DeepWarp: DNN-based Nonlinear Deformation

DeepWarp is an efficient and highly re-usable deep neural network (DNN) based nonlinear deformable simulation framework. Unlike other deep learning applications such as image recognition, where different inputs have a uniform and consistent format (e.g. an array of all the pixels in an image), the input for deformable simulation is quite variable, high-dimensional, and parametrization-unfriendly. Consequently, even though DNN is known for its rich expressivity of nonlinear functions, directly using DNN to reconstruct the force-displacement relation for general deformable simulation is nearly impossible. DeepWarp obviates this difficulty by partially restoring the force-displacement relation via warping the nodal displacement simulated using a simplistic constitutive model – the linear elasticity. In other words, DeepWarp yields an incremental displacement fix based on a simplified (therefore incorrect) simulation result other than returning the unknown displacement directly. We contrive a compact yet effective feature vector including geodesic, potential and digression to sort training pairs of per-node linear and nonlinear displacement. DeepWarp is robust under different model shapes and tessellations. With the assistance of deformation substructuring, one DNN training is able to handle a wide range of 3D models of various geometries including most examples shown in the paper. Thanks to the linear elasticity and its constant system matrix, the underlying simulator only needs to perform one pre-factorized matrix solve at each time step, and DeepWarp is able to simulate large models in real time.