Machine Interpretation of Line Drawings

Kokichi Sugihara

The MIT Press
Cambridge, Massachusetts
London, Englandc
1986
by The Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Contents
1 Introduction
1.1 Aim of the Book . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
1.2 Philosophy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
1.3 Short History . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
1.4 Overview of the Book . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

1
1
2
7
10

2 Candidates for Spatial Interpretations
13
2.1 Polyhedrons and Line Drawings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
2.2 Classiﬁcation of Lines . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
2.3 Junction Dictionary and Consistent Labeling . . . . . . . . . 21
2.4 Hidden-Part-Eliminated Pictures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
2.5 Hidden-Part-Eliminated Pictures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
2.5.1 Non-Trihedral Objects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
2.5.2 Other Variations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
2.5.3 Other Rules . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
2.6 Constraint Propagation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
3 Discrimination between Correct and Incorrect Pictures41
3.1 Basic Idea . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
3.2 Planar-Panel Scenes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
3.3 Extraction of the Spatial Structure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46
3.4 Interpretation as a Planar-Panel Scene . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54
3.5 Interpretation as a Polyhedral Scene . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57
3.6 Reducing to a Linear Programming Problem . . . . . . . . . 59
3.7 Perspective Projection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60
3.8 Pictures with Additional Information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62
4 Correctness of Hidden-Part-Drawn Pictures
65
4.1 Ambiguity in Interpretation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65i

ii

Contents
4.2
4.3
4.4
4.5

Face-Layer Structure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Spatial Structure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Example . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Realizability of a Polyhedral Scene . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

67
71
73
77

5 Algebraic Structures of Line Drawings
81
5.1 Degrees of Freedom in the Choice of Objects . . . . . . . . . 81
5.2 Matroids . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91
5.3 Pictures with Four Degrees of Freedom . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94
5.4 Axonometric Projection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102
6 Combinatorial Structures of Line Drawings
109
6.1 Diﬃculties in the Algebraic Approach . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109
6.2 Generically Reconstructible Incidence Structures . . . . . . . 111
6.3 Proofs of the Main Theorems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 116
6.4 Generic Degrees of Freedom . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125
7 Overcoming the Superstrictness
129
7.1 Correction of Vertex Position Errors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 129
7.2 Set of All Scenes Represented by a Picture . . . . . . . . . . . 135
7.3 Practical Judgment of the Correctness . . . . . . . . . . . . . 136
7.4 A Classiﬁcation of Line Drawings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 138
8 Algorithmic Aspects of Generic Reconstructibility
143
8.1 Network Flow Theory . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 143
8.2 Extraction of Generically Reconstructible Substructures . . . 146
9 Speciﬁcation of Unique Shape153
9.1 Object Speciﬁcation Using Precisely Drawn Pictures . . . . . 153
9.2 Object Speciﬁcation Using Roughly Drawn Pictures . . . . . 155
10 Recovery of Shape from Surface Information
163
10.1 Shape Recovery as an Optimization . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 163
10.2 Some Examples . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 168
11 Polyhedrons and Rigidity
181
11.1 Gradient Space and Reciprocal Diagrams . . . . . . . . . . . 181
11.2 Rigidity of Plane Skeletal Structures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 188
11.3 Graphical Correspondence . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 194
11.4 Generic Correspondence . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 198
11.5 Principal Partitions and Submodular Decompositions . . . . . 206

Preface
This book presents a computational mechanism for the interpretation ofline drawings by means of which a machine can extract three-dimensional
object structures from their pictures drawn on a two-dimensional plane. It iseasy for a human being to understand what is represented by line drawings,
so that they are frequently used in many stages of human communication,such as illustrations in books and engineering drawings in factories. For
a machine, on the other hand, line drawings are simple collections of twodimensional line segments; some intelligent mechanism is required to extract
three-dimensional information from them. How the machine can possess
such intelligence is the main problem attacked throughout this book.
From a theoretical point of view this book provides a typical example ofmaking humanlike intelligence by a simple computational mechanism. We
are apt to think that the human ability to interpret line drawings is basedon various kinds of human experiences, and hence a mechanism that mimics
this ability should be supported by extensive and complicated knowledge
about the outside world. However, it turns out that this ability can berealized by a simple mathematical procedure at least when the objects are
restricted to planar faced solids. The computational mechanism presented
here is not accompanied by a large database, but is composed of several
simple procedures based on linear algebra and combinatorial theory; it canstill mimic human ﬂexible intelligence in picture perception.
From a practical point of view the results in this book can be applied to
man-machine communication and robot vision. One of the main problems
in a computer-aided system for geometric design is how to input data about
object structures that are born in a designer’s mind. The computational
mechanism in this book makes the communication ﬂexible in the sense thatthe system can extract object structures automatically from pictures drawn
by the designer. In a robot vision system for recognizing the outside world,
the present results can be used as an intermediate stage, which receives
line drawings from an image processing stage and oﬀers the descriptions of
iii

iv

Prefacethree-dimensional object structures to an object recognition stage.
This book is mainly based on the author’s work during the past ten years,
the ﬁrst half of which was spent at the Electrotechnicai Laboratory and theother half at Nagoya University, on understanding line drawings. Among
many others the author would like to express his thanks to Prof. Noboru
Sugie of Nagoya University and Dr. Yoshiaki Shirai of the ElectrotechnicalLaboratory for guiding him to this interesting ﬁeld of research; Prof. Masao
Iri of Tokyo University for suggesting the importance of the combinatorial aspect of line drawings; Prof. Jun-ichiro Toriwaki of Nagoya University, Dr. Hiroshi Imai of Tokyo University, Prof. Henry Crapo of INRIA,
Prof. Walter Whiteley of McGill University, Dr. Masaki Oshima of the Electrotechnical Laboratory, and Prof. Ken-ichi Kanatani of Gumma University
for valuable communications; and Mr. Hiroki Iguchi of NEC Co. Ltd, forhelp in writing computer programs when he was a student at Nagoya University. Many of these people, in particular Profs. Iri, Sugie, and Kanatani,gave the author valuable comments on earlier versions of the manuscript.
The author also wants to thank his wife Keiko Sugihara for helping him not
only mentally but also physically by keeping their daughters from his roomand thus giving him time for writing this book. The text was generated
by ATF (Advanced Text Formatter for science) at the Nagoya University
Computation Center.
K. Sugihara
March 1986Preface to the Web Release“Machine Interpretation of Line Drawing” was ﬁrst published with the MIT
Press, Cambridge, Massachusetts, in 1986 as one of the MIT Press Series of
Artiﬁcial Intelligence. Recently, the MIT Press decided not to print copies
any more, and hence it becomes diﬃcult to get one. However, the MIT
Press allowed me to post all the book pages in my web site for anyone to beable to download.
The original book was formatted by ATF (Advanced Text Formatterfor science, Fujitsu, Ltd.) serviced at the Nagoya University Computation
Center. At this opportunity, we reformatted the book text using a moreprevailing formatter, LaTeX. However, we did not change the original text
except for the corrections of a few of typos and grammatical errors.
I would like to express my sincere thanks to Dr. Bob Fisher for suggestingme the idea of placing my book in the web, to the MIT Press for allowing me
to post it, and to Ms. Chiharu Kanasaki for her hard work of reformatting
the manuscript using LaTeX. This web version could not be realized without
their kind understanding and support.

K. Sugihara
September 2006v

Chapter 1

Introduction
1.1

Aim of the Book

Human beings invented a noble class of pictures called “line drawings” asa means of representing three-dimensional shape of objects. The line drawings, though they consist of only line segments on a plane, convey muchinformation about three-dimensional object structures; when we see them,
we can easily understand what is represented there. The line drawings arewidely used in various ﬁelds of human communication, from engineeringdrawings of mechanical parts to illustrative ﬁgures in popular books.
For computers, on the other hand, line drawings are simple collectionsof line segments on a two-dimensional plane. In order to extract threedimensional information from them, some intelligent mechanism is necessary.
However, we cannot mimic the human visual process, because we know
for the present almost nothing about how human beings understand line
drawings.
The aim of this book is to present a computational mechanism for extracting three-dimensional structures of objects from two-dimensional line
drawings. The objects considered here are polyhedrons, that is, solid objects bounded by planar faces, and the line drawings are single-view pictures of these objects. Probably this mechanism is quite diﬀerent from whatis employed in human perception. It can nevertheless make a computer
intelligent in the sense that, given line drawings, the computer generates
three-dimensional descriptions of objects automatically.
One of potential applications of this mechanism is ﬂexible man-machinecommunication. Computer-aided systems are widely used for the design ofgeometric objects, such as mechanical parts and buildings. These systems
12

1. Introduction

provide many facilities by which designers can analyze, deform, and monitor
various kinds of characteristics of shape of objects interactively. However,these systems are not completely comfortable for users. One of the problems
is how to generate numerical data about shapes born in a designer’s mind. It
is tedious work for designers to convert their thoughts into numerical forms,
such as three-dimensional coordinates of vertices and incidence relations
among vertices, edges, and faces. The present mechanism can undertake
this work automatically; all that the designers have to do is to draw picturesof what are in their minds, and, if necessary, to give a small number of
additional data, such as lengths of edges and angles between faces. Thus,
the mechanism can lessen human labor.
Another application of the mechanism is computer vision systems forrecognizing the outside world. Using optical sensors such as a television
camera, these systems obtain visual images from the outside, and analyze
them by these three stages: ﬁrst, some features, such as edges, regions, andtextures, are extracted from the images; next, these two-dimensional features
are interpreted as three-dimensional structures; and ﬁnally, objects in thescenes are recognized. The present mechanism can be used as a component
for the intermediate stage, the feature interpretation stage, which receives
line drawings from the image processing stage and oﬀers descriptions of
three-dimensional structures to the object recognition stage.
In order to meet these ﬁelds of application, line drawings treated in thisbook are assumed to be either those drawn by human hands or those extracted by computer processing of digital images. Consequently, they are
not necessarily perfect; some lines may be missing, some lines may be superﬂuous, and/or vertices may be in a wrong position. Given a line drawingof this kind, the mechanism carries out the following tasks. First, the mechanism judges whether it represents a polyhedral scene correctly or not, and,
if not, tries to correct it. Next, the mechanism speciﬁes the set of all scenesthat the correct (or corrected) line drawing can represent. Finally, it selects
a unique scene that is most consistent with other information, such as edge
lengths given by a designer or surface texture given in the image.

1.2

Philosophy

When compared with languages, another means of human communication,line drawings are easier to understand; they can be read without muchtraining by anyone in any country. This is probably because line drawings
are analogical in nature, whereas languages are symbolic. Line drawings

1.2 Philosophy

3

are based on physical results of the imaging process, that is, projectionsof three-dimensional scenes onto two-dimensional planes, and hence theyreﬂect conﬁgurations of three-dimensional structures directly.
However, line drawings also have a symbolic aspect. First, they are notdirect representations of the distribution of light intensity on the retina. For
example, texture details on a surface are usually omitted, whereas invisibleedges are sometimes represented by broken lines. These conventions are
artiﬁcial rules, not direct consequences of the imaging process. Second,from a mathematical point of view a line drawing in general can admit many
possible interpretations, but it seems that most of them are never evokedin human perception. The line drawing shown in Fig. 1.1, for example, isusually interpreted as a picture of a truncated pyramid seen from above.
It is possible at least mathematically to regard it as the projection of four
objects ﬂoating in a space and aligning accidentally on the picture plane, as
is shown in Fig. 1.2, but this kind of an interpretation is rarely adopted. Thisimplies that in human communication line drawings involve some implicit
assumptions so that “unusual” interpretations are excluded. Third, we canextract three-dimensional information from line drawings even if they aremathematically incorrect. Consider the line drawing in Fig. 1.1 again. We
extract from it a structure of a truncated pyramid, but it is incorrect froma mathematical point of view. Indeed, if it were a truncated pyramid, thethree quadrilateral side planes should share a common point in a space when
extended, and hence the three side edges should meet at a common point on
the picture plane, but they do not, as is shown in Fig. 1.3. The line drawing
can never be a projection of any truncated pyramid. It is nevertheless usedin human communication as a description of a truncated pyramid.

