In this paper, we propose a new framework for active contour and surface models. Based on the concepts of the elastic interaction between line defects in solids, this framework defines an image-based speed field for contour evolution. Different from other level set based frameworks, the speed field is global and defined everywhere in the whole space. It can offer a long-range attractive interaction between object boundary and evolving contour. The new framework is general because it can be easily extended to higher dimension. Using the Fast Fourier Transforms, we also introduce an efficient algorithm for finding the values of the image-based speed field. Some experiments on synthetic and clinical images are shown to indicate the properties of our model.
Albert C. S. Chung, Yang Xiang, Jian Ye, Max W. K.