Weighted averages on surfaces

We consider the problem of generalizing affine combinations in Euclidean spaces to triangle meshes: computing weighted averages of points on surfaces. We address both the forward problem, namely computing an average of given anchor points on the mesh with given weights, and the inverse problem, which is computing the weights given anchor points and a target point. Solving the forward problem on a mesh enables applications such as splines on surfaces, Laplacian smoothing and remeshing. Combining the forward and inverse problems allows us to define a correspondence mapping between two different meshes based on provided corresponding point pairs, enabling texture transfer, compatible remeshing, morphing and more. Our algorithm solves a single instance of a forward or an inverse problem in a few microseconds. We demonstrate that anchor points in the above applications can be added/removed and moved around on the meshes at interactive framerates, giving the user an immediate result as feedback.