Akl-Toussaint throw-away heuristic for convex hull in 3D - algorithm

I am wondering whether there are any algorithms that use the Akl-Toussaint throw-away heuristic to compute the convex hull in 3D (not just as a simple pre-processing, but as the algorithmic principle or building block). And if so, what would their expected time complexity be?
Also, I am interested in experimental comparisons of such algorithms with the more traditional algorithms in 3D (e.g., Clarkson-Shor).
I would appreciate it very much if you could point me to papers or web pages that shed some light on my questions. (Or answer them directly :-) )

Related

Best nesting algorithm

I have spent time looking for information on the best algorithm to create a nesting of irregular polygons in 2D using manual and automatic positioning. I need to use such an algorithm in the context of CAD/CAM software. Here are the real possibilities I've found so far:
Separating Axis Theorem: is a fairly quick and simple algorithm to implement, but the drawback I find with it is that it only works with convex polygons. To work with concave polygons, a convex decomposition would need to be done first. This implies an increase in the run-time and the implementation of a new algorithm that decomposes the concave polygon into convex polygons.
Nesting by a power function: calculating the partial derivatives in the X and Y axes, you could get the escape direction you should take a polygon so that there is a collision between the two polygons. This function of energy and I tested and the three major problems that I have encountered are: first obtaining local minima , second nesting when the collision occurs over a piece and finally the execution time is very high.
Using no-fit polygon: use the no-fit polygon to the nesting can be somewhat interesting. I have read several papers on the subject although there are very few online documentation on it. Not sure if it can really be a useful choice. I still have several doubts on the details of this approach.
Any idea which of these algorithms to choose? Or if you know any other options that can be used? I'm a little confused :-) .
Thank you very much.

Nearest neighbor zones visualized

I'm writing an app that looks up points in two-dimensional space using a k-d tree. It would be nice, during development, to be able to "see" the nearest-neighbor zones surrounding each point.
In the attached image, the red points are points in the k-d tree, and the blue lines surrounding each point bound the zone where a nearest neighbor search will return the contained point.
The image was created thusly:
for each point in the space:
da = distance to nearest neighbor
db = distance to second-nearest neighbor
if absolute_value(da - db) < 4:
draw blue pixel
This algorithm has two problems:
(more important) It's slow on my (reasonably fast Core i7) computer.
(less important) It's sloppy, as you can see by the varying widths of the blue lines.
What is this "visualization" of a set of points called?
What are some good algorithms to create such a visualization?
This is called a Voronoi Diagram and there are many excellent algorithms for generating them efficiently. The one I've heard about most is Fortune's algorithm, which runs in time O(n log n), though others algorithms exist for this problem.
Hope this helps!
Jacob,
hey, you found an interesting way of generating this Voronoi diagram, even though it is not so efficient.
The less important issue first: the varying thickness boundaries that you get, those butterfly shapes, are in fact the area between the two branches of an hyperbola. Precisely the hyperbola given by the equation |da - db| = 4. To get a thick line instead, you have to modify this criterion and replace it by the distance to the bisector of the two nearest neighbors, let A and B; using vector calculus, | PA.AB/||AB|| - ||AB||/2 | < 4.
The more important issue: there are two well known efficient solutions to the construction of the Voronoi diagram of a set of points: Fortune's sweep algorithm (as mentioned by templatetypedef) and Preparata & Shamos' Divide & Conquer solutions. Both run in optimal time O(N.Lg(N)) for N points, but aren't so easy to implement.
These algorithm will construct the Voronoi diagram as a set of line segments and half-lines. Check http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voronoi_diagram.
This paper "Primitives for the manipulation of general subdivisions and the computation of Voronoi" describes both algorithms using a somewhat high-level framework, caring about all implementation details; the article is difficult but the algorithms are implementable.
You may also have a look at "A straightforward iterative algorithm for the planar Voronoi diagram", which I never tried.
A totally different approach is to directly build the distance map from the given points for example by means of Dijkstra's algorithm: starting from the given points, you grow the boundary of the area within a given distance from every point and you stop growing when two boundaries meet. [More explanations required.] See http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-O6rXggLa9fE/TnAwz4f9hXI/AAAAAAAAAPk/0vrqEKRPVIw/s1600/distmap-20-seed4-fin.jpg
Another good starting point (for efficiently computing the distance map) can be "A general algorithm for computing distance transforms in linear time".
From personal experience: Fortune's algorithm is a pain to implement. The divide and conquer algorithm presented by Guibas and Stolfi isn't too bad; they give detailed pseudocode that's easy to transcribe into a procedural programming language. Both will blow up if you have nearly degenerate inputs and use floating point, but since the primitives are quadratic, if you can represent coordinates as 32-bit integers, then you can use 64 bits to carry out the determinant computations.
Once you get it working, you might consider replacing your kd-tree algorithms, which have a Theta(√n) worst case, with algorithms that work on planar subdivisions.
You can find a great implementation for it at D3.js library: http://mbostock.github.com/d3/ex/voronoi.html