Figure 1.1. Example of a line drawing.

4

1. Introduction

Figure 1.2. Unnatural but possible interpretation of the line drawing shownin Fig. 1.1.

Figure 1.3. Inconsistency in the interpretation of the line drawing in Fig. 1.1
as a truncated pyramid.

Thus, line drawings are not purely geometrical consequences but mixtures of geometry and human conventions; they have both an analogicalaspect and a symbolic aspect.
Basically, the interpretation of line drawings is an inverse problem of
the image forming process, where the analogical aspect plays the main role.
However, the symbolic aspect of line drawings is equally important in that
if a computer deals with only the analogical aspect, man-machine communication is almost impossible. Suppose that we draw a line drawing likeFig. 1.1 and show it to a computer. If the computer ignores its symbolic
aspect, the computer will reject it simply because it is mathematically in-1.2 Philosophy

5

correct. Even if we notice that the three side edges must be concurrent, it
does not make sense to try to draw a precise picture because digitization
errors are inevitable. Thus, we must not be satisﬁed with a mechanism thatworks correctly merely in a mathematical sense. A computer should havesome ﬂexible mechanism that can extract three-dimensional structures even
if line drawings are not strictly correct.
It seems interesting to note that this point is important also in a computer vision system. The input to the computer vision system is an image
obtained by means of a visual sensor, and hence it is not contaminated withhuman conventions. Nevertheless, the three-dimensional structure cannot
be reconstructed at all if the data are treated in a purely mathematicalmanner, because inevitable errors would make the line drawing incorrect.
The data must be treated as if they had the symbolic aspect.
In this book we study line drawings from both an analogical point ofview and a symbolic point of view, and construct a mechanism that can
extract three-dimensional information from both the aspects in a balancedmanner just as human beings do.
It should be said here that this book places emphasis on engineeringrather than human science. Our aim is to construct a computational mechanism by which a computer can practically process line drawing data. Hence,
our mechanism can be independent of the human visual mechanism on one
hand, but it must be correct, robust, and eﬃcient on the other hand.
What we search for is a mechanism that is suitable for a computer; its
internal structure need not be the same as that in the human brain. Of
course, we must know what kind of spatial information the human visualsystem can extract, because a machine should possess the same, or at least
similar, abilities for ﬂexible man-machine communication. For this purpose
we consider the human visual system. For the design of internal structuresof our mechanism, however, the human visual system seems of little help,
because we know for the present almost nothing about the human visual
process at such a high level as the interpretation of line drawings. Therefore,
we learn what to do from the human visual system, whereas we decide how
to do it from an engineering point of view.
Needless to say, a mechanism cannot be applied to engineering use unless it works always correctly, and a mechanism that works always correctly
cannot be searched for unless the tasks of the mechanism is well deﬁned.
This point is important when we try to replace human intelligence witha machine, because human intelligence is not a well deﬁned concept. “To
make a machine that extracts three-dimensional information as human beings do” is not a good speciﬁcation for the design of an intelligent machine.

6

1. Introduction

Diﬀerent persons may extract diﬀerent information from the same line drawing, and even the same person may extract diﬀerent information in diﬀerent
situations. In order to deﬁne the problem well, we have to specify in mathematical terms what aspects of human intelligence we want to realize. This
is why we restrict our objects to polyhedrons .
In polyhedrons, faces are all planar and hence can be recovered easily from their boundaries. Thus, most of the important information about
polyhedrons are contained in “skeletal structures” consisting of edges andvertices. Line drawings, which are projections of the skeletal structures, consequently contain much information about the objects. In contrast, curved
surface objects cannot be reconstructed uniquely even if their skeletal structures are given. Hence, line drawings do not convey enough information.
Interpretation of line drawings of curved surface objects seems to depend oneach particular situation in human communication, and in general it is very
diﬃcult to specify what shape should be extracted from what line drawings.
In the polyhedral object world, on the other hand, we can specify clearly the
input-output relation the intelligent machine should achieve. Thus we candeﬁne the problem in a mathematical manner, and consequently can search
for a mechanism that works correctly in a mathematical sense.
Mathematically correct mechanisms are sometimes too weak for practical
purposes. As we have seen in Fig. 1.3, only slight errors in positions ofvertices on the picture plane often make line drawings incorrect. If line
drawings are treated simply in a mathematical manner, a large part of line
drawings are judged incorrect though they are usually treated as correct
in human communication. Therefore, a desired mechanism must be robust(or, in other words, be ﬂexible) in the sense that it can extract what are
intended in line drawings even if they are not strictly correct. How to attainthis robustness is the most important and interesting point of our study.
In addition to being correct and robust, a desired mechanism must ofcourse be eﬃcient. Therefore, we search for eﬃcient algorithms for all thecomponents of our mechanism. For this purpose we employ whatever resultsin other ﬁelds, such as linear programming theory, network ﬂow theory, andmatroid theory. In case that we cannot ﬁnd a polynomial order algorithm fora strict solution to a subproblem, we do not hesitate to introduce heuristics
in order to avoid the combinatorial explosions.

1.3 Short History

1.3

7

Short History

Line drawings of three-dimensional objects have long been studied in descriptive geometry and projective geometry, but the main problem there
is how to “describe” given objects on two-dimensional planes (for example, Gurevich, 1960; Hohenberg, 1966). The converse problem, the problem
of how to “reconstruct” three-dimensional structures from line drawings,
started to draw attention only in later 1960s, when digital computers weredeveloped so that they could process image data.
Probably the earliest attempt at machine interpretation of line drawings can be found in Roberts’ system for object recognition (Roberts, 1965).
Given an image of an object taken from a certain ﬁxed set of a ﬁnite number of prototypes, his system identiﬁes the object by ﬁrst extracting a line
drawing from the image and next searching for a prototype whose projection coincides with the line drawing. Though his system requires the strong
assumption that objects are isolated in the images and that line drawings
can be extracted completely, his method forms a sound starting point for“prototype-based” interpretation of line drawings, where objects are takenfrom a ﬁnite number of prespeciﬁed prototypes. The prototype-based interpretation was further developed by Falk (1972) and Grape (1973) so thatimperfect line drawings and/or partially occluded objects can also be dealt
with.
In the case where the object world is not restricted to a ﬁnite set of
prototypes, interpretation of line drawings contains problems that are quite
diﬀerent from those in the prototype-based interpretation. One class ofproblems arises in the interpretation of multi-view drawings (Shapira, 1974).
This class includes an important subclass, that is, the interpretation of threeview drawings, such as engineering drawings composed of top, front, and sideviews (Idesawa et al., 1975; Wesley and Markowsky, 1981 ; Preiss, 1981;
Haralick and Queeney, 1982; Aldefeld, 1983). Here, the main problems are
twofold; one is to establish the correspondence between diﬀerent views, andthe other is to ﬁnd a consistent way of packing material to exactly one side ofeach face (Markovsky and Wesley, 1980). Another class of problems arises ininteractive systems for extracting three-dimensional structures from singleview drawings, where the main problem is how to realize smooth and ﬂexible
interaction between users and machines (Lafue, 1978; Liardet et al., 1978;
Fukui et al., 1983).
If only a single-view line drawing is given and no interaction between
man and machine is allowed, the problem of interpretation becomes morediﬃcult. This challenging problem, “prototype-free” interpretation of single-

8

1. Introduction

view line drawings, was ﬁrst attacked by Guzman (1968a, 1968b), who tried
to ﬁnd a systematic way of decomposing a line drawing of a pile of objects into regions so that each region may correspond to one object. In his
method, conﬁgurations of lines at junctions are used as keys for the region
decomposition. Though his method was based on only a collection of ad hoc
rules, it worked well for many complicated line drawings. However, his rules
were not based on any logical foundation and hence did not always work
correctly; indeed we can easily generate line drawings that cheat his method(for example, see Ballard and Brown, 1982). His method is neverthelessa milestone in the sense that it showed that prototype-free interpretation,
though it seemed impossible without some knowledge about human everyday experiences, can be achieved fairly well by a relatively simple mechanism
based on conﬁgurations of lines at junctions.
The conﬁgurations of lines at junctions were exploited in a more theoretical manner by Huﬀman (1971) and Clowes (1971). Huﬀman introduced
labels in order to classify lines in pictures into three categories, that is, lines
representing convex edges whose both side faces face toward a viewer, those
representing convex edges one of whose side faces face opposite to the viewer,
and those representing concave edges. A crucial point he found is thatpossible conﬁgurations of labeled lines at junctions (that is, conﬁgurations
that can appear in line drawings of polyhedrons) form a very small subsetof all the combinations of assignments of labels to lines around junctions.
Therefore, once all possible conﬁgurations at junctions are enumerated andregistered in a computer, the problem of interpreting line drawings can be
reduced to a problem of assigning labels to lines consistently in the sensethat the resultant conﬁgurations at junctions are all in the list of possible
conﬁgurations. Huﬀman (1971) demonstrated the validity of this scheme ina so-called “trihedral object world”, where every vertex of objects is sharedby exactly three faces. Clowes (1971) also proposed an equivalent methodwith slightly diﬀerent notations, and hence this scheme is usually called
the Huﬀman-Clowes labeling scheme (see also Mackworth, 1977b; Winston,
1977; Nevatia, 1982; Cohen and Feigenbaum, 1982).
The validity of this scheme has been veriﬁed in various kinds of line drawings, such as pictures with shadows and cracks (Waltz, 1972, 1975), picturesin which hidden edges are represented by broken lines (Sankar, 1977; Sugihara, 1978), pictures of curved objects bounded by quadric surfaces (Turner,
1974; Chien and Chang, 1974; Lee et al., 1985), pictures of paper-made objects (Kanade, 1980, 1981), and pictures of dynamic scenes (Asada et al.,1984). There are also some attempts to reﬁne the scheme in a restrictedobject world, the world consisting of right-angled objects (Nakatani and1.3 Short History

