Recently, Forests (Chinese Academy of Sciences Journal Division Table Category 2, IF=3.282)  published the paper "Visualization Simulation of Branch Frames Based on Internal Structure Reconstruction" by Yang Meng's research group from the School of Information Science and Technology of Beijing Forestry University in the latest issue of 2023 (Volume 14, Issue 5). The paper was selected out of 209 articles as the "Feature Paper" of the issue. "Feature papers" represent the latest research with the potential to have a significant impact in the field, including empirical studies or reviews.

The paper presents a visualization algorithm for wood fracture simulation based on wood science and wood internal structure reconstruction. The algorithm can simulate a reasonable and realistic wood fracture effect. First, the 3D point-cloud data of the bark structure are obtained using a laser scanner, and the cross-section of the branch is obtained by voxelization of the surface mesh model. Then, the outer contour of the cross-section is shrunk inward to reconstruct the annual rings and wood fiber bundles, and reasonable internal structures of branch 3D models are generated. The internal structure consists of a hierarchical model composed of several ring-like annual rings, and each annual ring is divided into a series of continuous fan rings. On the basis of the reconstruction results, the wood fracture surface model generated by the parameter control can be mapped to the irregularly shaped 3D branch model. In this research, the internal structure of branches and the shape of annual rings on the fracture surface of branches are analyzed to provide a reliable fracture model for different branch fractures of trees. 

In addition, the realistic fractured tree branch model generated by this algorithm can be widely applied in fields such as animation film special effects, game scene simulation, virtual reality scene construction, and mechanical research on broken tree branches.

The first author of the paper is associate professor Yang Meng and the second author is graduate student Zhang Yi from the School of Information Science and Technology, and this work was supported by the National Key Research and Development Program of China (No. 2021YFD2201203).

Paper link: https://doi.org/10.3390/f14051020