advancefront.m

function [elist, nextfront] = advancefront(edges, loop, elen)
%
% [elist,nextfront]=advancefront(edges,loop,elen)
%
% advance an edge-front on an oriented surface to the next separated by
% one-element width
%
% author: Qianqian Fang, <q.fang at neu.edu>
% date: 2012/02/09
%
% input:
%      edges: edge list of an oriented surface mesh, must be in CCW order
%      loop: a 2-column array, specifying a closed loop in CCW order
%      elen: node number inside each element, if ignored, elen is set to 3
%
% output:
%      elist: list of triangles that is enclosed between the two
%             edge-fronts
%      nextfront: a new edge loop list representing the next edge-front
%
% -- this function is part of iso2mesh toolbox (http://iso2mesh.sf.net)
%

elist = [];
nextfront = [];

if (nargin < 3)
    elen = 3;
end

[hasedge, loc] = ismember(loop, edges, 'rows');

if (~all(hasedge))
    error('loop edge is not defined in the mesh');
end

nodenum = size(edges, 1) / elen;

elist = unique(mod(loc - 1, nodenum)) + 1;
nextfront = edges(elist, :);
for i = 1:elen - 1
    nextfront = [nextfront; edges(elist + nodenum * i, :)];
end
nextfront = setdiff(nextfront, loop, 'rows');

% remove reversed edge pairs
[flag, loc] = ismember(nextfront, nextfront(:, [2 1]), 'rows');
id = find(flag);
if (~isempty(id))
    delmark = flag;
    delmark(loc(find(loc > 0))) = 1;
    nextfront(find(delmark), :) = [];
end
nextfront = nextfront(:, [2 1]); % reverse this loop, as it is reversed to the input loop