Description of object shapes by apparent boundary and convex hull

摘要

The notions of the apparent boundary and the strict apparent boundary of an object are introduced, which, together with the convex hull, provide an automatic approach for object shape analysis. Various properties of the apparent boundary and the strict apparent boundary are established which show that they are good approximations of the real object boundary. Applications of the apparent boundary and the convex hull to the automatic shape characterization of planktonic foraminifera are presented.