Surface reconstruction
Surface from Scattered Points Component
Fit CAD surfaces to scattered points and geometric constraints. Integrate surface reconstruction into scanning and reverse-engineering workflows.
On this page
Fit B-spline surfaces to points and constraints
Surface from Scattered Points (SSP) constructs and modifies B-spline surfaces using point, tangential, scalar and linear constraints. Applications include fitting scanned data, filling a bounded hole, adjusting an existing surface and reducing gaps between surfaces and wireframes.
The component uses a variational approach that minimizes energy-like functionals. The surface is adjusted to satisfy the input constraints while controlling its smoothness. This gives the application more control than simply connecting neighboring sample points into triangles.
Start with constraints and an initial surface
The process loads the constraints, creates or accepts an initial surface, then iteratively modifies it. Available starting forms include a plane, a four-point trapezoidal patch and a six-point conical patch; these are converted internally to B-spline form. An application can supply its own starting surface.
Boundary and morphing requirements are translated into constraints. The initial surface and constraints help define which part of a reconstruction problem the component should solve.
Balance fit, smoothness and complexity
| Parameter | What it controls |
|---|---|
| Smoothing coefficient | Balance between adherence to input points and surface smoothness |
| Continuity order | Continuity of the patches composing the surface |
| Iterations | Refinement after the initial calculation |
| Energy coefficients | Resistance to deformation of the initial surface |
| U/V degrees and knot counts | Flexibility and complexity of the B-spline representation |
For noisy scans, following every point closely can be less useful than recovering a smooth surface. Compare residual deviations and shape quality against the requirements of the intended CAD operation.
Surface fitting within a larger workflow
SSP produces surfaces for an application to use; reconstructing a complete part also involves choosing regions, boundaries and topology. If the task is to align a scan with an existing reference model, use BestFit. For graph-native sewing and quality analysis, explore BRepGraph Advance.
Discuss surface reconstruction with representative points, boundary conditions, expected continuity and acceptable deviation.