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Painting and Rendering Textures on Unparameterized Models
Author(s): David (grue) DeBry, Jonathan Gibbs, Devorah DeLeon Petty, Nate Robins.
Proceedings: Siggraph 2002,
2002.
[BibTeX] 
Abstract:
This paper presents a solution for texture mapping unparameterized
models. The quality of a texture on a model is often limited
by the model’s parameterization into a 2D texture space. For models
with complex topologies or complex distributions of structural
detail, finding this parameterization can be very difficult and usually
must be performed manually through a slow iterative process
between the modeler and texture painter. This is especially true of
models which carry no natural parameterizations, such as subdivision
surfaces or models acquired from 3D scanners. Instead, we
remove the 2D parameterization and store the texture in 3D space
as a sparse, adaptive octree. Because no parameterization is necessary,
textures can be painted on any surface that can be rendered.
No mappings between disparate topologies are used, so texture artifacts
such as seams and stretching do not exist. Because this method
is adaptive, detail is created in the map only where required by the
texture painter, conserving memory usage.