Interactive part selection for mesh and point models using hierarchical graph-cut partitioning

INTERACTIVE PART SELECTION FOR MESH AND POINT MODELS USING HIERARCHICAL GRAPH-CUT PARTITIONING Steven W. Brown Department of Computer Science Master of Science This thesis presents a method for interactive part selection for mesh and point set surface models that combines scribble-based selection methods with hierarchically accelerated graph-cut segmentation. Using graph-cut segmentation to determine optimal intuitive part boundaries enables easy part selection on complex geometries and allows for a simple, scribble-based interface that focuses on selecting within visible parts instead of precisely defining part boundaries that may be in difficult or occluded regions. Hierarchical acceleration is used to maintain interactive speeds with large models and to determine connectivity when extending the technique to point set models.