PLANAR SHAPE ENHANCEMENT AND EXAGGERATION

A local smoothing operator applied in the reverse direction is used to obtain planar shape enhancement and exaggeration. Inversion of a smoo thing operator is an inherently unstable operation. Therefore, a stabl e numerical scheme simulating the inverse smoothing effect is introduc ed. Enhancement is obtained for short time spans of evolution. Carryin g the evolution further yields shape exaggeration or caricaturization effect. Introducing attraction forces between the evolving shape and t he initial one yields an enhancement process that converges to a stead y state. These forces depend on the distance of the evolving curve fro m the original one and on local properties. Results of applying the un restrained and restrained evolution on planar shapes, based on a stabi lized inverse geometric heat equation, are presented showing enhanceme nt and caricaturization effects. (C) 1998 Academic Press.