A Partial Shape Matching Method for 3d Model Databases

The use of 3D models is gaining popularity since they are important for computer graphics applications. Recently, similarity retrieval techniques for 3D models have been investigated intensively for handling databases of 3D models systematically. The techniques extract shape descriptors from 3D models and use these descriptors for indices for comparing shape similarities. Various shape descriptors have been proposed for improving shape similarity search results. Most similarity search techniques focus on comparisons of each individual 3D model from databases. However, our similarity search technique can compare not only each individual 3D model, but also partial shape similarities. The partial shape matching technique extends the user’s query request by (1) finding similar parts of 3D models, (2) finding 3D models which contain similar parts, and (3) counting the number of similar portions automatically. We have implemented an experimental partial shape-matching search system for 3D model databases, and preliminary experiments show that the system successfully retrieves similar 3D model parts efficiently.