Skeleton extraction of 2D objects using shock wavefront detection

Abstract

This paper proposes a method for computing the medial axis transform (MAT) or the skeleton of a general 2D shape using a technique with a high performance, based on a distance transform computation from the shape's boundaries. The distance transform is computed propagating a wavefront from the boundary, and the skeleton is obtained detecting the points where the wavefronts collide themselves, and applying connectivity rules during the process. This method has two main advantages: the efficiency and the preservation of the skeleton properties.