2. What is Topology?
• The topology of a space is the definition of
a collection of sets (called the open sets)
that include:
– the space and the empty set
– the union of any of the sets
– the finite intersection of any of the sets
• “Topological space is a set with the least
structure necessary to define the
concepts of nearness and continuity”
3. No, Really.What is Topology?
• The study of properties of a shape that do not
change under deformation
• Rules of deformation
– Onto (all of A all of B)
– 1-1 correspondence (no overlap)
– bicontinuous, (continuous both ways)
– Can’t tear, join, poke/seal holes
• A is homeomorphic to B
4. Why Topology?
• What is the boundary of an object?
• Are there holes in the object?
• Is the object hollow?
• If the object is transformed in some way, are the
changes continuous or abrupt?
• Is the object bounded, or does it extend infinitely
far?
5. Why Do We (CG) Care?
The study of connectedness
• Understanding
How connectivity happens?
• Analysis
How to determine connectivity?
• Articulation
How to describe connectivity?
• Control
How to enforce connectivity?
6. For Example
How does connectedness affect…
• Morphing
• Texturing
• Compression
• Simplification
8. Topological Properties
• To uniquely determine the type of
homeomorphism we need to know :
– Surface is open or closed
– Surface is orientable or not
– Genus (number of holes)
– Boundary components
9. Surfaces
• How to define “surface”?
• Surface is a space which ”locally
looks like” a plane:
– the set of zeroes of a polynomial
equation in three variables in R3 is a
2D surface: x2+y2+z2=1
10. Surfaces and Manifolds
• An n-manifold is a topological space
that “locally looks like” the Euclidian
space Rn
– Topological space: set properties
– Euclidian space: geometric/coordinates
• A sphere is a 2-manifold
• A circle is a 1-manifold
11. Open vs. Closed Surfaces
• The points x having a
neighborhood homeomorphic to
R2 form Int(S) (interior)
• The points y for which every
neighborhood is homeomorphic to
R2
0 form ∂S (boundary)
• A surface S is said to be closed if
its boundary is empty
12. Orientability
• A surface in R3 is called orientable, if it
is possible to distinguish between its
two sides (inside/outside above/below)
• A non-orientable surface has a path
which brings a traveler back to his
starting point mirror-reversed (inverse
normal)
13. Orientation by Triangulation
• Any surface has a triangulation
• Orient all triangles CW or CCW
• Orientability: any two triangles
sharing an edge have opposite
directions on that edge.
14. Genus and holes
• Genus of a surface is the maximal number
of nonintersecting simple closed curves
that can be drawn on the surface without
separating it
• The genus is equivalent to the number of
holes or handles on the surface
• Example:
– Genus 0: point, line, sphere
– Genus 1: torus, coffee cup
– Genus 2: the symbols 8 and B
15. Euler characteristic function
• Polyhedral decomposition of a surface
(V = #vertices, E = #edges, F = #faces)
(M) = V – E + F
– If M has g holes and h boundary components then
(M) = 2 – 2g – h
–(M) is independent of the polygonization
= 1 = 2 = 0
16. Summary: equivalence in R3
• Any orientable closed surface
is topologically equivalent to a
sphere with g handles
attached to it
– torus is equivalent to a sphere
with one handle ( =0, g=1)
– double torus is equivalent to a
sphere with two handles ( =-2 ,
g=2)
17. Hard Problems… Dunking a Donut
• Dunk the donut in
the coffee!
• Investigate the
change in topology
of the portion of the
donut immersed in
the coffee
18.
19.
20.
21.
22.