9

Kitahashi, 1984; Kanatani, 1986).
It should be noted that the Huﬀman-Clowes labeling scheme is based ona necessary, but not suﬃcient, condition for a line drawing to represent a
polyhedral scene. A correct line drawing always admits a consistent assignment of labels, but the existence of consistent labeling does not imply thatthe line drawing is correct. Some incorrect line drawings can also be labeledconsistently. Thus, a consistent assignment of labels to a line drawing givesa mere candidate for a spatial interpretation of the line drawing. We haveto examine this candidate further in order to see whether it is a correctinterpretation or not.
In order to back up the labeling scheme, many new ideas have been
proposed. Various types of conditions that the correct line drawing should
satisfy are found and used to check the correctness of the labeled line drawings. One of the most appealing ideas is the use of reciprocal ﬁgures ina gradient space (Huﬀman, 1971, 1976, 1977a, 1977b, 1978; Mackworth,1973). For every line drawing representing a polyhedron, we can deﬁne areciprocal ﬁgure which is a dual in the sense that vertices, edges, and faces
in the reciprocal ﬁgure correspond to faces, edges, and vertices, respectively,of the original line drawing. The reciprocal ﬁgure has a remarkable property: all of its edges are perpendicular to the corresponding edges of theoriginal line drawing when the two ﬁgures are superposed upon each otherin an appropriate manner. This property was found more than a century
ago, and has been used for graphical calculus in mechanics (Maxwell, 1864,
1870; Cremona 1890). It was recently rediscovered by Huﬀman (1971) and
Mackworth (1973), and used for the analysis of line drawings in such a
way that a labeled line drawing can be judged incorrect if it cannot admita reciprocal ﬁgure (see also Whiteley, 1979, 1982). Other types of conditions were also formulated in terms of such new concepts as “spanning
angles” (Kanade, 1980), “sidedness reasoning” (Draper, 1981), “cyclic orderproperty” of edges and vertices around faces (Sugihara, 1978; Shapira andFreeman, 1979; Fukui et al., 1983), and “maximal sets of relative place”(Shapira, 1984), and used for the check of labeled line drawings. The theoryof braids was also applied to the check of inconsistency of line drawings oftorus-type polyhedrons (Cowan, 1974, 1977; Térouanne, 1980). Whiteley(1979) and Shapira (1985) took a ﬁgure-construction approach to the checkof the inconsistency. Those methods could indeed strengthen the labelingscheme in that a larger class of incorrect interpretations can be recognized.
However, all of the conditions employed in those methods are necessary,
but still not suﬃcient, conditions for correct line drawings, and hence theycannot discriminate between correct and incorrect interpretations perfectly.

10

1. Introduction

There is another, and more naive, approach to the analysis of line drawings, that is, an approach using linear algebra. It was known from relatively
early days that a polyhedral object represented by a line drawing must satisfy certain linear equations; this fact was pointed out, for example, by Falk(1972) and Duda and Hart (1973). Though this approach seems natural, it
has not been taken so widely as the reciprocal-ﬁgure approach.
Quite recently, however, Sugihara (1984b) succeeded in representing interms of linear algebra a necessary and suﬃcient condition for a line drawing
to represent a polyhedral scene. This result reduces the problem of judging
the correctness of a line drawing to a problem of checking the existence of asolution to a certain system of linear equations and linear inequalities. Thus,
the problem of discriminating between correct and incorrect line drawings
was solved “theoretically”.
However, this method alone cannot serve practical purposes. Indeed, thecondition represented by the system of equations and inequalities is mathematically strict, so that many pictures are judged incorrect only because
the vertices are slightly deviated from the correct positions. This diﬃculty,
the superstrictness of the system of equations and inequalities, stems fromthe fact that the system contains redundant equations. The diﬃculty wassolved by a counting theorem (Sugihara, 1979c, 1982b, 1984c; Whiteley,
1984a), which tells us what equations are redundant, and hence enables us
to extract a subset of equations that is no longer superstrict. Thus, theproblem of discrimination between correct and incorrect line drawings was
solved not only in a theoretical sense but also in a practical sense. Using
these results we can construct a machine that, like human beings, extracts
the structures of objects from line drawings even if they are mathematicallyincorrect due to digitization and/or free-hand drawing.

1.4

Overview of the Book

The computational mechanism for extracting structures of objects from line
drawings presented in this book is composed of four fundamental modules.
The ﬁrst module is for extracting from a line drawing a set of probablecandidates for spatial interpretations. The purpose of this module is tolessen the number of candidates for interpretations, which will be examined
more carefully in the subsequent part of the mechanism. Therefore, it may
extract some incorrect interpretations, but it must not fail to extract any
correct interpretations . This task seems to be achieved most successfully by
the Huﬀman-Clowes labeling scheme. So we shall review this scheme brieﬂy1.4 Overview of the Book

11

in Chapter 2.
The second module is for discriminating between correct and incorrectinterpretations strictly. This module will be presented for two classes ofline drawings : for natural pictures in Chapter 3 and for hidden-part-drawn
pictures in Chapter 4. In both the cases a necessary and suﬃcient condition
for a correct interpretation is formulated in terms of linear algebra, andthus the problem of discrimination is reduced to the problem of checking
the existence of feasible solutions to a linear programming problem.
The algebraic approach taken in Chapters 3 and 4 tells us much aboutmathematical structures of line drawings. Chapter 5 will summarize them.
In particular, the distributions of degrees of freedom in recovering objects
from a line drawing will be studied in detail. The results in this chapter will
provide mathematical foundations on which the subsequent two modules are
established.
Chapters 6, 7, and 8 will present the third module, whose purpose isto provide humanlike ﬂexibility for the mechanism. Employing the ﬁrst
two modules, the mechanism can discriminate between correct and incorrect line drawings strictly. The mathematical strictness, however, causes themechanism to behave very diﬀerently from human visual perception. Human beings can extract object structures even if the line drawings are notstrictly correct, whereas the mechanism composed of the ﬁrst two modules
simply judges them incorrect; it does not extract any three-dimensional information. First, in Chapter 6, we shall present a theorem that enables us
to tell which equations are redundant in the system of equations associatedwith a line drawing. On the basis of this theorem, we shall next establish,
in Chapter 7, the third module, which can remove the redundant equations
and thus circumvent the superstrictness. Moreover, this module enables themechanism to make necessary corrections to incorrect line drawings automatically if the incorrectness is due to errors in vertex positions. In Chapter 8, the module will be improved from a time complexity point of view.
Thus, instead of discriminating between correct and incorrect line drawings,
the mechanism can discriminate between “correctable” and “uncorrectable”
line drawings (where the correctable line drawings include correct ones), andcan extract three-dimensional structures from the correctable line drawings.
This is the way how our mechanism achieves humanlike ﬂexibility. From apractical point of view, this module is most important because if this module were not available, the mechanism would be so sensitive to digitizationnoises that it could not be applied to real data.
The last module is for determining the object structure uniquely. Using
the ﬁrst three modules, the mechanism can specify explicitly the set of ail

12

1. Introduction

objects that a correct, or a corrected, line drawing can represent. This set
usually contains an inﬁnite number of elements, because the line drawing
does not convey enough information about the third dimension. The taskof the last module is to choose from this set a unique object that is mostconsistent with additional information. Chapters 9 and 10 will provide two
options for this module. The ﬁrst option, which will be presented in Chapter
9, uses ranges of some points of objects from the observer or lengths andangles given by a designer. The second option, presented in Chapter 10,
uses surface cues such as texture and shading. Thus, the description of thewhole mechanism will be completed.
It has long been known that line drawings of polyhedrons have close relationships with mechanical structures composed of rigid rods and rotatablejoints. In Chapter 11, these relationships will be studied from our combinatorial point of view, and classical results will be generalized. This chapter
is rather a digression from the main story of the book, but seems importantfor future researches on line drawings.

Chapter 2

Candidates for Spatial
Interpretations
Given a line drawing, the mechanism should ﬁrst collect probable candidates
for spatial interpretations. These candidates will be examined in detail inthe subsequent stages of the analysis. Hence, the set of the candidates
collected here must include all of the correct interpretations. For eﬃciency’s
sake, on the other hand, the number of the candidates should be as small as
possible. This chapter presents a module that executes the above task by
assigning labels that represent at least locally consistent interpretations.

2.1

Polyhedrons and Line Drawings

Objects we consider are polyhedrons, that is, three-dimensional solid bodies
bounded by a ﬁnite number of planar faces. Line segments shared by two
faces are called edges, and terminal points of edges vertices. Since faces areplanar, edges are straight. However, the objects may have hollows so thatfaces are not necessarily simple polygons, but may have polygonal holes.
In order to avoid unnecessary confusion caused by “pathological” objects,
we put forth the following assumptions.
Assumption 2.1. For every face, one side is occupied with material andthe other side is an empty space.
Hence, we need not consider extremely thin objects such as a sheet ofpaper.
13

14

2. Spatial Interpretations

Assumption 2.2.

Every edge is shared by exactly two faces.

Hence, we need not consider unnatural objects such as the one shown in
Fig. 2.1, where the edge e is shared by the four faces, two visible faces andtwo invisible faces. At every edge, therefore, the two side faces form eithera ridge or a valley.

Figure 2.1. Pathological object; four faces meet at the edge e.

A scene is a collection of a ﬁnite number of objects. In order to exclude“pathological” scenes, we assume that Assumption 2.2 is still satisﬁed when
the whole scene is considered as one (possibly disconnected) object. In otherwords, edges of diﬀerent objects do not come together accidentally in thescene.
A line drawing, also called a picture , is a two-dimensional diagram composed of a ﬁnite number of straight line segments. The line segments are
simply called “lines”, and terminal points of the lines are called “junctions”.
To be more strict, by junctions we refer to points where two or more noncollinear lines meet, and by lines to the smallest fragments of straight line
segments divided by junctions. Thus, a line connects one junction withanother but does not have any other junctions between them.
If a scene, an observer, and a picture plane between them are ﬁxed,
then a line drawing of the scene is obtained as a perspective projection of
the conﬁgurations of the edges onto the picture plane with respect to theobserver as the center of projection, as shown in Fig. 2.2. If the observergoes inﬁnitely far from the scene in the direction perpendicular to the picture
plane, the resultant picture is an orthographic projection. Once the scene,
the observer, and the picture plane are ﬁxed, the line drawing is unique up
to the choice of whether hidden edges are drawn or not.
On the other hand, even if an observer, a line drawing, and a picture
plane are ﬁxed, the associated scene cannot be determined uniquely. There2.1 Polyhedrons and Line Drawings

15

Figure 2.2. Scene and its projection.

may be no scene or there may be an inﬁnite number of possible scenes. How
to specify the set of all possible scenes is the problem we attack in this book.
In order to make the problem clearer we shall put forth three moreassumptions.
Assumption 2.3. When a scene is projected onto the picture plane theedges only are drawn.
Hence, even if the object surface is covered with texture or scribbles,
they are not drawn. Thus, each line in a line drawing is to correspond tosome edge of an object.
Assumption 2.4. The observer (i.e., the center of the projection) is notcoplanar with any face.
If the observer is coplanar with some face, the face looks like a straightline segment. Assumption 2.4 is to exclude such a degenerate case. Hence,
every face corresponds to some nonempty region on the picture plane.
Assumption 2.5.
collinear edges.

The observer is not coplanar with any pair of non-

16

2. Spatial Interpretations

Hence, no spatially distinct edges accidentally align on the picture plane.
The unnatural interpretation shown in Fig. 1.2 can be thus forbidden. As
a consequence, every line in the picture corresponds to exactly one edge inthe scene. Assumptions 2.4 and 2.5 are sometimes called “nonaccidentalness
assumptions” (Marr, 1982).
We consider two ways of generating line drawings. One is to project only
visible portions of the edges onto the picture plane. Line drawings generated
in this way are called natural line drawings or hidden-part-eliminated line
drawings. The other is to project all the edges of the objects, whether they
are visible or not. This kind of a line drawing is called a hidden-part-drawn
line drawing. The hidden lines, i.e., the invisible portions of edges, areusually represented by broken lines.
Examples of line drawings are shown in Fig. 2.3. The picture in (a) is anatural line drawing, and the picture in (b) is a hidden-part-drawn one.

