Benefits of a 3D Mesh

Posted 20 July 2020

What is a 3D Mesh?

A 3D mesh is a solid surface comprised of faces, edges and vertices. 3D meshes can be derived from point clouds, which are a collection of points to represent an object in the given coordinate system.

Ideal for complex geometry

Where the geometry of the object of interest is complex, 3D meshes prove to be effective. Features such as berms or scour beneath a vertical structure are tricky to visualise completely using point clouds only. 

3D meshes are preferable to grids for areas of complex geometry. Grids are 2.5D surfaces allowing only one depth value per cell, which as such are unsuitable for representing complex 3D objects. 

Through generating a 3D mesh from a dense point cloud - such as those created by our mechanical scanning sonar - complex geometry is accurately represented.

Point Cloud
Point Cloud
3D Mesh
3D Mesh
Point Cloud vs 3D Mesh
Point Cloud vs 3D Mesh

Beneficial for close inspection

While point clouds generated by modern Multibeam Echosounders are very dense, point clouds present difficulties when performing sub-metric inspection of an object. This is fundamentally due to the fact that it is not a solid surface, and the human eye can struggle to identify the objects in the point cloud at these scales.

Where LiDAR or Acoustic beams have penetrated the object, damage location also proves problematic. Creating a 3D mesh allows the human eye to quickly assess areas where there are voids or cracks in the infrastructure.

Any questions?

Read more on our asset inspection page, or get in touch info@sephydrographic.com

Related Pages: Pulsar Asset Inspection Surveys