A coarse vectorisation as an initial representation for the understanding of line drawing images

Abstract

In this paper, we are concerned with the problem of finding a good and homogeneous representation to encode line drawing documents (which may be handwritten). We propose a method in which the problems induced by a first step skeletisation have been avoided. We first achieve a hierarchical representation that enables a fine description of the drawing using only pixels, vectors and quadrilateral primitives. This representation gives a global vision of the drawings. Then, its capacity to evolve and to carry high semantical local entities is highlighted. Finally we show how an architecture of perceptive cycles allows a belter quality interpretation of the document.