The Twist Representation of Shape

We give a contribution to the representation problem of free-form curves and surfaces. Our proposal is an operational or kinematic approach based on the Lie group SE(3). While in Euclidean space the modelling of shape as orbit of a point under the action of SE(3) is limited, we are embedding our problem into the conformal geometric algebra R_4,1 of the Euclidean space R^3. This embedding results in a number of advantages which makes the proposed method a universal and flexible one with respect to applications. Especially advantagous is the equivalence of the proposed shape model to that of the Fourier representations