Structured edge map of curved objects in a range image

An approach to the computation of a representation of objects with a planar and curved faces using discontinuity features in range images is presented. Edge maps are computed from real laser triangulation images using local operators and shadow analysis, and then structured into an edge-junction graph embedding and quantitative information. This is achieved by appealing to certain concepts of line-drawing analysis adapted to the three-dimensional nature of range imaging. The edge-oriented method is primarily useful for objects that are well-described by their edges. The main advantage of edge-based descriptions is that no fixed surface primitives are assumed. On the other hand, this scheme can only represent objects without any surface crease edges (such as a sphere) by viewpoint-dependent limb edges. This information may be insufficient for the ensuing high-level task. Thus, a generalization of the description format might include a surface analysis to provide a richer representation