Using implicit surfaces to characterize shapes within digital volumes

Abstract: Implicit surfaces for Computer Graphics are defined as equipotential surfaces generated by a skeleton that characterizes the shape of the bounded volumes. Such implicit surfaces are basically used for animation applications. We think that their use for reconstruction problems could be very pertinent because of the relation that can be defined between their skeleton and the relevant features of the data sets on which the reconstruction process is based. In this paper, we propose a specific characterization of an implicit surface model that enables the representation of binary shapes within a digital volume. This model is being developed within a 3D medical imaging project that aims to analyze the motion of the heart