Selection of detail levels at continuous surface simplification of polygonal objects

A method for selection of detail levels is proposed. The method relates the geometric complexity of a polygonal object to the distance from the object to a spectator. A brief survey of currently available algorithms intended for decreasing the geometric complexity is given. A new algorithm for simplification of a polygonal model with the use of sequential deletion of object's vertices is considered. A ratio that relates the number of deleted vertices to the distance between an object and a spectator is obtained. The detail level can uniquely be determined on the basis of this ratio.