Guest Editors´ Introduction: Real-Time Interaction with Complex Models

Over the past few decades, advances in acquisition, modeling, and simulation technologies have resulted in databases of 3D models that seem to be unlimited in size and complexity. Highly detailed models are increasingly produced in areas such as industrial CAD for airplanes, ships, production plants, and buildings; geographic information systems; oil and gas exploration; medical imaging; scanned 3D models; unorganized information spaces; and high-end scientific simulations. Such models might contain millions or even billions of 3D primitives, such as triangles, point sets, surfaces, and voxels. The models often have additional, higher-dimensional attributes associated with the primitives. The Guest Editors of this Special Issue of IEEE Computer Graphics and Applications discuss the challenges that complex models present and how those articles represent and address some of those challenges.