Segmentation and compression techniques for 3D animation models based on motion trajectory in the spherical coordinate system

In recent days, applications using 3D animation models are increasing. Since the 3D animation model contains a huge amount of information, data compression is needed for efficient storage or transmission. Although there have been various proposals for 3D model coding, most works have considered only static connectivity and geometry information. Only a few studies have been presented for 3D animation models. This paper presents a coding scheme for 3D animation models using a new 3D segmentation algorithm. For an accurate segmentation, we take advantage of temporal coherence in the generic animated 3D model. After the motion vector of each vertex is mapped onto the surface of the unit sphere in the spherical coordinate system, we partition the surface of the sphere equally to have the same area. We then reconstruct in- between 3D models using the reconstructed key frame and an affine motion model for each segmented unit.© (2000) COPYRIGHT SPIE--The International Society for Optical Engineering. Downloading of the abstract is permitted for personal use only.