Quality perception of simplified models:: NSA vs. Qslim

Quality perception of simplified models is an important aspect for several applications. But, it is normally evaluated only based on the analysis of geometrical errors of the simplified models. However, the analysis of geometrical errors is not enough to evaluate the quality of the simplified models. The quality of the simplified models and the execution times are the main aspects that distinguish the simplification algorithms. These algorithms are of great interest in a variety of areas, since they allow the replacement of large models by approximations with far fewer cells for manipulation and visualization purposes. This paper presents a comparison between two simplification algorithms, NSA and Qslim, and shows the difference between geometrical and graphical quality of the models. The comparison of results was made using the PolyMeCo tool, which enables the analysis and comparison of meshes by providing an environment where several visualization options and metrics are available and can be used in a coordinated way.