(a)

(b)

Figure 2.3. Two types of line drawings: (a) is a natural line drawing, and(b) is a hidden-part-drawn line drawing.

It should be noted that some pictures can be regarded both as naturalline drawings and as hidden-part-drawn line drawings. An example is shownin Fig. 2.4(a). When considered as a natural line drawing, this is a pictureof the visible surface of an object consisting of ﬁve visible faces; the picture
gives no information about the rear side of the object, so that we cannot tellwhether the rear side has only one face or has some complicated structure asshown in (b). When considered as a hidden-part-drawn line drawing, on theother hand, the picture gives information about both the front side and therear side; hence the interpretation in (b) is not allowed. Unless otherwise
mentioned, we will treat such ambiguous pictures as natural line drawings.

2.1 Polyhedrons and Line Drawings

(a)

17

(b)

Figure 2.4. Picture that can be regarded both as a hidden-part-eliminatedline drawing and as a hidden-part-drawn line drawing: (a) is aline drawing, and (b) is an interpretation in which the rear side
has a complicated structure. This interpretation is possible only
when the picture (a) is regarded as a hidden-part-eliminated line
drawing.

Remark 2.1.
In this book two diﬀerent types of ﬁgures are used. One
is a usual type of illustration, whose aim is to give the readers a vivid
impression about shapes and relations of geometrical objects. This typeof a ﬁgure should be regarded with common sense. Figs. 2.1 and 2.2 areexamples of this type. The picture in Fig. 2.1 represents an edge that has
four incident faces. In a mathematically strict sense, however, this ﬁgure
does not give any information about the invisible part of the object, andhence the edge e does not necessarily have four faces. An edge shared byfour faces can be seen in this ﬁgure only when the invisible part of the object
is extrapolated with the aid of the reader’s common sense. The second typeof ﬁgure used in this book is a line drawing as the input data to the machine,that is, material that is to be analyzed by our computational mechanism.
This type of a ﬁgure should be treated as it is; we need not use any common
sense, heuristics, or knowledge when we see such a ﬁgure. The pictures inFig. 2.3 belong to this type. In Fig. 2.4, the picture in (a) belongs to thelatter type, whereas the picture in (b) to the former type. In what follows
we shall not state the type of each ﬁgure explicitly because we can tell fromthe context which type is meant by the ﬁgure.

18

2.2

2. Spatial Interpretations

Classiﬁcation of Lines

Let us ﬁrst consider hidden-part-drawn line drawings; hidden-part-eliminatedline drawings (i.e., natural line drawings) will be treated as a special case.
Lines in line drawings can be classiﬁed into eight categories in the following
way.
When two planes meet at a line, they divide the surrounding space into
four regions. We call these regions quadrants, and number them from I to
IV consecutively, as shown in Fig. 2.5. The line of intersection of the twoplanes forms an edge when some of the quadrants are ﬁlled with material.
However, we need not consider the case where exactly two quadrants are
ﬁlled with material. Indeed, if two consecutive quadrants are ﬁlled withmaterial, the line of intersection disappears, and if two mutually opposite
quadrants are ﬁlled with material, the line of intersection forms an edge
having four side faces, which has been excluded by Assumption 2.2. Thus,
the line of intersection forms an edge if and only if exactly one or three
quadrants are ﬁlled with material.

(a)

(b)

Figure 2.5. Four quadrants generated by two mutually intersecting planes:(a) shows two planes intersecting at a line, and (b) shows thefour quadrants generated by the two planes.

Without loss of generality we assume that the observer is in quadrant I.
Then, on the basis of relative conﬁgurations of an edge, the side faces, andthe observer, lines in a line drawing can be classiﬁed into eight categories, as
shown in Fig. 2.6. In (a) only quadrant III is ﬁlled with material, so that theedge forms a visible ridge and both of the side faces are also visible. In (b) or(c), either quadrant II or IV is ﬁlled, and consequently one of the side faces

2.2 Classification of Lines

19

is visible while the other is hidden. In (d) the three quadrants II, III, IV are
ﬁlled, and hence the edge forms a visible valley. The conﬁgurations (e), (f),(g), (h) are obtained from (a), (b), (c), (d), respectively, by interchanging
the ﬁlled quadrants and the empty quadrants.

(a)

(b)

(c)

(d)

(e)

(f)

(g)

(h)

Figure 2.6. Eight categories of lines.

Fig. 2.6 exhausts the cases. Indeed, because of Assumptions 2.1 and
2.2 we can restrict our consideration to the cases where either one or three
quadrants are ﬁlled with material, and because of Assumption 2.4 we neednot consider the case where the observer is on a boundary of two quadrants.
In order to represent these categories of lines we introduce the following
convention. First, the edge is represented by a solid line if quadrant I isempty as in the cases (a), (b), (c), (d), whereas it is represented by a broken
line if quadrant I is occupied by material as in the cases (e), (f), (g), (h).
This way of using the solid and broken lines is similar to that in conventionalline drawings, but is not the same. In conventional line drawings, hiddenlines are always represented by broken lines, but we use solid lines for theedges in (a), (b), (c), (d) even if the edges are hidden by other objects thatare between the edge and the observer. Thus, our way of using solid andhidden lines rests only on whether quadrant I is ﬁlled with material or not
when we see the neighborhood (in a three-dimensional sense) of the edge
locally.

20

2. Spatial Interpretations

Second, on the basis of which portions of the planes form the side faces ofthe edges, we assign to the lines four kinds of additional labels: the plus label+, the minus label −, and the arrow in each of the two possible directions.
If the boundary of quadrant III forms the side faces as in (a) and (e), theplus label is assigned to the line, and if the boundary of quadrant I forms
the side faces as in (d) and (h), the minus label is assigned. If either theboundary of quadrant II or that of quadrant IV forms the side faces as in(b), (c), (f), and (g), the arrow is assigned to the line in such a way that theside faces are to the right of the arrow.
Combining the solid and broken lines with the four additional labels, wedeﬁne the eight labels as is shown in Fig. 2.6. With this convention, we
can represent the categories of lines explicitly in the line drawing. A line
drawing is said to be labeled if every edge is represented by one of the eight
possible labels.
If a line drawing represents only visible edges, the ﬁrst four labels, (a),(b), (c), and (d), suﬃce for the categorization of the lines.

(a)

(b)

Figure 2.7. Labeled line drawings.
Examples of the use of our labeling convention are shown in Fig. 2.7.
The set of labels assigned to the picture in (a) corresponds to one of themost natural spatial structures the picture in Fig. 2.3(a) evokes in our mind.
Similarly, (b) represents one of the most natural interpretations of the picture in Fig. 2.3(b). Note that the distinction between solid and broken lines
in Fig. 2.7(b) is not the same as that in Fig. 2.3(b); some edges represented
by broken lines in Fig. 2.3(b) are represented by solid lines in Fig. 2.7(b).
This is because in Fig. 2.7(b) broken lines are used when quadrant I is ﬁlled

2.3 Junction Dictionary

21

with material in the neighborhoods of the edges, whereas in Fig. 2.3(b) broken lines are used when the edges are hidden by other portions which are
not necessarily in the neighborhood of the edges.

2.3

Junction Dictionary and Consistent LabelingTo put one of the eight labels to a line means to choose one of the eight
possible ways of ﬁlling the surrounding space with material, and hence toassign labels to the whole lines in a picture means to choose one candidate
for a spatial structure the picture may represent. Thus, the problem of theinterpretation of line drawings can be reduced to the problem of ﬁnding
combinations of the labels that correspond to the spatial structures of theobjects.
If we ignore physical realizability of an object, a line drawing having
l lines can admit as many as 8l diﬀerent ways of labeling. These labeled
pictures can be thought of as the initial set of candidates for the structures ofthe objects represented by the picture. Most of them are of course nonsense;
only a few correspond to realizable objects. Our present goal is to divide theset of all the 8l labeled pictures into correct ones and incorrect ones, where“correct” means that there is at least one object whose projection onto the
picture plane coincides with the picture and whose spatial structure is thesame as that indicated by the labels. As the ﬁrst step to this goal, we
consider how to delete obviously nonsense labelings. In other words, we try
to lessen the number of candidates for spatial structures from 8l to a muchsmaller number so that we can examine the remaining candidates in detailin reasonable time.
In order to remove nonsense labelings, we construct a set of “rules”
labeled pictures must obey. The followings are obvious.
Rule 2.1.

Each line has exactly one of the eight labels given in Fig. 2.6.

This is because a type of a line does not change as we go along theassociated edge unless we pass through a vertex.
Rule 2.2.
Solid lines should be categorized as the type (a), (b), (c), or(d) in Fig. 2.6.
This is because in hidden-part-drawn line drawings, solid lines mean that
quadrant I is empty.

22

2. Spatial Interpretations

Rule 2.3.
If the whole part of an object is drawn inside the picture
region, the outermost lines should be labeled as solid lines with arrows in
the clockwise direction.
This is because the outermost lines correspond to the boundary between
the object and the background unless the object is scissored oﬀ along theborder of the picture region.
Another important rule can be found at X-type junctions, that is, junctions where two pairs of collinear lines meet. Because of Assumption 2.5,
two distinct edges do not become collinear on the picture plane. Hence theX-type junctions do not correspond to three-dimensional vertices; they occur only when two spatially apart edges cross on the picture plane. Thus
we get the next rule.
Rule 2.4.
same label.

At an X-type junction mutually collinear lines should have the

The above rules alone are not so powerful as to remove nonsense labelings. One powerful rule is obtained by constructing a complete list of
possible views of certain types of vertices.
Let us consider, for example, vertices at which exactly three faces meet.
Vertices of this kind are called trihedral vertices. All the junctions that canrepresent the trihedral vertices can be generated in the following way.

(a)

(b)

Figure 2.8. Eight octants generated by three mutually intersecting planes:(a) shows three planes meeting at a point, and (b) shows theeight octants generated by the three planes.

