Data embedding of 3D triangular mesh models using ordered ring facets

In this paper we propose a method for embedding binary data in triangular mesh models. Contrary to digital images and audio which benefit from the intrinsically ordered structure of the matrix and the array. 3D triangular mesh model lacks this capital property even though it can be encoded in an array date structure. Such a lack often complicates the different aspects of data embedding, like model traversal, data insertion, and synchronization. We address this problem with a mesh data representation which encodes the mesh data into a novel ordered structure, dubbed, the Ordered Rings Facets (ORF). This structure is composed of concentric rings in which the triangles are arranged in a circular fashion. This representation exhibits several interesting features that include a systematic traversing of the whole mesh model, simple mechanisms for avoiding the causality problem, and an efficient computation of the embedding distortion. Our method can be also adapted to different scenarios of data embedding, which includes stenography and fragile watermarking.