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Applied Sciences
Volume 16
Issue 11
10.3390/app16115231
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Article

The Contribution of Removing Reconstructable Triangles in the Lossless Compression of a Triangular Mesh CAD Model

by
Borut Žalik
,
Domen Mongus
,
Blaž Repnik
and
David Podgorelec
*
Faculty of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, University of Maribor, Koroška Cesta 46, SI-2000 Maribor, Slovenia
*
Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Appl. Sci. 2026, 16(11), 5231; https://doi.org/10.3390/app16115231 (registering DOI)
Submission received: 23 April 2026 / Revised: 18 May 2026 / Accepted: 20 May 2026 / Published: 23 May 2026
Versions Notes

Abstract

This paper evaluates the efficiency of widely used software tools, including gzip, OpenCTM and Google Draco, for the lossless compression of triangular meshes representing the surfaces of 3D CAD models. The suitability of removing reconstructable triangles from triangular meshes using CoToS software is also investigated and discussed in more detail. Three common input file formats are considered: OBJ, PLY and STL, the latter being the most widely used in engineering applications. A software testing tool is introduced to ensure consistent and reproducible evaluation of the selected compression methods. The results are instructive: for OBJ and PLY files, OpenCTM achieved the best compression performance, whereas for STL files, the best results were obtained by applying CoToS before OpenCTM. This combined approach reduced the input file size by more than a factor of ten.
Keywords: geometric modeling; triangulated surface; triangle decimation; data compression geometric modeling; triangulated surface; triangle decimation; data compression

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MDPI and ACS Style

Žalik, B.; Mongus, D.; Repnik, B.; Podgorelec, D. The Contribution of Removing Reconstructable Triangles in the Lossless Compression of a Triangular Mesh CAD Model. Appl. Sci. 2026, 16, 5231. https://doi.org/10.3390/app16115231

AMA Style

Žalik B, Mongus D, Repnik B, Podgorelec D. The Contribution of Removing Reconstructable Triangles in the Lossless Compression of a Triangular Mesh CAD Model. Applied Sciences. 2026; 16(11):5231. https://doi.org/10.3390/app16115231

Chicago/Turabian Style

Žalik, Borut, Domen Mongus, Blaž Repnik, and David Podgorelec. 2026. "The Contribution of Removing Reconstructable Triangles in the Lossless Compression of a Triangular Mesh CAD Model" Applied Sciences 16, no. 11: 5231. https://doi.org/10.3390/app16115231

APA Style

Žalik, B., Mongus, D., Repnik, B., & Podgorelec, D. (2026). The Contribution of Removing Reconstructable Triangles in the Lossless Compression of a Triangular Mesh CAD Model. Applied Sciences, 16(11), 5231. https://doi.org/10.3390/app16115231

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