2.3 Junction Dictionary

23

Three planes meeting at a point divide the surrounding space into eight
portions, which we shall call octants and number from I to VIII, as is shownin Fig. 2.8. Just as we have derived the eight categories of lines, we put theobserver in octant I and consider all the combinations of packing material
to some octants. Then we can generate the list of possible conﬁgurationsat junctions corresponding to trihedral vertices. Note, however, that every
way of packing material to some octants does not necessarily correspondto some junction. Sometimes the point of intersection of the three planes
does not form a vertex (as is the case where octants VI and VII are occupied by material), and sometimes the resultant vertex has more than three
faces (as is the case where octants VI and VIII are occupied). Moreover,
one case can be obtained by rotation of another; for example, the junction
generated by packing material to octant IV can be obtained by rotation on
the picture plane of the junction generated by packing material to octant II.
Checking all the cases similarly, we obtain 24 diﬀerent types of conﬁgurations of labeled lines at junctions, as are shown in Fig. 2.9. The ﬁrst twelve
junctions correspond to the cases in which octant I is empty; the situation
for them is illustrated in Fig. 2.10. The latter twelve junctions in Fig. 2.9
are obtained from the ﬁrst twelve ones, respectively, by interchanging theoccupied octants with the empty octants.
The list of possible junctions given in Fig. 2.9 is complete in the following
sense. We put the observer in octant I, but we are not interested in wherein octant I the observer is. Hence two junctions are considered as being of
the same type if one is obtained from the other when the observer moves
inside octant I. Moreover we are not interested in the exact angles at which
the three planes meet, so that two junctions are considered as being of thesame type if one is obtained from the other by changing the mutual angles ofthe planes provided that the observer remains in octant I. Thus, we are notconcerned with the exact angles at which lines meet at junctions. We pay
our attention only to whether the mutual angles are less than π or greaterthan π, because the mutual angles change from less than π to greater thanπ or vice versa only when the observer goes out of octant I. Consequently,
if we ignore labels, junctions representing trihedral vertices consists of only
the two types: Y-type junctions where the three mutual angles are all lessthan π, and W-type junctions where one of the three mutual angles is greaterthan π. What Fig. 2.9 means is that there are only 8 ways of labeling for
Y-type junctions and 16 ways of labeling for W-type junctions.
The important point is that the number of possible junction types isvery small. If we ignore the physical realizability, the number of diﬀerent
combinations of labels is tremendously large. Since one of the eight diﬀerent

24

2. Spatial Interpretations

Figure 2.9. Twenty-four possible junctions.

labels can be put to each line, the W-type junction admits 83 = 512 diﬀerent
ways of labeling. Fig. 2.9 tells us that only 3.1% (= (16/512)× 100) of them
can appear in line drawings of polyhedral scenes. Similarly, the Y-typejunction admits 176 diﬀerent ways of labeling (note that a Y-type junction
has rotational symmetry, and hence there are (8 × 7 × 6)/3 = 112 diﬀerent
ways of labeling if the three lines have mutually distinct labels, 8 × 7 = 56
diﬀerent ways if exactly two lines have the same label, and 8 diﬀerent ways
if all the three lines have the same label), but only 4.5% (= (8/176) × 100)of them can appear in correct line drawings.
Thus we get the next rule.
Rule 2.5. If a junction has exactly three lines, the lines should be labeled
so that the resulting conﬁguration at the junction belongs to the list shown2.3 Junction Dictionary

25

Figure 2.10. Conﬁgurations of occupied octants corresponding to the ﬁrst
twelve junctions in Fig. 2.9.

in Fig. 2.9.
Example 2.1.
Let us consider the hidden-part-drawn line drawing in
Fig. 2.3(b), and see how the rules work for this picture. First note that
because of Rule 2.4 we need not divide the lines at X-type junctions. Assume
that the object is trihedral and the whole part is drawn in the picture. Then,it follows from Rule 2.3 that the outermost lines (i.e., the lines 1-2, 2-3, 3-4,
5-6, 6-7, 7-8, 8-9, 9-1 in Fig. 2.11(a), where i − j denotes the line connecting
junction i with junction j) should be labeled uniquely as solid lines witharrows in the clockwise direction. Since four other lines, the lines 1-10, 3-10,
8-10, 4-6, are represented by solid lines, they represent visible edges andconsequently should be categorized as type (a), (b), (c), or (d) in Fig. 2.6(see Rule 2.2). The remaining six lines, broken lines in Fig. 2.3(b), should
be categorized as one of the eight types. Thus, if we employ Rules 2.1, 2.2,
2.3, and 2.4 only, there are 44 × 86 diﬀerent combinations of labeling, whichamount to more than 67 million.
Rule 2.5 can drastically lessen the number of possible labelings. Junction
1 is a W-type junction whose two side lines are already labeled with an inarrow and an out-arrow, respectively. Comparing this conﬁguration with the26

2. Spatial Interpretations

(a)

(b)

(c)

(d)

(e)

(f)

Figure 2.11. Use of the labeling rules. If Rules 2.1, . . . , 2.4 only are applied
to the picture in Fig. 2.3(b), the eight lines are labeled uniquely
as shown in (a), and hence there still remain more than 67
million diﬀerent ways of labeling the other lines. If Rule 2.5 isalso used, ﬁve more lines are labeled uniquely as in (b) , andthe other ﬁve lines admit only four ways of labeling, shown in(c), (d), (e), and (f).

list in Fig. 2.9, we can see that the middle line, the line 1-10 in Fig. 2.11(b),should have a plus label; the line is thus labeled uniquely. Because of thesame reason, the three other solid lines, the lines 3-10, 4-6, 8-10, are alsolabeled with + uniquely. Next, the list in Fig. 2.9 tells us that the remaining
line at junction 4 (i.e., the line 4-11) should be labeled with a broken line
having the arrow from junction 4 to junction 11. Thus, the ﬁve more lines
have been categorized uniquely as shown in Fig. 2.11(b). Consulting the listin Fig. 2.9 in a similar manner, we can eventually ﬁnd that the other ﬁvelines can admit only four ways of labeling that satisfy all the ﬁve rules, asare shown in (c), (d), (e), and (f) in Fig. 2.11. Of course, even if a picture2.4 Hidden-Part-Eliminated Pictures

27

admits a set of labels that satisﬁes all the ﬁve rules, it does not necessarily
correspond to a correct interpretation. In fact among the four possiblelabelings in Fig. 2.11, only (c) corresponds to a correct interpretation, but(d), (e), and (f) do not. However, we can spend a relatively long time forthe check of the correctness of the labelings, because we need to check only
the four cases. Thus, the labeling scheme is a powerful method as the ﬁrst
step in the interpretation of line drawings.

2.4

Hidden-Part-Eliminated Pictures

The rules we have obtained for the labeling of hidden-part-drawn line drawings can be easily modiﬁed for natural pictures, that is, hidden-part-eliminatedline drawings. Since every line should correspond to a visible edge, Rules
2.1 and 2.2 can be merged into the following.
Rule 2.1’. Every line in natural pictures should have exactly one of thefour labels (a), (b), (c), (d) in Fig. 2.6.
Rule 2.3 need not be changed; it remains valid for the present class ofpictures.
Unlike hidden-part-drawn pictures, hidden-part-eliminated pictures contain T-type junctions, junctions having three lines, two of which are collinear.
Junctions of this type are generated from some of X-type junctions when
hidden lines are removed. They also convey important information about
the structures of the objects. As we have seen, if an object is trihedral,
every vertex results in either an L-type, a Y-type, or a W-type junction.
Thus, a T-type junction does not correspond to a three-dimensional vertex;
it occurs only when an edge occludes another partially. The two collinear
lines correspond to the occluding edge, and the other to the occluded one.
Hence, a T-type junction should be labeled as is shown in Fig. 2.12, where
the asterisk * means that the line can admit any label. Thus, Rule 2.4 isreplaced by the next rule.
Rule 2.4’. If the object is trihedral, a T-type junction should be labeled
as is shown in Fig. 2.12.
Rule 2.5 is changed in the following way. Note that a trihedral vertex
can appear in a picture only when octant I in Fig. 2.8 is empty. Hence thelist of possible conﬁgurations for trihedral vertices can be obtained ﬁrst by

28

2. Spatial Interpretations

Figure 2.12. Possible labeling for the T-type junction.

picking up the ﬁrst twelve conﬁgurations in Fig. 2.9, which correspond to thecase where octant I is empty, and next by deleting broken lines from these
conﬁgurations. The resultant list is shown in Fig. 2.13, which was ﬁrst foundby Huﬀman (1971). Besides Y-type and W-type junctions, the list contains
also L-type junctions, that is, junctions composed of two noncollinear lines.
This is because we have deleted hidden lines from the conﬁgurations in
Fig. 2.9.

Figure 2.13. Complete list of possible junctions for trihedral vertices (forhidden-part-eliminated line drawings).

The number of junctions listed in Fig. 2.13 is small. If we ignore the physical realizability, every line can have one of the four labels, and consequently
L-type junctions can be labeled in 42 = 16 diﬀerent ways, W-type junctionsin 43 = 64 diﬀerent ways, and Y-type junctions in 4× 3× 2/3+ 4× 3+ 4 = 24
diﬀerent ways (note that a Y-type junction admits rotational symmetry, andtherefore it can be labeled in 4×3×2/3 ways if the three lines have distinct labels, in 4×3 ways if exactly two lines have the same labels, and in 4 ways if all
the three lines have the same label). Thus, there are in all 16+64+24 = 104

2.4 Hidden-Part-Eliminated Pictures29

diﬀerent ways of labeling, and only 11.5% (= (12/104) × 100) of them canrepresent trihedral vertices correctly.
Thus we get the following rule.
Rule 2.5’. If a junction corresponds to a trihedral vertex, the lines should
be labeled so that the resulting conﬁguration at the junction belongs to thelist shown in Fig. 2.13.
It should be noted that Rule 2.5’ is less powerful than Rule 2.5, because
in order to apply Rule 2.5’ we must know whether a junction corresponds
to a trihedral vertex or not. When a picture represents both visible andinvisible edges, the picture itself tells us how many edges a junction has.
When hidden lines are eliminated from the picture, on the other hand, there
is no direct information about invisible edges, so that we cannot tell how
many invisible edges there are unless we have some a priori knowledge about
the object.
Thus, natural line drawings should be labeled subject to Rules 2.1’, 2.3,
2.4’, and 2.5’.
Example 2.2. Fig. 2.14 shows an example of how the labeling rules workfor the natural picture given in Fig. 1.1. The picture in Fig. 1.1 has nine lines
and each line should have one of the four possible labels, so that there are
49 = 262144 diﬀerent ways of assigning labels to this picture if we consider
Rule 2.1’ only. Now assume that this picture represents a trihedral object.
If the whole part of the object is drawn in the picture, then from Rule
2.3 the outermost lines are labeled with arrows in the clockwise direction,and next from Rule 2.5’ the other lines are uniquely labeled as is shown in
Fig. 2.14(a), where an example of a possible section of the object along theindicated line is also illustrated. This labeling corresponds to the structure ofa truncated pyramid seen from above. If, on the other hand, the object may
be extended outside the picture, the picture can admit also three other waysof labeling, which are shown in (b), (c), and (d). The labeled picture (b)corresponds to a truncated pyramid on a ﬂoor, (c) corresponds to a planewith a truncated-pyramid-shape hollow, and (d) corresponds to a board
penetrated by a truncated-pyramid-shape hole. Thus, the trihedral object
assumption allows only four ways of labeling for this picture.
Example 2.3. Some other natural pictures are shown in Fig. 2.15. The
picture (a) admits unique labeling if we assume that the object is trihedraland the whole part is drawn in the picture; the result of labeling is shown30

2. Spatial Interpretations

(a)

(b)

(c)

(d)

Figure 2.14. Interpretation of a natural picture: if the object is restricted
to a trihedral one, the picture in Fig. 1.1 admits these fourlabelings.

in (b). Note that the lines in this picture form two connected components,
and the component inside the other is not inﬂuenced by Rule 2.3. It cannevertheless be labeled uniquely. The uniqueness stems from the T-typejunction 2. When Rule 2.4’ is applied to this junction, the lines 1-2 and 2-3
are labeled with the arrows in such a way that the third line, the line 2-4,
is to the left of the arrows. Next comparing the L-type junction 1 with thelist of possible junctions in Fig. 2.13, we can say that the line 1-4 is labeledwith either a plus symbol or an arrow directing from junction 4 to junction
1. However, the latter case is rejected at the W-type junction 4, and consequently the line 1-4 is uniquely labeled with a plus symbol. The labelingprocess proceeds similarly, and we eventually obtain the unique labeling (b).
The uniqueness of labeling of this conﬁguration will be discussed in more

2.4 Hidden-Part-Eliminated Pictures31

detail in Section 2.6 (see Fig. 2.18).

