Authors:
Martin Maňák
1
;
David Podgorelec
2
and
Ivana Kolingerová
3
Affiliations:
1
New Technologies for the Information Society (NTIS), University of West Bohemia, Univerzitní 8, 301 00 Pilsen, Czech Republic
;
2
Faculty of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, University of Maribor, Koroška cesta 46, SI-2000 Maribor, Slovenia
;
3
Department of Computer Science and Engineering, Faculty of Applied Sciences, University of West Bohemia, Univerzitní 8, 301 00 Pilsen, Czech Republic
Keyword(s):
Symmetry, Approximate, Visualization, Evaluation.
Abstract:
When an object can be split by a plane into two symmetrical parts, one being the mirrored image of the other, the object has a reflectional symmetry with respect to that plane. The symmetry is often only approximate and not necessarily global. Many algorithms exist for the detection of symmetries and there are various applications utilizing symmetrical properties. Yet there are not so many ways to measure the amount of approximate reflectional symmetry. In this paper, we introduce a method for the evaluation of approximate symmetry for objects represented as a point cloud. The method consists of three parts - a relative symmetry distance for measuring the amount of approximate reflectional symmetry, a plot of relative errors, and visualization of errors. This method offers a way how to compare different objects by the amount of symmetry and improves understanding of the symmetrical properties of objects, both quantitatively and visually.