Web-based Chinese calligraphy retrieval and learning system

Abstract

Chinese calligraphy is a valuable civilization legacy and there are some web sites trying to help people enjoy and learn calligraphy. However, besides metadata-base searching, it is very difficult to find advanced services such as content-based retrieval or vivid writing process simulating for Chinese calligraphy. In this paper, a novel Chinese calligraphy retrieval and learning system is proposed: First, the scanned calligraphy pages were segmented into individual calligraphy characters using minimum-bounding box. Second, individual character's feature information was extracted and kept. Then, corresponding database was built to serve as a map between the feature data and the original data of individual character image. Finally, a retrieval engine was constructed and dynamic writing process was simulated to help learners get the calligraphy character they are interested in and watch how it was written. © Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2005.