(a)

(b)

(c)

(d)

(e)

(f)

Figure 2.15. Some other examples of interpretation of natural pictures astrihedral objects: the picture (a) admits the unique labeling (b),the pictures (c) and (d) have no consistent labeling and hence
can be judged incorrect, and the pictures (e) and (f) admit
consistent labelings though they are incorrect (the picture (e)is adapted from Penrose and Penrose (1958)).

The pictures (c) and (d) do not represent trihedral objects. The labelingrules can detect the incorrectness, because there is no consistent way ofassigning labels to the pictures. If, beginning with the outermost lines, we
try to label lines one by one, we eventually ﬁnd that the line labels contradict32

2. Spatial Interpretations

at the lines with question marks; a label determined at one terminal junction
is diﬀerent from that determined at the other terminal junction.
On the other hand, the pictures (e) and (f) can admit consistent assignments of labels although they do not represent any trihedral object. The
picture (e) is incorrect for the following reason. Note that if it were to represent a polyhedron, the three faces f1 , f2 , and f3 should have a common pointof intersection in a space (when they were extended) and consequently thethree pairwise intersection of the faces (i.e., the three lines labeled with +)should be concurrent on the picture plane. However, they are not; thus (e)does not represent a polyhedron. The incorrectness of (f) can be understood
if we note that the top face f1 shares two noncollinear lines with the face
f2 , which is impossible unless the top face is curved.
Thus, labeled pictures do not always correspond to correct structures ofobjects; they merely represent candidates for spatial structures. The labeling scheme is, however, powerful in that it can make the set of candidates
extremely small.

2.5

Hidden-Part-Eliminated Pictures

2.5.1

Non-Trihedral Objects

We have concentrated our attention upon the trihedral object world. Indeed
the complete lists of junctions in Figs. 2.9 and 2.13 together with the trihedral object assumption have played the main role in the labeling process.
However, the labeling scheme itself can be applied likewise to non-trihedral
objects.
All we have to do is to provide the list of junctions for non-trihedral vertices. It is of course impossible to enumerate all possible junctions, because
at least theoretically any number of faces can meet at a vertex, so that the
number of possible junctions is not ﬁnite. In practical situations, however,
we often have some a priori knowledge about the object world, and hence
can construct the complete list of possible junctions for that object world.
If a three-dimensional vertex is given, the method for enumeration of
possible junctions used in Section 2.3 can be employed straightforwardly.
That is, we extend all the incident faces, dividing the surrounding empty
space into a ﬁnite number of convex cones whose apexes are at the vertex,
and see how the vertex appears to the observer who stands in each empty
cone (Sugihara, 1979b). Hence, if, for example, the object world consistsof a ﬁnite number of prototypes, as is the case of machine manipulation of

2.5 Hidden-Part-Eliminated Pictures

33

mechanical parts for assembly, the list of all the possible junctions for thisworld can be generated automatically.
If, on the other hand, only the number of faces meeting at a vertex isgiven, it is not so easy to enumerate the possible junctions because unlike
the trihedral case it is diﬃcult to list up all possible vertices having the given
number of faces. Thus, the method in Section 2.3 cannot be applied directly.
However, we shall present in the next chapter a method for judging whether
a labeled picture represents a polyhedral scene correctly. This includes amethod for judging whether a labeled conﬁguration at a junction represents
a three-dimensional vertex correctly. Therefore, given an unlabeled junction
drawn on the picture plane, we can generate all ways of consistent labelingfor the junction systematically, and use them to search for consistent waysof labeling for the whole picture.
As the underlying object world becomes larger, the number of possible
interpretations increases. If we allow any number of faces meeting at avertex, the line drawing in Fig. 1.1 admits many more interpretations thanthose listed in Fig. 2.14. Fig. 2.16 shows two examples of interpretations as
nontrihedral objects together with possible sections of the objects along theindicated lines. In (a), the outermost three W-type vertices do not belong
to the list in Fig. 2.13; each of the three vertices has at least two invisible
faces in the rear side. The object represented in (b) can be obtained byconnecting three triangular prisms in a cyclic manner, so that every vertex
is nontrihedral.

(a)

(b)

Figure 2.16. Interpretation of the picture in Fig. 1.1 as nontrihedral objects.

34

2.5.2

2. Spatial Interpretations

Other Variations

Other types of variations of the labeling scheme also arise when the line
categories and/or the class of objects are changed.
Waltz (1972, 1975) studied the labeling method for pictures with shadows and cracks. In addition to the ﬁrst four categories of lines in Fig. 2.6, heintroduced new labels for “cracks” and “boundaries of shadows”, and furthermore three new labels for regions: regions illuminated, those shadowed,
and those facing opposite to the light source. As a result of augmenting labels, his list of possible junctions includes several thousand diﬀerent types.
However, he observed that the introduction of new labels does not cause
more ambiguity in interpretation, but can lessen the number of possible
interpretations. This point may be understood intuitively if we consider
Fig. 2.14 again. The labeled picture (a) represents a truncated pyramid
isolated in a space, whereas (b) represents the same object on the ﬂoor. If
the object casts its shadow onto the ﬂoor and the shadow boundaries arealso drawn in the picture, then the ambiguity between (a) and (b) would becleared up. Thus, shadows convey important information about the structures of the scenes.
Another new category of lines was introduced by Sugihara (1979a) for the
analysis of range data obtained by triangulation. In triangulation, a range
to a target point on the surface of the object can be obtained by determininga triangle composed of the target point and the two base points, so that therange is measured only when the target is visible from both of the basepoints. In the corresponding picture, therefore, there often remains someregions whose ranges are not observed. The new category of lines is used
to represent the boundaries of these regions. An interesting point is thatin the case of range data analysis the list of possible junctions can be used
for the “prediction” of missing edges, because the range data enable us toassign labels to lines correctly even if a line drawing is given partially. See
Sugihara (1979a) for the details.
A typical example of nonpolyhedral object worlds is Kanade’s Origami
world (Kanade, 1980), where objects are composed of planar panels which
are so thin that the thickness is negligible. He constructed a list of possible junctions for vertices having three or less panels, and demonstrated
the validity of the labeling scheme to this object world. He observed that
there are some interpretations that are possible in the Origami world but
impossible in the trihedral object world. The pictures in Fig. 2.16 can beconsidered as examples of such interpretations, where we have to read a linewith an arrow as an occluding edge whose right side corresponds to a panel

2.6 Constraint Propagation

35

and whose left side corresponds to a background or something farther fromthe observer. As will be shown in the next chapter, if the number of faces or
panels meeting at a junction is not restricted, the diﬀerence between polyhedral objects and planar-panel objects disappears. That is, we can show thata labeled picture represents a polyhedral object if and only if it represents
a planar-panel object.

2.5.3

Other Rules

We have considered only a simple set of rules, Rules 2.1, . . ., 2.5 for hiddenpart-drawn line drawings and Rules 2.1’, 2.3, 2.4’, and 2.5’ for natural line
drawings. These rule are powerful, but not complete; labeled pictures obeying the rules do not necessarily represent correct structures of objects. In
order to check the inconsistency that cannot be found by the above rules,
many additional rules have been proposed. They include reciprocal ﬁgures ina gradient space (Huﬀman, 1971; Mackworth, 1973; Whiteley, 1979; Kanade,1980, 1981), theory of braids (Cowan, 1974, 1977; Térouanne, 1980), dual
representations (Huﬀman, 1977a), ϕ and ϕ points (Huﬀman, 1977b), cyclic
order properties of vertices and edges around faces (Sugihara, 1978; Shapira
and Freeman, 1979), thickness of objects (Sugihara, 1978), spanning angles(Kanade, 1980), and sidedness reasoning (Draper, 1981).
However, we do not employ any of them here, because they are rather
complicated for their eﬀects. Recall that the aim of the ﬁrst module is to
produce a relatively small set of candidates for possible interpretations. It
is not expected to produce the precise set of correct interpretations, because
the correctness of these candidates will be judged strictly by the second
module. In this sense, the present set of rules is powerful enough to reducethe candidate set to a tractable size.

2.6

Constraint Propagation

We have seen that although a picture having l lines can admit as manyas 8l diﬀerent ways of labeling, or 4l ways if hidden lines are not drawn,
the labeling scheme can successfully extract from them a very small set ofcandidates for correct interpretations. Now, how much time does it take toselect the candidates? If we simply pick up 8l labeled pictures one by one
and check whether they obey the rules, it is impossible to ﬁnish the task in areasonable time unless l is very small. For example, if a picture is composedof 15 lines, the number of labeled pictures amounts to 815 = 245 , and even36

2. Spatial Interpretations

if each labeling can be checked in 1 microsecond, it would take more than ayear to check all the cases.
Fortunately, however, each rule can be checked “locally” and consequently we need not examine every labeled picture independently. For example, if a local assignment of labels to lines incident to a junction turns
out to be incorrect, then it implies that all labeled pictures having this local assignment of labels are incorrect. Thus, we can delete many labeled
pictures by only one local check. This idea leads us to the following systematic method; it is sometimes called a constraint propagation method ora relaxation method (Montanari, 1974; Waltz, 1975; Rosenfeld et al., 1976;
Mackworth, 1977a; McGregor, 1979; Haralick and Shapiro, 1980; Nudel,
1983).
For each junction s in the picture we associate a set J(s) of candidates
for labeled conﬁgurations the junction may admit. Initially J(s) contains all
locally possible conﬁgurations, and if some elements turn out to be inconsistent with the candidates at the neighboring junctions, they are removed
from J(s). The inconsistency check is based on Rule 2.1 or 2.1’. The rulesays that each line should have exactly one type of a label in a labeled
picture, and hence we get the following deﬁnition of local consistency.

Figure 2.17. Local consistency of labeling.

Let s and t be two junctions sharing a common line. A conﬁgurationin J(s) is said to be locally consistent with J(t) if J(t) contains an element
having the same label for the common line as the conﬁguration has. Consider, for example, two junctions s and t in Fig. 2.17. Assume that they havethe conﬁguration sets J(s) and J(t) as is shown in the ﬁgure. J(s) contains
the three elements a, b, c, and J(t) contains the two elements d, e. Though aY-type junction has rotational symmetry, we do not allow here the rotationof elements in J(t). Hence, the line connecting s and t corresponds to the2.6 Constraint Propagation

37

left side horizontal line of each conﬁguration in J(t). The elements a and b
are locally consistent with J(t), because the label assigned to the common
line (i.e., the + label) appears in the element d, whereas c is not locallyconsistent with J(t) because J(t) has no element having the − label for thecommon line. Similarly, d is locally consistent with J(s), but e is not.
Given an initial set J(s) for each junction s, the next procedure candelete locally inconsistent candidates from J(s) . The procedure is written
in Pidgin ALGOL used by Aho et al. (1974).
Initially put all lines in stack E;
while E is not empty do
begin
select and delete an element e from E (let the two terminal junctions of e be s and t);
if J(s) has elements that are not locally consistent with J(t) thenbegin
delete all such elements from J(s);add to E all the lines other than e that emanate from s if
they are not in E
end;
if J(t) has elements that are not locally consistent with J(s) thenbegin
delete all such elements from J(t);add to E all the lines other than e that emanate from t if
they are not in E
end
end
In this procedure, E is used as the stack containing lines along which
the local consistency should be checked; hence initially all the lines are put
in it. For each line in E we check if the terminal junctions contain locallyinconsistent elements with respect to the other. If so, we delete them fromthe candidate sets, and at the same time add to E the other lines incident
to the terminal junctions (if they are not in E) for the later check, because
the present change of the candidate sets may cause some change at otherjunctions. The procedure repeats similar processing until the candidate setscannot be changed any more.
Example 2.4.
An example of the behavior of the procedure is shownin Fig. 2.18. Let us assume again that the picture is part of a trihedral

