Shape retrieval using 3D Zernike descriptors

We advocate the usage of 3D Zernike invariants as descriptors for 3D shape retrieval. The basis polynomials of this representation facilitate computation of invariants under rotation, translation and scaling. Some theoretical results have already been summarized in the past from the aspect of pattern recognition and shape analysis. We provide practical analysis of these invariants along with algorithms and computational details. Furthermore, we give a detailed discussion on influence of the algorithm parameters like the conversion into a volumetric function, number of utilized coefficients, etc. As is revealed by our study, the 3D Zernike descriptors are natural extensions of recently introduced spherical harmonics based descriptors. We conduct a comparison of 3D Zernike descriptors against these regarding computational aspects and shape retrieval performance using several quality measures and based on experiments on the Princeton Shape Benchmark.