CGAL users discussion list

Hi there everybody,

I've started working with CGAL some days ago and I'm a little overwhelmed 
with all the possibilities and the complexity of this library. Right now I'm 
at a point where I'm not sure if I find a solution for "my problem" on my 
own. That's why I'm writing here now.

I'm starting with a arbitrary set of 3D-points representing the surface of an 
object with random orientation in space - and I'm trying to create a set of 
faces approximating this surface - e.g. for displaying in OpenGL.

Right now I use a CGAL::Triangulation_3 to create a set of cells. From these 
cells I extract the finite facets of the infinite cells to get the 
boundary-faces. So now I've got a closed convex object describing the given 
surface (as long as it has no bumps or the like) and capping the space 
surrounded by this object. 

Now I've got 2 problems I could not yet handle with this approach:

1 - what if my surface is not really smooth but has bumps - how can I keep 
them?
2 - how can I remove the "capping" faces?

Of course the best solution would be if I could just create a set of faces 
describing my surface directly - but I could not find a way to do this.

So can anybody help me here?

Either by giving me pointers how to handle the 2 problems I have with my 
current approach or by showing me a way to create a surface right away?

(One way would probably be to project the points onto a plane and do a 
2D-triangulation but this is how I did it before CGAL and exaclty that is 
what I want to avoid by introducing 3D-computation)

Any help would be absolutely appreciated.

With best regards,


Sven