A method of forming mesh data for three-dimensional (3-D) data is provided. Inside/outside (IO) functions are generated based on indicator functions to identify element interfaces between a plurality of elements identified in the 3-D data. An indicator function is defined to represent a volume identified for an element within the 3-D data. A cell indicator function is defined for each element interface based on the IO functions to identify a plurality of types of element interfaces. The cell indicator function identifies points in the 3-D data where a plurality of the generated IO functions evaluate to approximately zero. The types of element interfaces are identified based on a number of elements that coincide at a point in the 3-D data. 3-D point locations are distributed on the identified element interfaces based on the plurality of types of element interfaces and the IO functions. Surface mesh data is generated based on the distributed 3-D point locations.