38

2. Spatial Interpretations(a) E = (1 − 2, 2 − 3, 3 − 4, 1 − 4, 2 − 4)(b) E = (3 − 4, 1 − 4, 2 − 4)(c) E = (2 − 3, 1 − 2)
Figure 2.18. Constraint propagation.

object. Fig. 2.18(a) represents the initial state, where the candidate sets
J(1), . . . , J(4) contain all possible conﬁgurations given in Figs.2.12 and 2.13,
and E contains all the lines. First, the line 1-2 is chosen from E and the
local consistency check is carried out at the line. Since the line 1-2 is labeledwith an arrow from 1 to 2 in all candidates in J(2), only two elements in
J(1) (i.e., the ﬁrst and the third ones) are locally consistent with J(2) andthe other four elements are deleted from J(1). Next, the line 2-3 is chosen,
and four elements are likewise deleted from J(3). The result is shown in (b).
Next the line 3-4 is chosen, and the local consistency check results in
two singletons J(3) and J(4) as shown in (c), because the only common
label for the line 3-4 is a plus symbol. Since J(3) is changed, the line 2-3
is added to E again. When the lines 1-4 and 2-4 are checked, J(1) andJ(2) are respectively reduced to singletons, and the line 1-2 is added to E.
This situation is represented in (c). Now all the candidate sets have become2.6 Constraint Propagation

39

singletons, and no more change occurs; E eventually becomes empty. Thus
the procedure terminates, leaving only one element in each candidate set,and consequently we have a unique labeling that is the same as the result
we have obtained in Fig. 2.15(b).
In the above example we happen to have a unique labeling. In general,
however, a candidate set may contain two or more elements at the endof the constraint propagation. Therefore, in order to obtain the set of allconsistently labeled pictures we have to make a search: for example, a depthﬁrst search. This is not so diﬃcult because the constraint propagation canusually make the set of possible conﬁgurations at each junctions very small.

Chapter 3

Discrimination between
Correct and Incorrect
Pictures
The ﬁrst module, the picture labeling module, has generated a small set ofcandidates for spatial interpretations, which are represented in the form oflabeled pictures. The next task of our mechanism is to divide these candidates into correct interpretations and incorrect ones. The present chapter
presents a module that performs this task by reducing the problem to a
problem of judging satisﬁability of a certain set of linear constraints.

3.1

Basic Idea

In this chapter we shall solve the problem of judging whether a labeled picture represents a polyhedral scene. We shall ﬁrst restrict our consideration
to the orthographic projection, but later show that the results are valid also
for the perspective projection. The basic idea is the following.
Suppose that an object is ﬁxed to an (x, y, z) Cartesian coordinate system, and the picture is obtained as the orthographic projection of the object
onto the x-y plane, as shown in Fig. 3.1. Let (xα , yα , zα ) denote the positionof the αth vertex of the object and aj x + bj y + z + cj = 0 denote the surface
on which the jth face lies.
When the picture is given, xα and yα are known constants whereaszα , aj , bj , cj are unknowns. Labels assigned to the picture tell us whichvertex should be on which face. If the αth vertex should be on the jth face,41

42

3. Correct and Incorrect Pictures

Figure 3.1. Object and its orthographic projection.

we get the equation
aj xα + bj yα + zα + cj = 0,
which is linear in the unknowns zα , aj , bj , cj . The labeled picture also contains information about relative distance; it tells us which part of the object
should be nearer to the observer than other part. For example, if the βthvertex should be nearer than the kth face, we get
ak xβ + bk yβ + zβ + ck > 0,
which is also linear in the unknowns zβ , ak , bk , ck .
We shall see that if such linear constraints are gathered in some systematic manner, the resulting system of equations and inequalities allows us toexpress a necessary and suﬃcient condition for the picture to represent a
polyhedral scene; that is, the picture represents a polyhedral scene if andonly if the system has a solution. Now the most important point is how to
extract from the picture relevant equations and inequalities systematically.
In order to describe this process clearly we shall introduce a concept calleda “spatial structure”, which is deﬁned for each labeled picture.
Here we restrict our consideration to hidden-part-eliminated pictures;
hidden-part-drawn pictures will be treated in the next chapter. Though our
objects are polyhedrons, we begin by considering the world consisting of

3.2 Planar-Panel Scenes

43

thin objects called planar panels; we shall present a necessary and suﬃcientcondition for a labeled picture to represent a planar-panel scene, and thenshow that a labeled picture represents a polyhedral scene if and only if it
represents a planar-panel scene.

3.2

Planar-Panel Scenes

A planar-panel scene is a collection of a ﬁnite number of planar panels ﬁxed
to a three-dimensional space. Panels are thin enough (but not transparent), and bounded by a ﬁnite number of straight line segments called edges.
Hence, panels can be regarded as two-dimensional polygonal areas with possible polygonal holes. Panels in a scene may touch each other but should
not penetrate one another.
In order to exclude “pathological” panels, we assume that panels arehomogeneously two-dimensional and hence contain no hanging or isolated
structures of diﬀerent dimension such as solids, lines, or points. Formally,
it is assumed that a panel coincides with the closure of its interior in a
two-dimensional set theoretical sense.
A scene ﬁxed to an (x, y, z) Cartesian coordinate system is assumed to
be seen from the observer that is inﬁnitely distant in the positive directionof the z axis, as shown in Fig. 3.1. Hence, a picture of the scene is to be
an orthographic projection onto the x-y plane of visible part of edges of thepanels (note that this is a restatement of Assumption 2.3).
In order to categorize lines in pictures of planar-panel scenes we use thesame labels as in pictures of polyhedral scenes. The label + is assigned toa convex line along which two visible panels form a ridge with respect tothe viewer, the label − to a concave line along which two panels form avalley with respect to the viewer, and the arrow to an occluding line one
side of which corresponds to the panel whose boundary edge yields the line
and the other side corresponds to the background or another panel behind(the direction of the arrow is chosen in a way that the right side of thearrow corresponds to the panel and the left side to the background or theother panel behind). It may occur that a panel occludes another along its
boundary line segment and at the same time they touch each other along
this line segment, as shown in Fig. 3.2(a). We categorize this type of a line
as a concave line. Hence, an occluding line implies that the two associatedpanels must have a gap in their z coordinates, as are shown in (b) and (c);they can touch only at one point.
If two panels in a scene touch along a common boundary line at angle π,

44

3. Correct and Incorrect Pictures

Figure 3.2. Distinction between the concave lines and the occluding lines:
scene (a) generates a concave line, whereas scenes (b) and (c)generate occluding lines.

then we remove the common boundary line and merge them together intoa single panel. Moreover, we assume that neither any panels are parallelto the z axis (note that this is a restatement of Assumption 2.4), nor any
two spatially distinct boundary lines align on the picture plane (this is a
restatement of Assumption 2.5). Hence, all lines in the picture corresponding
to the scene can be classiﬁed into the above three categories without any
ambiguity.
A labeled picture is formally represented as a quadruple D = (J, E, u, h)in the following way.
(1) J is a ﬁnite set whose elements are called junctions.
(2) u is a map from J to R2 (where Rd denotes a d-dimensional Euclidean
space) such that u(s) represents the position of junction s (∈ J).
(3) E is a set of ordered pairs of J. Element (s, t) of E is called a line frominitial junction s to terminal junction t.
(4) h is a map from E to the set of line categories {CONVEX, CONCAVE,
P-ARROW, N-ARROW}. For any line (s, t),h(s, t) = CONVEX if the line has the label +,h(s, t) = CONCAVE if it has the label −,h(s, t) = P-ARROW if it has the arrow from s to t,

3.2 Planar-Panel Scenes

45

h(s, t) = N-ARROW if it has the arrow from t to s.
Without loss of generality we furthermore assume the following:(a) (s, s) ∈/ E (s ∈ J).
(b) (s, t) ∈ E implies (t, s) ∈/ E (s, t ∈ J).
(c) Lines in E do not meet each other except at their end points.
(d) Each junction has two or more lines incident to it.
Conditions (a) and (b) are obvious. Condition (c) means that lines in a
picture are divided into as small fragments as possible. Hence, the straightline segment connecting junctions 1 and 3 in Fig. 3.3(a) is divided to (1, 2)
and (2, 3); we should not represent it by (1, 3) because another line, (2, 8),
meets it midway. Condition (d) does not place any restriction. Indeed, ajunction with a single line never occurs in a perfect picture, because a planar
panel can neither intersect itself nor occlude itself.

(a)

(b)

Figure 3.3. Junctions with single lines. Picture (a) contains junctions withsingle lines, but they are converted to normal junctions by the
introduction of a large window, as shown in (b).
However, if some panels are too large to be entirely in view, a picture may
contain junctions with single lines, just as junctions 7 and 8 in Fig. 3.3(a).
For this kind of a picture we introduce, without loss of generality, a newlarge panel with a rectangular hole through which the scene is viewed, as
is shown in Fig. 3.3(b), and thus can make all junctions have two or morelines.
There remains some arbitrariness in the representation of D; that is,a line connecting junctions s and t can be represented either by (s, t) or46

3. Correct and Incorrect Picturesby (t, s). Unless otherwise mentioned, we assume that occluding lines are
represented in a way that the direction from the initial junction toward theterminal one coincides with that indicated by the arrow. For convex andconcave lines, we use any one of the two alternative representations. However, once we ﬁx the representation, those lines also have their directions.
Therefore, we treat them as directed lines, and use expressions such as “theinitial junction of a convex line”, and “the right side of a concave line”.
Now, our problem is to judge whether or not a labeled picture D =(J, E, u, h) represents a planar-panel scene.

3.3

Extraction of the Spatial Structure

Given a labeled picture D = (J, E, u, h), we ﬁrst extract a possible spatial
structure from D. A spatial structure of D is a quadruple S = (V, F, R, T ).
Elements of V are three-dimensional points vα = (xα , yα , zα ) called vertices, where xα ’s and yα ’s are given constants whereas zα ’s are considered
as unknown variables. F is a set of visible panels corresponding to twodimensional regions on the picture plane. We denote by [fj ] a connected region on the picture plane, and by fj itself the associated panel in the space.
R and T are used to represent relative depths among vertices and panels. R
is a set of vertex-panel pairs such that the former lies on the latter. T is aset of ordered triple of the form (α, β, δ) such that α and β are taken from
V and V ∪ F , respectively, and δ is taken from the set {BEHIND, FRONT,PROPERLY-BEHIND, PROPERLY-FRONT}. A triple (α, β, BEHIND)(resp. (α, β, FRONT) ) means that α has the same depth as β or it is behind (resp. in front of) β, and (α, β, PROPERLY-BEHIND) (resp. (α, β,
PROPERLY-FRONT) ) means that α is properly behind (resp. properly infront of) β.
The spatial structure S = (V, F, R, T ) associated with D is deﬁned in
the following constructive way.
The lines of the picture D partition the picture plane into a ﬁnite number,say m, of connected regions. We shall denote them by [f1 ], [f2 ], · · · , [fm ],respectively, and put F = {f1 , f2 , · · · , fm }. This deﬁnition is based on theimplicit convention that any point on the picture plane corresponds to somepanel. Hence, the region [f1 ] in Fig. 3.3, which is usually interpreted as
an empty space, is also thought of as a certain panel that is suﬃciently
large and far away. This convention does not restrict our problem domain,
whereas it makes the subsequent discussion much simpler.
In the initial state, let V, R, and T be empty; they are augmented in3.3 Extraction of the Spatial Structure

47

the following way. Suppose that junction s has p lines (p ≥ 2). Let[f1 ], [f2 ], · · · , [fp ] be the p regions touching the junction and surrounding
the junction counterclockwise in this order, as shown in Fig. 3.4(a). Notethat f1 , · · · , fp are not necessarily distinct; some of them may be identicalbecause a region may touch the junction twice or more (see Fig. 3.4(b)).
Suppose that q out of the p lines are occluding lines and the other p − q lines
are convex or concave ones (q ≥ 1). Let the q occluding lines be l1 , l2 , · · · , lq ,which are arranged counterclockwise in this order. Moreover, without lossof generality, we assume that f1 immediately follows l1 in the counterclockwise order, as shown in Fig. 3.4(a). If we see the junction locally, the qoccluding lines partition the surrounding plane into q fan-shaped areas and,
consequently, partition the set {f1 , · · · , fp } into q subsets, say F1 , F2 , · · · , Fq .
Recall that panels have gaps in depth only at occluding lines. Hence, thepanels in each Fα (α = 1, 2, · · · , q) form a continuous surface, and consequently they have the same depth at the junction s. On the basis of thisobservation, we introduce q vertices, p elements of R, and q elements of T
in the following way.

