Morphological analysis of shape semantics from curvature-based signatures

Over the past few years, advancements in the field of 3D digitizing has increased the fidelity of geometric models. So far and despite of this acuity enhancement, a gap remains between the growth of collected data and its uses as vehicle of knowledge. New challenges have emerged to handle massive content of a 3D footprint. Considering those un-interpreted data as starting point for further investigations, the hypothesis is to rely on a “low-level” analysis of geometric features aiming to enrich informative and scientific value of “high-level” semantic studies. This article describes an approach using discrete curvature assets to link morphological identification and semantic characterization. The mean curvature has been parametrized to highlight it use as an eloquent shape description. At this point, a comparative analysis within an architectural collection composed of similar entities would be led according to the remoteness degree compared to an average geometric reference model. The introduced principle explores the construction of curvature-based signatures so as to reassess the conceptual articulations of 31 Romanesque columns from the cloister of the abbey of Saint-Michel de Cuxa.