A Morse-theory based method for segmentation of triangulated freeform surfaces

Abstract

This paper presents a new algorithm for segmentation of triangulated freeform surfaces using geometric quantities and Morse theory. The method consists of two steps: initial segmentation and refinement. First, the differential geometry quantities are estimated on triangular meshes, with which the meshes are classified into different surface types. The initial segmentation is obtained by grouping the topologically adjacent meshes with the same surface types based on region growing. The critical points of triangular meshes are then extracted with Morse theory and utilized to further determine the boundaries of initial segments. Finally, the region growing process starting from each critical point is performed to achieve a refined segmentation. The experimental results on several 3D models demonstrate the effectiveness and usefulness of this segmentation method. © 2009 Springer-Verlag.