extended outside with an appropriate distance, and then uniformized to form the new auxiliary centres.