Triangular mesh simplification is to reduce the number of triangles in a triangular mesh while preserving the topology and geometry. This thesis presents an efficient algorithm that simplifies a given mesh by reducing the number of vertices. As a removal criteria, we propose the area feature that is a weighted sum of the total curvature and the area. By adjusting the weighting factor, we are able to control the shape of the resulting mesh. An approximation method of the total curvature in the triangular mesh is also presented. Because the proposed method uses only local information, it is fast enough to be used in interactive applications.
