Blended deformable models

We develop a new class of parameterized models based on the linear interpolation of two parameterized shapes using a blending function. Using a small number of additional parameters, blending extends the coverage of shape primitives. In particular, it offers the ability to construct shapes whose genus can change. Blended models are incorporated into a physics-based shape estimation framework which uses dynamic deformable models with global and local deformations. We present experiments involving the extraction of complex shapes, including an example of dynamic genus change