3d Mesh Segmentation Using Local Geometry

We develop an algorithm to segment a 3D surface mesh intovisually meaningful regions based on analyzing the local geometry ofvertices. We begin with a novel characterization of mesh vertices as convex,concave or hyperbolic depending upon their discrete local geometry.Hyperbolic and concave vertices are considered potential feature regionboundaries. We propose a new region growing technique starting fromthese boundary vertices leading to a segmentation of the surface thatis subsequently simplified by a region-merging method. Experiments indicatethat our algorithm segments a broad range of 3D models at aquality comparable to existing algorithms. Its use of methods that belongnaturally to discretized surfaces and ease of implementation makeit an appealing alternative in various applications.