Dynamic 3D models with local and global deformations: deformable superquadrics

A physically-based approach is presented to fitting complex 3D shapes using a novel class of dynamic models. These models can deform both locally and globally. The authors formulate deformable superquadrics which incorporate the global shape parameters of a conventional superellipsoid with the local degrees of freedom of a spline. The local/global representational power of a deformable superquadric simultaneously satisfies the conflicting requirements of shape reconstruction and shape recognition. The model´s six global deformational degrees of freedom capture gross shape features from visual data and provide salient part descriptors for efficient indexing into a database of stored models. Model fitting experiments involving 2D monocular image data and 3D range data are reported