Flower modeling via X-ray computed tomography

This paper presents a novel three dimensional (3D) flower modeling technique that utilizes an X-ray computed tomography (CT) system and real-world flowers. Although a CT system provides volume data that captures the internal structures of flowers, it is difficult to accurately segment them into regions of particular organs and model them as smooth surfaces because a flower consists of thin organs that contact one another. We thus introduce a semiautomatic modeling technique that is based on a new active contour model with energy functionals designed for flower CT. Our key idea is to approximate flower components by two important primitives, a shaft and a sheet. Based on our active contour model, we also provide novel user interfaces and a numerical scheme to fit these primitives so as to reconstruct realistic thin flower organs efficiently. To demonstrate the feasibility of our technique, we provide various flower models reconstructed from CT volumes.