Quality Meshing: Angle and Size Constraints
===========================================

Triangle generates a conforming constrained Delaunay triangulation whenever the
-q, -a, or -u, switch is used. These switches set constraints on angles and
triangle sizes in the mesh.

The -q switch sets a minimum angle constraint. A number may follow the `q`;
otherwise, the default minimum angle is twenty degrees. For the vertex set
spiral below, consider the differences among triangle spiral triangle -q spiral
triangle -q32.5 spiral

.. plot:: plot/quality.py

Note that the angle constraint does not apply to small angles between input
segments; such angles cannot be removed.

The -a switch sets a maximum area constraint. There are three ways to use this
switch. The first way is to specify a maximum area on the command line. The
next example is a mesh in which no triangle has area greater than 0.2.

::

   triangulate(spiral,'a.2') 

.. plot:: plot/quality1.py

The second manner of using the -a switch is applicable only when creating a new
mesh from a PSLG. The file describing the PSLG itself contains area
constraints, each of which is applied to a segment-bounded region; see the
.poly file format for details. For an example, look at the last seven lines of
la.poly, which describes a vertical cross section of soil in the Los Angeles
Basin. Below is an illustration of the results when the -a switch is or is not
invoked.

::

   triangulate(la,'pq') 
   triangulate(la,'pqa') 

.. plot:: plot/quality2.py