Triangle Strip

This repository provides an easy to use python function that generates a (not guaranteed optimal) triangle strip out of a set of connected triangles.

This can be especially useful for converting regular triangle based meshes into a triangle strip based one. Such a version can then be used inside a geometry shader. More information and use cases of triangle strips can be found on Wikipedia: Triangle strip

If you got any improvements for the module feel free to raise an issue or contact me.

Example

Just call the find_strip function with a list of triangles:

icosahedron_triangles = [[0, 1, 2],
                         [3, 1, 0],
                         [4, 1, 3],
                         [5, 1, 4],
                         [2, 1, 5],
                         [6, 7, 8],
                         [8, 7, 9],
                         [9, 7, 10],
                         [10, 7, 11],
                         [11, 7, 6],
                         [0, 2, 6],
                         [2, 5, 11],
                         [5, 4, 10],
                         [4, 3, 9],
                         [3, 0, 8],
                         [8, 0, 6],
                         [9, 3, 8],
                         [10, 4, 9],
                         [11, 5, 10],
                         [6, 2, 11]]

print("Trying to find a triangle strip representation of an icosahedron")
triangle_strip = find_strip(icosahedron_triangles)
print("Triangle strip:", triangle_strip)
print("Length of the triangle strip:", len(triangle_strip))

A triangle is just a list of three elements that are comparable and represent the vertices of that triangle. This could either be an integer describing the vertex id (as in the case of this example) or a custom object that is comparable and contains the position of that vertex.

License

This code is licensed under The Unlicense. More information can be found in the LICENSE file in this repository.