All discussions to do with vtkClipDataSet, vtkCookieCutter, vtkCell::Clip, vtkCell::CookieCut(?)

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@will.schroeder @Yohann_Bearzi

This post should serve as a central site for all ideas, opinions, suggestions, thoughts about the state of 2D and 3D boolean capabilities in the VTK library. Scalar-based clipping is great from the visualization-aspect but not when precise geometric cuts are absolutely necessary. Whether VTK should really support the latter is open to discussion.

Common terms:
Clipper: The polygon used to cut.
Subject: polygon that’s being cut by the clip poly.
InsideOut On: Output portions of subject poly inside clip polygon
InsideOut Off: Output portions of subject poly outside clip polygon

Current state of 2D boolean ops in VTK:

  1. Scalar-based: vtkClipPolyData can be used to clip 2D cells. This is scalar based clipping.
  2. Geometric-based (precise intersections): vtkCookieCutter works alright. (cannot produce inverted output)

Current state of 3D boolean ops in VTK:

  1. Scalar-based: At the moment, vtkClipDataSet seems to be the only filter that clips 3D cells.
  2. Geometric-based: For simple surface booleans, vtkBooleanPolyDataFilter should suffice. There are no implementations that deal with 3D cells.

vtkCookieCutter subclasses vtkPolyDataAlgorithm, it cannot be used to cut 3D cells.

There were two efforts to add the InsideOut feature to 2D cutting in VTK. When cutting polygons with InsideOut = off, vtkCookieCutter's algorithm inherently cannot work for certain scenarios (some of the clip polygon’s points are exactly on subject polygon’s edge). Straightforward from code. So, I had to work from scratch.

New algo from scratch:
What started as a small project that innocently hoped to extend vtkCookieCutter with an ability to invert the cutting operation soon evolved to a side project discourse, github where I explored and developed an alternative algorithm that does perfect(not kidding) 2D boolean operations only on triangles and no other polys.

Extend existing vtkCookieCutter
At the same time, just so I can say I tried and prove that it indeed doesn’t work for the scenarios I mentioned in the beginning, an extension to the existing vtkCookieCutter algorithm that distinctly recognizes interior and exterior geometry (verts, lines, polys) to clipper polygons was developed. See #7656. Soon, I extended the vtkCell API with a new method vtkCell::CookieCut() (with hope it can be implemented in non-linear cells and probably 3D cells too)

The new algorithm is precise while the extension isn’t. Where to go from here?

Where to go from here?
  • Implement your new 2D perfect algorithm in vtkTriangle::CookieCut(). Let other polys triangulate themselves and call upon it.
  • Leave things as they are in MR #7656. Let each cell derive and implement a CookieCut() method.
  • Please do not touch vtkCell and related API. Implement everything using switch-case to infer cell-type and use the appropriate algorithm within vtkCookieCutter.
  • Move the implementation into vtkCell::Clip with an optional argument to do geometric precision cuts or default to simple scalar-clip.

0 voters

There’s a severe restriction. Both the implementations only work in the plane Z=0. I think this can be worked around.

Tbh, the 3rd option seems the easiest and most low-maintenance but will definitely limit re-usability if someone wants to use those algorithms elsewhere outside of vtkCookieCutter. Also makes it a pain to implement a boolean op for 3D cells, where I’d expect to reuse the algorithm to cut faces of a 3D cell.