Content-based retrieval of 3-D objects using Spin Image Signatures

Retrieval by content of 3-D models is becoming more and more important due to the advancements in 3-D hardware and software technologies for acquisition, authoring and display of 3-D objects, their ever-increasing availability at affordable costs, and the establishment of open standards for 3-D data interchange. In this paper, we present a new method, referred to as Spin Image Signatures, that develops on the original spin images approach, with adaptations to support effective retrieval by content. According to the method proposed, a set of spin images is derived for each model, to obtain a view-independent description of its 3-D shape and a signature is evaluated for each spin image in the set. Clustering is hence performed on the set of Spin Image Signatures to obtain a compact representation. Experimental results are presented, showing the effectiveness of the Spin Image Signatures method for retrieval, also in comparison with other methods, and its sensitivity to model deformations.