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<title>Qhull precision options</title>
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<h1><a
href="http://www.geom.uiuc.edu/graphics/pix/Special_Topics/Computational_Geometry/delaunay.html"><img
src="qh--dt.gif" alt="[delaunay]" align="middle" width="100"
height="100"></a> Qhull precision options</h1>
This section lists the precision options for Qhull. These options are
indicated by an upper-case letter followed by a number.
<p><b>Copyright &copy; 1995-2015 C.B. Barber</b></p>
<hr>
<p><a href="index.htm#TOC">&#187;</a> <a href="qh-quick.htm#programs">Programs</a>
<a name="prec">&#149;</a> <a href="qh-quick.htm#options">Options</a>
&#149; <a href="qh-opto.htm#output">Output</a>
&#149; <a href="qh-optf.htm#format">Formats</a>
&#149; <a href="qh-optg.htm#geomview">Geomview</a>
&#149; <a href="qh-optp.htm#print">Print</a>
&#149; <a href="qh-optq.htm#qhull">Qhull</a>
&#149; <a href="qh-optc.htm#prec">Precision</a>
&#149; <a href="qh-optt.htm#trace">Trace</a></p>
<h2>Precision options</h2>
<p>Most users will not need to set these options. They are best
used for <a href="qh-impre.htm#approximate">approximating</a> a
convex hull. They may also be used for testing Qhull's handling
of precision errors.</p>
<p>By default, Qhull uses options '<a href="#C0">C-0</a>' for
2-d, 3-d and 4-d, and '<a href="qh-optq.htm#Qx">Qx</a>' for 5-d
and higher. These options use facet merging to handle precision
errors. You may also use joggled input '<a href="qh-optq.htm#QJn">QJ</a>'
to avoid precision problems.
For more information see <a
href="qh-impre.htm">Imprecision in Qhull</a>.</p>
<dl compact>
<dt>&nbsp;</dt>
<dd><b>General</b></dd>
<dt><a href="#Cn2">Cn</a></dt>
<dd>centrum radius for post-merging</dd>
<dt><a href="#Cn">C-n</a></dt>
<dd>centrum radius for pre-merging</dd>
<dt><a href="#An2">An</a></dt>
<dd>cosine of maximum angle for post-merging</dd>
<dt><a href="#An">A-n</a></dt>
<dd>cosine of maximum angle for pre-merging</dd>
<dt><a href="qh-optq.htm#Qx">Qx</a></dt>
<dd>exact pre-merges (allows coplanar facets)</dd>
<dt><a href="#C0">C-0</a></dt>
<dd>handle all precision errors</dd>
<dt><a href="#Wn">Wn</a></dt>
<dd>min distance above plane for outside points</dd>
</dl>
<dl compact>
<dt>&nbsp;</dt>
<dd><b>Experimental</b></dd>
<dt><a href="#Un">Un</a></dt>
<dd>max distance below plane for a new, coplanar point</dd>
<dt><a href="#En">En</a></dt>
<dd>max roundoff error for distance computation</dd>
<dt><a href="#Vn">Vn</a></dt>
<dd>min distance above plane for a visible facet</dd>
<dt><a href="#Rn">Rn</a></dt>
<dd>randomly perturb computations by a factor of [1-n,1+n]</dd>
</dl>
<dl compact>
</dl>
<hr>
<h3><a href="#prec">&#187;</a><a name="An">A-n - cosine of maximum
angle for pre-merging.</a></h3>
<p>Pre-merging occurs while Qhull constructs the hull. It is
indicated by '<a href="#Cn">C-n</a>', 'A-n', or '<a
href="qh-optq.htm#Qx">Qx</a>'.</p>
<p>If the angle between a pair of facet normals is greater than <i>n</i>,
Qhull merges one of the facets into a neighbor. It selects the
facet that is closest to a neighboring facet.</p>
<p>For example, option 'A-0.99' merges facets during the
construction of the hull. If the cosine of the angle between
facets is greater than 0.99, one or the other facet is merged.
