A parallel 12-subiteration 3D thinning algorithm to extract medial lines

Abstract

Thinning is a frequently used method for extracting skeletons of objects in discrete spaces. It is a layer by layer erosion of the objects until only their skeletons are left. This paper presents an efficient parallel thinning algorithm which directly extracts medial lines from 3D binary objects (i.e., without creating medial surface). According to the selected 12 deletion directions, one iteration step contains 12 subiterations (instead of the usual 6). Our algorithm provides good results, preserves topology and makes easy implementation possible.