A novel cubic-order algorithm for approximating principal direction vectors

There are a number of applications in computer graphics that require as a first step the accurate estimation of principal direction vectors at arbitrary vertices on a triangulated surface. Although several methods for calculating principal directions over such models have been previously proposed, we have found in practice that all exhibit unexplained large errors in some cases. In this article, we describe our theoretical and experimental investigations into possible sources of errors in the approximation of principal direction vectors from triangular meshes, and suggest a new method for estimating principal directions that can yield better results under some circumstances.