3D Mesh Preview Streaming

Abstract

Publishers of 3D models online typically provide two ways to preview a model before the model is downloaded and viewed by the user: (i) by showing a set of thumbnail images of the 3D model taken from representative views (or keyviews); (ii) by showing a video of the 3D model as viewed from a moving virtual camera along a path determined by the content provider. We propose a third approach called preview streaming for mesh-based 3D object: by streaming and showing parts of the mesh surfaces visible along the virtual camera path. This paper focuses on the preview streaming architecture and framework, and presents our investigation into how such a system would best handle network congestion effectively. We study three basic methods: (a) stop-and-wait, where the camera pauses until sufficient data is buffered; (b) reduce-speed, where the camera slows down in accordance to reduce network bandwidth; and (c) reduce-quality, where the camera continues to move at the same speed but fewer vertices are sent and displayed, leading to lower mesh quality. We further propose a keyview-aware method that trades off mesh quality and camera speed appropriately depending on how close the current view is to the keyviews. A user study reveals that our keyview-aware method is preferred over the basic methods.