title: LAPLACE-BELTRAMI NODAL COUNTS: A NEW SIGNATURE FOR 3D SHAPE ANALYSIS.
abstract: In this paper we develop a new approach of analyzing 3D shapes based on the eigen-system of the Laplace-Beltrami operator. While the eigenvalues of the Laplace-Beltrami operator have been used previously in shape analysis, they are unable to differentiate isospectral shapes. To overcome this limitation, we propose here a new signature based on nodal counts of the eigenfunctions. This signature provides a compact representation of the geometric information that is missing in the eigenvalues. In our experiments, we demonstrate that the proposed signature can successfully classify anatomical shapes with similar eigenvalues.
authors.affiliation: Department of Mathematics, University of California, Los Angeles, CA, USA.
authors.forename: Rongjie
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Lai
authors.forename: Yonggang
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Shi
authors.forename: Ivo
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Dinov
authors.forename: Tony F
authors.initials: TF
authors.lastname: Chan
authors.forename: Arthur W
authors.initials: AW
authors.lastname: Toga