3D shape retrieval is a problem of current interest in different fields, especially in the mechanical engineering domain. According to our knowledge, multifeature based techniques achieve the best performance at present. However, the practicability of those methods is badly limited due to the high computational cost. To improve the retrieval efficiency of 3D CAD model, we propose a novel 3D CAD model retrieval algorithm called VSC_WCO which consists of a new 3D shape descriptor named VSC and Weights Combination Optimization scheme WCO. VSC represents a 3D model with three distance distribution histograms based on vertices classification. The weighted sum of L1 norm distances between corresponding distance histograms of two VSC descriptors is regarded as dissimilarity of two models. For higher retrieval accuracy on a classified 3D model database, WCO is proposed based on Particle Swarm Optimization and existing class information. Experimental results on ESB, PSB, and NTU databases show that the discriminative power of VSC is already comparable to or better than several typical shape descriptors. After WCO is employed, the performance of VSC_WCO is similar to the leading methods by all performance metrics and is much better by computational efficiency.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.