Qhull accounts for the maximum roundoff error.</p>
<p>If 'A-n' is set without '<a href="#Cn">C-n</a>', then '<a
href="#C0">C-0</a>' is automatically set. </p>
<p>In 5-d and higher, you should set '<a href="qh-optq.htm#Qx">Qx</a>'
along with 'A-n'. It skips merges of coplanar facets until after
the hull is constructed and before '<a href="#An2">An</a>' and '<a
href="#Cn2">Cn</a>' are checked. </p>
<h3><a href="#prec">&#187;</a><a name="An2">An - cosine of maximum angle for
post-merging.</a></h3>
<p>Post merging occurs after the hull is constructed. For
example, option 'A0.99' merges a facet if the cosine of the angle
between facets is greater than 0.99. Qhull accounts for the
maximum roundoff error.</p>
<p>If 'An' is set without '<a href="#Cn2">Cn</a>', then '<a
href="#Cn2">C0</a>' is automatically set. </p>
<h3><a href="#prec">&#187;</a><a name="C0">C-0 - handle all precision
errors </a></h3>
<p>Qhull handles precision errors by merging facets. The 'C-0'
option handles all precision errors in 2-d, 3-d, and 4-d. It is
set by default. It may be used in higher dimensions, but
sometimes the facet width grows rapidly. It is usually better to
use '<a href="qh-optq.htm#Qx">Qx</a>' in 5-d and higher.
Use '<a href="qh-optq.htm#QJn">QJ</a>' to joggle the input
instead of merging facets.
Use '<a
href="qh-optq.htm#Q0">Q0</a>' to turn both options off.</p>
<p>Qhull optimizes 'C-0' (&quot;_zero-centrum&quot;) by testing
vertices instead of centrums for adjacent simplices. This may be
slower in higher dimensions if merges decrease the number of
processed points. The optimization may be turned off by setting a
small value such as 'C-1e-30'. See <a href="qh-impre.htm">How
Qhull handles imprecision</a>.</p>
<h3><a href="#prec">&#187;</a><a name="Cn">C-n - centrum radius for
pre-merging</a></h3>
<p>Pre-merging occurs while Qhull constructs the hull. It is
indicated by 'C-n', '<a href="#An">A-n</a>', or '<a
href="qh-optq.htm#Qx">Qx</a>'.</p>
<p>The <i>centrum</i> of a facet is a point on the facet for
testing facet convexity. It is the average of the vertices
projected to the facet's hyperplane. Two adjacent facets are
convex if each centrum is clearly below the other facet. </p>
<p>If adjacent facets are non-convex, one of the facets is merged
into a neighboring facet. Qhull merges the facet that is closest
to a neighboring facet. </p>
<p>For option 'C-n', <i>n</i> is the centrum radius. For example,
'C-0.001' merges facets whenever the centrum is less than 0.001
from a neighboring hyperplane. Qhull accounts for roundoff error
when testing the centrum.</p>
<p>In 5-d and higher, you should set '<a href="qh-optq.htm#Qx">Qx</a>'
along with 'C-n'. It skips merges of coplanar facets until after
the hull is constructed and before '<a href="#An2">An</a>' and '<a
href="#Cn2">Cn</a>' are checked. </p>
<h3><a href="#prec">&#187;</a><a name="Cn2">Cn - centrum radius for
post-merging</a></h3>
<p>Post-merging occurs after Qhull constructs the hull. It is
indicated by '<a href="#Cn2">Cn</a>' or '<a href="#An2">An</a>'. </p>
<p>For option '<a href="#Cn2">Cn</a>', <i>n</i> is the centrum
radius. For example, 'C0.001' merges facets when the centrum is
less than 0.001 from a neighboring hyperplane. Qhull accounts for
roundoff error when testing the centrum.</p>
<p>Both pre-merging and post-merging may be defined. If only
post-merging is used ('<a href="qh-optq.htm#Q0">Q0</a>' with
'Cn'), Qhull may fail to produce a hull due to precision errors
during the hull's construction.</p>
<h3><a href="#prec">&#187;</a><a name="En">En - max roundoff error
for distance computations</a></h3>
<p>This allows the user to change the maximum roundoff error
