A cellular model for multi-objects multi-dimensional homotopic deformations

We deal in this paper with complex three-dimensional scenes, partitioned into several objects of any shape, and with varying local dimensions. We propose a consistent topological modeling of such scenes, based on a cellular model. We introduce a de"nition of simple elements for any adjacency graph-based geometrical structure. Then we prove a local characterization of simple cells of a cellular model, in the case of two objects, and of any number of objects. This characterization allows to de"ne homotopic deformations of a complex scene. 2001 Pattern Recognition Society. Published by Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.