Discrete curvature estimation methods for triangulated surfaces

Abstract

We review some recent approaches to estimate discrete Gaussian and mean curvatures for triangulated surfaces, and discuss their characteristics. We focus our attention on concentrated curvature which is generally used to estimate Gaussian curvature. We present a result that shows that concentrated curvature can also be used to estimate mean curvature and hence principal curvatures. This makes concentrated curvature one of the fundamental notions in discrete computational geometry. © 2012 Springer-Verlag.