Feature based search of 3D databases: ASME 2016 International Design Engineering Technical Conferences and Computers and Information in Engineering Conference, IDETC/CIE 2016

This paper presents a novel algorithm "Twig Match" for feature based shape retrieval systems. The algorithm exploits recent advances in computational methods for subgraph isomorphism, in order to enable databases containing many thousands of components to be searched in less than a second. A face adjacency graph representation is created from a B-Rep model, allowing model comparison to be treated as a labelled subgraph isomorphism problem. This paper describes an experimental implementation which allows interactive specification of a target "feature". By selectively including geometric filters, on faces and relations between neighbouring faces, the algorithm can ensure that matching topology is not incorrectly identified as matching geometry, while also offering users the ability to improve the precision of both query and results. Experimental results show that Twig Match accurately retrieves matching and similar sub-parts from collections at speeds suitable for interactive applications .