Smallest circle which covers given points on 2D plane

Problem: What is the smallest possible diameter of a circle which covers given N points on a 2D plane?
What is the most efficient algorithm to solve this problem and how does it work?
This is the smallest circle problem. See the references for the links to the suggested algorithms.
E.Welzl, Smallest Enclosing Disks
(Balls and Ellipsoids), in H. Maurer
(Ed.), New Results and New Trends in
Computer Science, Lecture Notes in
Computer Science, Vol. 555,
Springer-Verlag, 359–37 (1991)
is the reference to the "fastest" algorithm.
There are several algorithms and implementations out there for the Smallest enclosing balls problem.
For 2D and 3D, Gärtner's implementation is probably the fastest.
For higher dimensions (up to 10,000, say), take a look at https://github.com/hbf/miniball, which is the implementation of an algorithm by Gärtner, Kutz, and Fischer (note: I am one of the co-authors).
For very, very high dimensions, core-set (approximation) algorithms will be faster.
Note: If you are looking for an algorithm to compute the smallest enclosing sphere of spheres, you will find a C++ implementation in the Computational Geometry Algorithms Library (CGAL). (You do not need to use all of CGAL; simply extract the required header and source files.)
the furthest point voronoi diagram approach
http://www.dma.fi.upm.es/mabellanas/tfcs/fvd/algorithm.html
turns out to work really well for the 2 d problem. It is non-iterative and (pretty sure) guaranteed exact. I suspect it doesn't extend so well to higher dimensions, which is why there is little attention to it in the literature.
If there is interest i'll describe it here - the above link is a bit hard to follow I think.
edit another link: http://ojs.statsbiblioteket.dk/index.php/daimipb/article/view/6704

How do I find the most complex convex polygon enclosing a set of points?

I have a list of (about 200-300) 2d points. I know needs to find the polygon that encloses all of them. The polygon has to be convex, and it should be as complex as possible (i.e. not a rectangular bounding box). It should find this in as low as possible time, but there are no restrictions on memory.
You may answer in pseudocode or any language you want to use.
Sounds like you're looking for a convex hull algorithm? It's been more than a decade since I was taught about these, but the name Graham Scan sticks in my mind and would probably be where I'd start.
Take a look at Graham's Algorithm.
Qhull is good software for computing 2D convex hulls.
If it is a real world problem - as in, not an academic one - there's never really a reason to solve such a generic problem yourself.

An implementation of Sharir's or Aurenhammer's deterministic algorithm for calculating the intersection/union of 'N' circles

The problem of finding the intersection/union of 'N' discs/circles on a flat plane was first proposed by M. I. Shamos in his 1978 thesis:
Shamos, M. I. “Computational Geometry” Ph.D. thesis, Yale Univ., New Haven, CT 1978.
Since then, in 1985, Micha Sharir presented an O(n log2n) time and O(n) space deterministic algorithm for the disc intersection/union problem (based on modified Voronoi diagrams): Sharir, M. Intersection and closest-pair problems for a set of planar discs. SIAM .J Comput. 14 (1985), pp. 448-468.
In 1988, Franz Aurenhammer presented a more efficient O(n log n) time and O(n) space algorithm for circle intersection/union using power diagrams (generalizations of Voronoi diagrams): Aurenhammer, F. Improved algorithms for discs and balls using power diagrams. Journal of Algorithms 9 (1985), pp. 151-161.
Earlier in 1983, Paul G. Spirakis also presented an O(n^2) time deterministic algorithm, and an O(n) probabilistic algorithm: Spirakis, P.G. Very Fast Algorithms for the Area of the Union of Many Circles. Rep. 98, Dept. Comput. Sci., Courant Institute, New York University, 1983.
I've been searching for any implementations of the algorithms above, focusing on computational geometry packages, and I haven't found anything yet. As neither appear trivial to put into practice, it would be really neat if someone could point me in the right direction!
Perhaps a constructive solid geometry (CSG) package would have a surface-area feature for overlapping circle primitives?
I've spent some time looking at the algorithms for computing the union of a set of balls - as you mention, it is done by using generalized Voronoi diagrams.
The CGAL library has a package that implements a union of balls. This is one dimension higher than what you're interested in, and it doesn't handle intersections. so probably no cigar.
If you're working in 2 dimensions, the problem is equivalent to finding a convex hull in 3 dimensions. You could use the convex hull stuff from CGAL or another package.
If you're looking for implementations of the specific algorithms you've mentioned, I can't help you. But if you just want to find the power diagram that allows you to easily compute unions and intersections, it might be easier than you think to roll your own using a 3D convex hull algorithm.
Sorry for the half baked answer, but we may as well start somewhere and see how much flexibility you have.
Edit: There's also a CGAL package for 2D power diagrams: http://www.cgal.org/Manual/last/doc_html/cgal_manual/Apollonius_graph_2/Chapter_main.html.
Also, #RGrey has found a CGAL library for calculating 2D booleans for generalized polygons, including circles at http://www.cgal.org/Manual/3.5/doc_html/cgal_manual/Boolean_set_operations_2/Chapter_main.html.
There is no 2D power diagram implementation in CGAL. The link suggested above (http://www.cgal.org/Manual/last/doc_html/cgal_manual/Apollonius_graph_2/Chapter_main.html) is for the additive weighted Voronoi diagram, which uses the euclid + weight, instead of euclid^2 + weight (as Power Diagrams do).

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