Density-Based Shape Descriptors for 3D Object Retrieval

We develop a probabilistic framework that computes 3D shape descriptors in a more rigorous and accurate manner than usual histogram-based methods for the purpose of 3D object retrieval. We first use a numerical analytical approach to extract the shape information from each mesh triangle in a better way than the sparse sampling approach. These measurements are then combined to build a probability density descriptor via kernel density estimation techniques, with a rule-based bandwidth assignment. Finally, we explore descriptor fusion schemes. Our analytical approach reveals the true potential of density-based descriptors, one of its representatives reaching the top ranking position among competing methods.