For the analysis or generation of three-dimensional models, there is a need to match these models of the surface or the volume enclosed by the surface. This paper describes a system that uses the geometric hashing technique and works on various kinds of examples, rather than the one kind of problem shown in most papers. Though the technique is applicable to a variety of problems, the generation of the basic descriptors, called footprints, for the hashing method remains a problem.
The authors provide a good overview of much of the related work in matching curves and surfaces. They also discuss the limitations of the work, not just its successes. While additional experimental results would have improved the paper, there are sufficient results to suggest that the technique is broadly applicable.