Image and Vision Computing
Elsevier
CFP  Image and Vision Computing · Elsevier

3D Mesh Processing and Generation in the Age of Deep Learning

A special issue tracking how neural networks are rewriting the pipeline for meshes — from implicit-to-explicit reconstruction and generative synthesis, to topology-aware learning and differentiable rendering.

Submission deadlineMarch 15, 2027
Publication2028
Guest editorsLai · Li · Liao · Lézoray
01 — SCOPE

Meshes are still where geometry lives.

Three-dimensional meshes remain the working representation across scientific visualization, graphics, VR/AR, and digital-twin pipelines — but deep learning has changed almost everything about how they're produced and consumed. Neural implicit fields (SDFs, occupancy networks, NeRF-style representations) now sit upstream of explicit geometry; diffusion and transformer-based generators synthesize shapes directly from text or images; and mesh-native architectures increasingly operate on vertices, edges, and faces without abandoning connectivity for point clouds or voxels.

This special issue is dedicated specifically to meshes as a representation — the irregular connectivity, topology preservation, and geometric consistency problems that point-cloud and implicit-focused venues tend to skip past. It welcomes original theory, new methods, and applied work that pushes mesh understanding forward.

Triangulated 3D mesh
Triangulated 3D mesh
02 — CALL FOR PAPERS

Download the PDF version of this call for papers ↓

Consult the call for papers on the journal website here.

Topics of interest

We solicit original contributions addressing theoretical and practical issues for 3D meshes, including — but not limited to.

Neural implicit representations

Signed distance fields, occupancy, and implicit functions for 3D geometry.

Deep mesh generation & completion

Generation, completion, and reconstruction of mesh geometry.

Simplification, denoising & remeshing

Learning-based approaches to lighter, cleaner, better-conditioned meshes.

Segmentation & correspondence

Mesh segmentation, classification, and correspondence learning.

Editing, deformation & animation

Neural approaches to reshaping, rigging, and animating mesh geometry.

Datasets & benchmarks

Large-scale datasets and benchmarks for mesh-focused deep learning.

Generative models

GANs, diffusion, and auto-regressive models for 3D mesh synthesis.

Differentiable rendering

Differentiable rendering and inverse graphics for mesh supervision.

Topology-aware architectures

Network designs that respect and exploit mesh connectivity.

Multi-modal 3D learning

Mesh learning driven by text, images, or video.

Quality, fairness & bias

Mesh quality metrics, and fairness/bias in 3D data generation.

AR/VR & industrial applications

Visualization, simulation, AR/VR, and industrial design applications.

03 — IMPORTANT DATES

Timeline

March 15, 2027
Original submissions due
June 30, 2027
First round of reviews completed & decisions sent
September 15, 2027
Revised manuscripts due
November 15, 2027
Final acceptance decision
2028
Special issue publication
04 — GUEST EDITORS

Editorial team

Submitted papers are screened by all guest editors for fit and originality, then distributed by topic and expertise. Only one round of major/minor revision is allowed to keep the schedule on track.

Olivier Lézoray

Full Professor, University of Caen Normandy, France · GREYC UMR CNRS 6072
Graph-based signal processing, mathematical morphology, mesh saliency and inpainting, graph neural networks for 3D meshes.

Yu-Kun Lai

Full Professor, Cardiff University, Wales, UK
Computer graphics, geometric processing, and computer vision — 20+ years in mesh processing and, more recently, deep learning-based methods.

Lei Li

Assistant Professor, University of Virginia, USA
Computer vision × computer graphics, machine spatial intelligence for perceiving and interacting with the 3D world.

Yiyi Liao

Assistant Professor, Zhejiang University, China
3D computer vision and immersive media — scene reconstruction, generation, and compression.
05 — SUBMISSION

Ready to submit?

Manuscripts should follow the standard author guidelines of Image and Vision Computing and be flagged for this special issue at submission.

Details on the journal can be found here.

Guidelines for authors can be found here.

Submit through Editorial Manager

Select the special issue article type for “3D Mesh Processing and Generation in the Age of Deep Learning” when submitting, and mention the special issue in your cover letter.

Journal submission page →