computed by Qhull. The value computed by Qhull may be overly
pessimistic. If 'En' is set too small, then the output may not be
convex. The statistic &quot;max. distance of a new vertex to a
facet&quot; (from option '<a href="qh-optt.htm#Ts">Ts</a>') is a
reasonable upper bound for the actual roundoff error. </p>
<h3><a href="#prec">&#187;</a><a name="Rn">Rn - randomly perturb
computations </a></h3>
<p>This option perturbs every distance, hyperplane, and angle
computation by up to <i>(+/- n * max_coord)</i>. It simulates the
effect of roundoff errors. Unless '<a href="#En">En</a>' is
explicitly set, it is adjusted for 'Rn'. The command 'qhull Rn'
will generate a convex hull despite the perturbations. See the <a
href="qh-eg.htm#merge">Examples </a>section for an example.</p>
<p>Options 'Rn C-n' have the effect of '<a href="#Wn">W2n</a>'
and '<a href="#Cn">C-2n</a>'. To use time as the random number
seed, use option '<a href="qh-optq.htm#QRn">QR-1</a>'.</p>
<h3><a href="#prec">&#187;</a><a name="Un">Un - max distance for a
new, coplanar point </a></h3>
<p>This allows the user to set coplanarity. When pre-merging ('<a
href="#Cn">C-n </a>', '<a href="#An">A-n</a>' or '<a
href="qh-optq.htm#Qx">Qx</a>'), Qhull merges a new point into any
coplanar facets. The default value for 'Un' is '<a href="#Vn">Vn</a>'.</p>
<h3><a href="#prec">&#187;</a><a name="Vn">Vn - min distance for a
visible facet </a></h3>
<p>This allows the user to set facet visibility. When adding a
point to the convex hull, Qhull determines all facets that are
visible from the point. A facet is visible if the distance from
the point to the facet is greater than 'Vn'.</p>
<p>Without merging, the default value for 'Vn' is the roundoff
error ('<a href="#En">En</a>'). With merging, the default value
is the pre-merge centrum ('<a href="#Cn">C-n</a>') in 2-d or 3-d,
or three times that in other dimensions. If the outside width is
specified with option '<a href="#Wn">Wn </a>', the maximum,
default value for 'Vn' is '<a href="#Wn">Wn</a>'.</p>
<p>Qhull warns if 'Vn' is greater than '<a href="#Wn">Wn</a>' and
furthest outside ('<a href="qh-optq.htm#Qf">Qf</a>') is not
selected; this combination usually results in flipped facets
(i.e., reversed normals).</p>
<h3><a href="#prec">&#187;</a><a name="Wn">Wn - min distance above
plane for outside points</a></h3>
<p>Points are added to the convex hull only if they are clearly
outside of a facet. A point is outside of a facet if its distance
to the facet is greater than 'Wn'. Without pre-merging, the
default value for 'Wn' is '<a href="#En">En </a>'. If the user
specifies pre-merging and does not set 'Wn', than 'Wn' is set to
the maximum of '<a href="#Cn">C-n</a>' and <i>maxcoord*(1 - </i><a
href="#An"><i>A-n</i></a><i>)</i>.</p>
<p>This option is good for <a href="qh-impre.htm#approximate">approximating</a>
a convex hull.</p>
<p>Options '<a href="qh-optq.htm#Qc">Qc</a>' and '<a
href="qh-optq.htm#Qi">Qi</a>' use the minimum vertex to
distinguish coplanar points from interior points.</p>
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&#149; <a href="qh-quick.htm#options">Options</a>
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&#149; <a href="qh-optc.htm#prec">Precision</a>
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<!-- GC common information -->
<hr>
<p><a href="http://www.geom.uiuc.edu/"><img src="qh--geom.gif"
align="middle" width="40" height="40"></a><i>The Geometry Center
Home Page </i></p>
<p>Comments to: <a href=mailto:qhull@qhull.org>qhull@qhull.org</a>
</a><br>
Created: Sept. 25, 1995 --- <!-- hhmts start --> Last modified: see top <!-- hhmts end --> </p>
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