23. Solution: Morse Theory
Investigates the topology of a
surface by the critical points of a
real function on the surface
• Critical point occur where the
gradient f = (f/x, f/y,…) = 0
• Index of a critical point is # of
principal directions where f
decreases
24. Example: Dunking a Donut
• Surface is a torus
• Function f is height
• Investigate topology of f h
• Four critical points
– Index 0 : minimum
– Index 1 : saddle
– Index 1 : saddle
– Index 2 : maximum
• Example: sphere has a function with only critical
points as maximum and a minimum
25. How does it work? Algebraic Topology
• Homotopy equivalence
– topological spaces are varied, homeomorphisms
give much too fine a classification to be useful…
• Deformation retraction
• Cells
26. Homotopy equivalence
• A ~ B There is a continuous map between A
and B
• Same number of components
• Same number of holes
• Not necessarily the same dimension
• Homeomorphism Homotopy
~ ~
27. Deformation Retraction
• Function that continuously reduces a set
onto a subset
• Any shape is homotopic to any of its
deformation retracts
• Skeleton is a deformation retract of the
solids it defines
~ ~ ~
~
28. Cells
• Cells are dimensional primitives
• We attach cells at their boundaries
0-cell 1-cell 2-cell 3-cell
29. Morse function
• f doesn’t have to be height – any Morse
function would do
• f is a Morse function on M if:
– f is smooth
– All critical points are isolated
– All critical points are non-degenerate:
• det(Hessian(p)) != 0
2 2
2
2 2
2
( ) ( )
( )
( ) ( )
f f
x x y
Hessian f
f f
y x y
p p
p
p p
30. Critical Point Index
• The index of a critical point is the number of
negative eigenvalues of the Hessian:
– 0 minimum
– 1 saddle point
– 2 maximum
• Intuition: the number
of independent
directions in which
f decreases ind=0
ind=1
ind=1
ind=2
31. If sweep doesn’t pass critical point
[Milnor 1963]
• Denote Ma
= {p M | f(p) a} (the sweep
region up to value a of f )
• Suppose f 1
[a, b] is compact and doesn’t
contain critical points of f. Then Ma
is
homeomorphic to Mb
.
32. Sweep passes critical point
[Milnor 1963]
• p is critical point of f with index , is
sufficiently small. Then Mc+
has the same
homotopy type as Mc
with -cell attached.
Mc
Mc+
Mc Mc
with -cell
attached
~
Mc+
34. What we learned so far
• Topology describes properties of shape that
are invariant under deformations
• We can investigate topology by
investigating critical points of Morse
functions
• And vice versa: looking at the topology of
level sets (sweeps) of a Morse function, we
can learn about its critical points
35. Reeb graphs
• Schematic way to present a Morse function
• Vertices of the graph are critical points
• Arcs of the graph are connected components of
the level sets of f, contracted to points
2
1
1
1
1
1
0 0
36. Reeb graphs and genus
• The number of loops in the Reeb graph is
equal to the surface genus
• To count the loops, simplify the graph by
contracting degree-1 vertices and removing
degree-2 vertices
degree-2
38. Discretized Reeb graph
• Take the critical points and “samples” in
between
• Robust because we know that nothing
happens between consecutive critical points
39. Reeb graphs for Shape Matching
• Reeb graph encodes the behavior of a
Morse function on the shape
• Also tells us about the topology of the
shape
• Take a meaningful function and use its
Reeb graph to compare between shapes!
40. Choose the right Morse function
• The height function f (p) = z is not good
enough – not rotational invariant
• Not always a Morse function
41. Average geodesic distance
• The idea of [Hilaga et al. 01]: use geodesic
distance for the Morse function!
( ) geodist( , )
( ) min ( )
( )
max ( )
M
M
M
g dS
g g
f
g
q
q
p p q
p q
p
q
42. Multi-res Reeb graphs
• Hilaga et al. use multiresolutional Reeb
graphs to compare between shapes
• Multiresolution hierarchy – by gradual
contraction of vertices
43. Mesh Partitioning
• Now we get to [Zhang et al. 03]
• They use almost the same f as [Hilaga et al.
01]
• Want to find features = long protrusions
• Find local maxima of f !
44. Region growing
• Start the sweep from global minimum
(central point of the shape)
• Add one triangle at a time – the one with
smallest f
• Record topology changes in the boundary
of the sweep front – these are critical points
45. Critical points – genus-0 surface
• Splitting saddle – when the front splits into two
• Maximum – when one front boundary component
vanishes
max max
splitting
saddle
min
