FACE: fast active-contour curvature-based evolution

This paper presents an active contour model for fast object segmentation called FACE. A novel energy term that takes into account the computational complexity of the active contour is introduced together with related constraints and minimization procedure. The described process is based on the regularization and optimization of the active contour control points position. The trade-off between computational complexity and final contour accuracy is based on curvature estimation. The result is a fast active contour convergence towards desired object boundaries. This method can be combined with most of the other active contour approaches presented in literature, thanks to the independence between the computational minimization process and the classical active contour minimization process. The object segmentation procedure can be automatic or semiautomatic depending on the original image complexity. Several tests and experiments have been realized. Results show improvements in terms of computational time reduction when compared with other similar active contour models. (C) 2004 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.