Lucia Romani

Maria Charina, Costanza Conti, Lucia Romani

We study scalar multivariate non-stationary subdivision schemes with a general dilation matrix. We characterize the capability of such schemes to reproduce exponential polynomials in terms of simple algebraic conditions on their symbols. These algebraic conditions provide a useful theoretical tool for checking the reproduction properties of existing schemes and for constructing new schemes with desired reproduction capabilities and other enhanced properties. We illustrate our results with several examples.

Costanza Conti, Lucia Romani, Jungho Yoon

Several properties of stationary subdivision schemes are nowadays well understood. In particular, it is known that the polynomial generation and reproduction capability of a stationary subdivision scheme is strongly connected with sum rules, its convergence, smoothness and approximation order. The aim of this paper is to show that, in the non-stationary case, exponential polynomials and approximate sum rules play an analogous role of polynomials and sum rules in the stationary case. Indeed, in the non-stationary univariate case we are able to show the following important facts: i) reproduction of $N$ exponential polynomials implies approximate sum rules of order $N$; ii) generation of $N$ exponential polynomials implies approximate sum rules of order $N$, under the additional assumption of asymptotical similarity and reproduction of one exponential polynomial; iii) reproduction of an $N$-dimensional space of exponential polynomials and asymptotical similarity imply approximation order $N$; iv) the sequence of basic limit functions of a non-stationary scheme reproducing one exponential polynomial converges uniformly to the basic limit function of the asymptotically similar stationary scheme.

Gudrun Albrecht, Lucia Romani

The paper is concerned with the problem of shape preserving interpolatory subdivision. For arbitrarily spaced, planar input data an efficient non-linear subdivision algorithm is presented that results in $G^1$ limit curves, reproduces conic sections and respects the convexity properties of the initial data. Significant numerical examples illustrate the effectiveness of the proposed method.

Costanza Conti, Nira Dyn, Lucia Romani

In this paper we give an elementary proof of the convergence of corner cutting algorithms refining points, in case the corner cutting weights are taken from the rather general class of weights considered by Gregory and Qu (1996). We then use similar ideas, adapted to nets of functions, to prove the convergence of corner cutting algorithms refining nets of functions, in case the corner cutting weights are taken from a stricter class of weights than in the refinement of points.

Maria Charina, Lucia Romani

In this paper we study scalar multivariate subdivision schemes with general integer expanding dilation matrix. Our main result yields simple algebraic conditions on the symbols of such schemes that characterize their polynomial reproduction, i.e. their capability to generate exactly the same polynomials from which the initial data is sampled. These algebraic conditions also allow us to determine the approximation order of the associated refinable functions and to choose the "correct" parametrization, i.e. the grid points to which the newly computed values are attached at each subdivision iteration. We use this special choice of the parametrization to increase the degree of polynomial reproduction of known subdivision schemes and to construct new schemes with given degree of polynomial reproduction.

Costanza Conti, Lucia Romani

We present an accurate investigation of the algebraic conditions that the symbols of a convergent, univariate, binary, non-stationary subdivision scheme should fulfill in order to reproduce spaces of exponential polynomials. A subdivision scheme is said to possess the property of reproducing exponential polynomials if, for any initial data uniformly sampled from some exponential polynomial function, the scheme yields the same function in the limit. The importance of this property is due to the fact that several functions obtained as combinations of exponential polynomials (such as conic sections, spirals or special trigonometric and hyperbolic functions) are of great interest in graphical and engineering applications. Since the space of exponential polynomials trivially includes standard polynomials, the results in this work extend the recently developed theory on polynomial reproduction to the non-stationary context. A significant application of the derived algebraic conditions on the subdivision symbols is the construction of new non-stationary subdivision schemes with specified reproduction properties.

Maria Charina, Costanza Conti, Lucia Romani et al.

The regularity of refinable functions has been investigated deeply in the past 25 years using Fourier analysis, wavelet analysis, restricted and joint spectral radii techniques. However the shift-invariance of the underlying regular setting is crucial for these approaches. We propose an efficient method based on wavelet tight frame decomposition techniques for estimating Hölder-Zygmund regularity of univariate semi-regular refinable functions generated, e.g., by subdivision schemes defined on semi-regular meshes $\mathbf{t}\;=\;-h_\ell\mathbb{N}\cup\{0\}\cup h_r\mathbb{N}$, $h_\ell,h_r \in (0,\infty)$. To ensure the optimality of this method, we provide a new characterization of Hölder-Zygmund spaces based on suitable irregular wavelet tight frames. Furthermore, we present proper tools for computing the corresponding frame coefficients in the semi-regular setting. We also propose a new numerical approach for estimating the optimal Hölder-Zygmund exponent of refinable functions which is more efficient than the linear regression method. We illustrate our results with several examples of known and new semi-regular subdivision schemes with a potential use in blending curve design.

Costanza Conti, Marco Donatelli, Lucia Romani et al.

Convergence and normal continuity analysis of a bivariate non-stationary (level-dependent) subdivision scheme for 2-manifold meshes with arbitrary topology is still an open issue. Exploiting ideas from the theory of asymptotically equivalent subdivision schemes, in this paper we derive new sufficient conditions for establishing convergence and normal continuity of any rotationally symmetric, non-stationary, subdivision scheme near an extraordinary vertex/face.

