3D Mesh Decomposition using Reeb Graphs Stefano Berretti * , Alberto Del Bimbo and Pietro Pala Dipartimento di Sistemi e Informatica University of Firenze via S. Marta 3, 50139 Firenze, Italy {berretti, delbimbo, pala}@dsi.unifi.it January 22, 2009 Abstract Decomposition of complex 3D objects into simpler sub-parts is a challenging research subject with relevant outcomes for several application contexts. In this paper, an approach is proposed for decomposition of 3D objects based on Reeb-graphs. The approach is mo- tivated by perceptual principles and supports identification of salient object protrusions. Experimental results are presented to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed ap- proach with respect to different solutions appeared in the literature, and with reference to ground-truth data obtained by manual decomposition of 3D objects. Keywords: 3D mesh decomposition; Reeb-graph; geodesic distance 1 Introduction In recent years, a growing number of solutions have been proposed to generate 3D digital models of real objects. These solutions differ in terms of costs, resolution and type of acquired information (the un-textured external surface of the object, the textured external surface or even the interior composition of the object) and include CAD, tomography, magnetic resonance, 3D laser scanners, structured light systems and photogrammetry. As a result, 3D models are nowadays used in many application domains, including manu- facturing industries (to support design and rapid prototyping), medicine (to support disease study and diagnosis), video production (to boost construction of special effects by reusing parts of available high quality 3D models), and cultural heritage (to enable accurate detection of ge- ometric deformation of art-pieces due to inadequate preservation conditions). Several of these applications can benefit from the possibility to cut a 3D object model into simpler parts, a process that in the literature is referred to as 3D object decomposition. This can be useful in * Corresponding author. Phone: +39 055 4796415; fax: +39 055 4796363. E-mail address: berretti@dsi.unifi.it 1