Snake pedals: geometric models with physics-based control

In this paper, we introduce a novel geometric shape modeling scheme which allows for representation, of global and local shape characteristics of an object. Geometric models are traditionally well suited for representing global shapes but not the local details. However, in this paper we propose a powerful geometric shape modeling scheme which allows for the representation of global shapes with local detail and permits model shaping as well as topological changes via physics-based control. The proposed modeling scheme consists of representing shapes by pedal curves and surfaces-pedal curves/surfaces are the loci of the foot of perpendiculars to the tangents of a fixed curve/surface from a fixed point called the pedal point. By varying the location of the pedal point, one can synthesize a large class of shapes which exhibit both local and global deformations. We introduce physics-based control for shaping these geometric models by letting the pedal point vary and use a dynamic spline to represent the position of this varying pedal point. The model dubbed as a "snake pedal" allows for interactive manipulation via forces applied to the snake. We demonstrate the applicability of this modeling scheme via examples of shape synthesis and shape estimation from real image data.