Maria Charina, Marco Donatelli, Lucia Romani et al.

In this paper, we present a family of multivariate grid transfer operators appropriate for anisotropic multigrid methods. Our grid transfer operators are derived from a new family of anisotropic interpolatory subdivision schemes. We study the minimality, polynomial reproduction and convergence properties of these interpolatory schemes and link their properties to the convergence and optimality of the corresponding multigrid methods. We compare the performance of our interpolarory grid transfer operators with the ones derived from a family of corresponding approximating subdivision schemes.

Gudrun Albrecht, Carolina Vittoria Beccari, Jean-Charles Canonne et al.

We introduce the new class of planar Pythagorean-Hodograph (PH) B-Spline curves. They can be seen as a generalization of the well-known class of planar Pythagorean-Hodograph (PH) Bézier curves, presented by R. Farouki and T. Sakkalis in 1990, including the latter ones as special cases. Pythagorean-Hodograph B-Spline curves are non-uniform parametric B-Spline curves whose arc-length is a B-Spline function as well. An important consequence of this special property is that the offsets of Pythagorean-Hodograph B-Spline curves are non-uniform rational B-Spline (NURBS) curves. Thus, although Pythagorean-Hodograph B-Spline curves have fewer degrees of freedom than general B-Spline curves of the same degree, they offer unique advantages for computer-aided design and manufacturing, robotics, motion control, path planning, computer graphics, animation, and related fields. After providing a general definition for this new class of planar parametric curves, we present useful formulae for their construction, discuss their remarkable attractive properties and give some examples of their practical use.

Maria Charina, Marco Donatelli, Lucia Romani et al.

The convergence rate of a multigrid method depends on the properties of the smoother and the so-called grid transfer operator. In this paper we define and analyze new grid transfer operators with a generic cutting size which are applicable for high order problems. We enlarge the class of available geometric grid transfer operators by relating the symbol analysis of the coarse grid correction with the approximation properties of univariate subdivision schemes. We show that the polynomial generation property and stability of a subdivision scheme are crucial for convergence and optimality of the corresponding multigrid method. We construct a new class of grid transfer operators from primal binary and ternary pseudo-spline symbols. Our numerical results illustrate the behavior of the new grid transfer operators.

Costanza Conti, Lucia Romani, Michael Unser

We introduce a family of piecewise-exponential functions that have the Hermite interpolation property. Our design is motivated by the search for an effective scheme for the joint interpolation of points and associated tangents on a curve with the ability to perfectly reproduce ellipses. We prove that the proposed Hermite functions form a Riesz basis and that they reproduce prescribed exponential polynomials. We present a method based on Green's functions to unravel their multi-resolution and approximation-theoretic properties. Finally, we derive the corresponding vector and scalar subdivision schemes, which lend themselves to a fast implementation. The proposed vector scheme is interpolatory and level-dependent, but its asymptotic behaviour is the same as the classical cubic Hermite spline algorithm. The same convergence properties---i.e., fourth order of approximation---are hence ensured.

Costanza Conti, Luca Gemignani, Lucia Romani

Subdivision schemes are iterative methods for the design of smooth curves and surfaces. Any linear subdivision scheme can be identified by a sequence of Laurent polynomials, also called subdivision symbols, which describe the linear rules determining successive refinements of coarse initial meshes. One important property of subdivision schemes is their capability of exactly reproducing in the limit specific types of functions from which the data is sampled. Indeed, this property is linked to the approximation order of the scheme and to its regularity. When the capability of reproducing polynomials is required, it is possible to define a family of subdivision schemes that allows to meet various demands for balancing approximation order, regularity and support size. The members of this family are known in the literature with the name of pseudo-splines. In case reproduction of exponential polynomials instead of polynomials is requested, the resulting family turns out to be the non-stationary counterpart of the one of pseudo-splines, that we here call the family of exponential pseudo-splines. The goal of this work is to derive the explicit expressions of the subdivision symbols of exponential pseudo-splines and to study their symmetry properties as well as their convergence and regularity.

Costanza Conti, Luca Gemignani, Lucia Romani

In this paper we describe a general, computationally feasible strategy to deduce a family of interpolatory non-stationary subdivision schemes from a symmetric non-stationary, non-interpolatory one satisfying quite mild assumptions. To achieve this result we extend our previous work [C.Conti, L.Gemignani, L.Romani, Linear Algebra Appl. 431 (2009), no. 10, 1971-1987] to full generality by removing additional assumptions on the input symbols. For the so obtained interpolatory schemes we prove that they are capable of reproducing the same exponential polynomial space as the one generated by the original approximating scheme. Moreover, we specialize the computational methods for the case of symbols obtained by shifted non-stationary affine combinations of exponential B-splines, that are at the basis of most non-stationary subdivision schemes. In this case we find that the associated family of interpolatory symbols can be determined to satisfy a suitable set of generalized interpolating conditions at the set of the zeros (with reversed signs) of the input symbol. Finally, we discuss some computational examples by showing that the proposed approach can yield novel smooth non-stationary interpolatory subdivision schemes possessing very interesting reproduction properties.