I was really interested in how Pixar used subdivision in order to create Geri's Game and so looked up the original paper written about it. You can find it at this link: https://graphics.pixar.com/library/Geri/paper.pdf
The paper starts by saying how NURBS (non-uniform rational basis splines - check them out here, they are really cool: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Non-uniform_rational_B-spline) are not sufficient for rendering a wide variety of topologies. As a result, the authors decided to introduce subdivision in order to model complex shapes. In the paper they describe practical techniques for constructing smooth variable-radius components of 3D models and develop methods for using subdivision in the the simulation of clothing. They also introduce a "method for constructing smooth scalar fields on subdivision surfaces, thereby enabling the use of a wider class of programmable shaders." All-in-all, the paper accomplishes a lot of ground-breaking research in the field of graphics modeling, all of which contributed to the success of Geri's game.
I was really interested in how Pixar used subdivision in order to create Geri's Game and so looked up the original paper written about it. You can find it at this link: https://graphics.pixar.com/library/Geri/paper.pdf
The paper starts by saying how NURBS (non-uniform rational basis splines - check them out here, they are really cool: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Non-uniform_rational_B-spline) are not sufficient for rendering a wide variety of topologies. As a result, the authors decided to introduce subdivision in order to model complex shapes. In the paper they describe practical techniques for constructing smooth variable-radius components of 3D models and develop methods for using subdivision in the the simulation of clothing. They also introduce a "method for constructing smooth scalar fields on subdivision surfaces, thereby enabling the use of a wider class of programmable shaders." All-in-all, the paper accomplishes a lot of ground-breaking research in the field of graphics modeling, all of which contributed to the success of Geri's game.