(a)

(b)

Figure 3.4. Regions surrounding a junction.

We ﬁrst deﬁne q new vertices, say vα = (xα , yα , zα ) (α = 1, 2, · · · , q), insuch a way that (x1 , y1 ) = (x2 , y2 ) = · · · = (xq , yq ) = u(s) and add them to
V . We next generate, as new elements of R, p pairs (vα , fj ) such that fj
is an element of Fα (α = 1, · · · , q; j = 1, · · · , p). Last, we generate q triples

48

3. Correct and Incorrect Pictures(vα−1 , vα , δα ) (α = 1, 2, · · · , q), as elements of T , such thatδα = BEHIND if lα has an in-arrow,δα = FRONT if lα has an out-arrow,
where we assume v0 ≡ vq .
If the junction s does not have any occluding line (i.e., q = 0), then we
simply add to V one new vertex, say v1 = (x1 , y1 , z1 ), such that (x1 , y1 ) =u(s), and add p elements (v1 , fj ) (j = 1, · · · , p) to R.
We repeat the above procedure for all junctions of D. Then, we get the“basic part” of the spatial structure S = (V, F, R, T ). We call it the basic
part, because V, R, and T shall be furthermore augmented in the sequel.
For the spatial structure S = (V, F, R, T ) thus constructed from D =(J, E, u, h), the following propositions hold.
Proposition 3.1.
Let l be any convex or concave line in D, and lets, t, [fj ], [fk ] be the initial junction, the terminal junction, the right side
region, and the left side region, respectively, of l. Then, there exist vα andvβ in V such that(xα , yα ) = u(s),(xβ , yβ ) = u(t),(vα , fj ), (vα , fk ), (vβ , fj ), (vβ , fk ) ∈ R.
Proposition 3.2. Let l be any occluding line in D, and let s, t, [fj ], [fk ]be the initial junction, the terminal junction, the right side region, and theleft side region, respectively, of l. Then, there exist four vertices vα , vβ , vγ , vδ(not necessarily distince) in V such that(xα , yα ) = (xβ , yβ ) = u(s),(xγ , yγ ) = (xδ , yδ ) = u(t),(vα , fj ), (vβ , fk ), (vγ , fj ), (vδ , fk ) ∈ R,
(vα , vβ , FRONT), (vδ , vγ , BEHIND) ∈ T.
We have constructed elements of V, R, and T at junctions. Now we
augment the sets at lines.
Let l be any convex or concave line, and [fj ] and [fk ] be the right andleft side regions, respectively, of l. The line l, when extended, divides the
picture plane into two open half spaces, which shall be referred to as the“fj side” and the “fk side” with respect to l. The region [fk ] often occupies
part of the fj side (and vice versa) as shown in Fig. 3.5, but there is noambiguity in naming the fj side and the fk side because the side name is3.3 Extraction of the Spatial Structure49

deﬁned according to which region occupies the side in the neighbor of the
middle point of the line segment l. Then, we choose a vertex, say vα , suchthat vα lies on fk but not on fj , and that vα is on the fk side with respect
to l.

(a)

(b)

Figure 3.5. Vertex on the fk side with respect to the line l.
For example, out of the six vertices v1 , · · · , v6 on fk in Fig. 3.5(a), only
v1 and v2 satisfy the condition. The other vertices do not, because v3 andv4 lie also on fj , and v5 and v6 are on the fj side. Hence, we can choose asvα either v1 or v2 .
Sometimes we may not ﬁnd any such vertex. For example, see Fig. 3.5(b).
In this case we introduce a new vertex, say vα , which lies on fk and which ison the fk side, as shown in Fig. 3.5(b). Formally, we put α = |V | + 1, choose
an arbitrary point (xα , yα ) on the fk side with respect to l, introduce new
unknown zα , and add new vertex vα = (xα , yα , zα ) to V and the associatedvertex-panel pair (vα , fk ) to R.
If the line l is convex, the vertex vα chosen in this way should be behindthe planar surface on which the panel fj lies. If, on the other hand, l isconcave, vα should be in front of the surface containing fj . Therefore, we
add the triple (vα , fj , δ) to T , whereδ = PROPERLY-BEHIND if l is convex,
δ = PROPERLY-FRONT if l is concave.
We generate similar triples for all convex and concave lines.
The above process directly results in the following proposition.

50

3. Correct and Incorrect Pictures

Proposition 3.3. Let l be any convex or concave line of D, and [fj ] and[fk ] be the right side region and the left side region, respectively, of l. Then,
there exists a vertex vγ in V such that (xγ , yγ ) is on the fk side with respect
to l, and(vγ , fk ) ∈ R, and (vγ , fj , δ) ∈ T,
where
δ = PROPERLY-BEHIND if l is convex,
δ = PROPERLY-FRONT if l is concave.

Figure 3.6. Vertices generated around an occluding line.

Next, let l be any occluding line, and let [fj ] and [fk ] be the right side
region and the left side region, respectively, of l, as shown in Fig. 3.6. Furthermore, let l∗ be the three-dimensional counterpart of l; that is, l∗ is theline segment in the space that belongs to the boundary of the panel fj andits projection coincides with l. As stated in Proposition 3.2, we have alreadygenerated four vertices (i.e., vα , vβ , vγ , vδ in Proposition 3.2), four elementsof R, and two elements of T , which altogether express that the panel fk
does not pass in front of l∗ . Indeed, this meets what is required by theoccluding line l. Recall, however, that the occluding line l also implies thatfk should not touch fj at all points on l∗ (if fk touches fj at all points
on l∗ , l must be categorized as a concave line). Since the panels are planar, fk can touch fj , if possible, only either at the initial point or at theterminal point of l∗ . In order to express this property, we generate a new3.3 Extraction of the Spatial Structure

51

vertex vλ = (xλ , yλ , zλ ) whose two-dimensional position (xλ , yλ ) coincides
with the midpoint of l, a new vertex-panel pair (vλ , fk ), and a new triple(vλ , fj , PROPERLY-BEHIND), and add them to V, R, and T , respectively.
We repeat the same process for all occluding lines.
This directly leads us to the following proposition.
Proposition 3.4. Let l be any occluding line in D, and [fj ] and [fk ] be
the right side region and the left side region, respectively, of l. Then there
exists a vertex vλ in V such that (xλ , yλ ) is the midpoint of l, and(vλ , fk ) ∈ R,

and(vλ , fj , PROPERLY-BEHIND) ∈ T.

Thus we have completely constructed the spatial structure S = (V, F, R, T )from the labeled picture D = (J, E, u, t).

Figure 3.7. Labeled picture considered in Example 3.1.

Example 3.1. Consider a labeled picture shown in Fig. 3.7. This picture
partitions the x-y plane into three regions: two triangular regions and one
surrounding region. We name them [f1 ], [f2 ], and [f3 ] as shown in the ﬁgure.
Hence, F = {f1 , f2 , f3 }.
Since junction s1 has exactly one occluding line, one vertex, say v1 , isgenerated at this junction:
v1 ∈ V,(x1 , y1 ) = (1, 3).

52

3. Correct and Incorrect Pictures

Two regions [f1 ] and [f2 ] share this junction, and hence we get(v1 , f1 ), (v1 , f2 ) ∈ R.
Moreover, the occluding line at s1 has an in-arrow, and hence we get(v1 , v1 , BEHIND) ∈ T.
Similarly, at junction s2 we getv2 ∈ V,(x2 , y2 ) = (5, 3),(v2 , f1 ), (v2 , f3 ) ∈ R,

(v2 , v2 , BEHIND) ∈ T.

Junction s3 also has exactly one occluding line, and therefore one vertex,
say v3 , is generated at this junction:v3 ∈ V,(x3 , y3 ) = (3, 1).

Since s3 is shared by all of the three regions, we get(v3 , f1 ), (v3 , f2 ), (v3 , f3 ) ∈ R.
The occluding line at s3 has an out-arrow, which generates(v3 , v3 , FRONT) ∈ T.
Junction s4 has three occluding lines, and hence three vertices, say
v4 , v5 , v6 , are generated at this junction in such a way that
v4 , v5 , v6 ∈ V,

(x4 , y4 ) = (x5 , y5 ) = (x6 , y6 ) = (3, 6),(v4 , f1 ), (v5 , f2 ), (v6 , f3 ) ∈ R,
(v4 , v5 , FRONT), (v5 , v6 , BEHIND), (v6 , v4 , FRONT) ∈ T.
Next consider the convex line s1 s3 (assume that the direction of the line isdeﬁned to be from s1 to s3 ). This line has the right side region [f1 ] and theleft side region [f2 ]. The vertex v5 is on the [f2 ] side (i.e., to the left of theline s1 s3 in the picture plane) and lies on f2 (i.e., (v5 , f2 ) ∈ R), but not on
f1 . Hence we get(v5 , f1 , PROPERLY-BEHIND) ∈ T.
The concave line s2 s3 has the right side region [f3 ] and the left side region[f1 ]. There is, however, no vertex that is to the left of s2 s3 and that lies on3.3 Extraction of the Spatial Structure

53

f1 but not on f3 . Hence we generate a new vertex, say v7 , at some point to
the left of the line s2 s3 so thatv7 ∈ V,(x7 , y7 ) = (5, 1),(v7 , f1 ) ∈ R,

(v7 , f3 , PROPERLY-FRONT) ∈ T.
For the other three lines, occluding lines, we generate three vertices whose
projections on the x-y plane respectively coincide with the midpoints ofthese lines: say v8 for the line s4 s1 , v9 for s3 s4 , and v10 for s4 s2 . Then, weget
v8 , v9 , v10 ∈ V,
(x8 , y8 ) = (2, 4.5), (x9 , y9 ) = (3, 3.5), (x10 , y10 ) = (4, 4.5),(v8 , f2 ) ∈ R,

(v8 , f1 , PROPERLY-BEHIND) ∈ T,

(v9 , f2 ) ∈ R,

(v9 , f3 , PROPERLY-BEHIND) ∈ T,

(v10 , f1 ) ∈ R,

(v10 , f3 , PROPERLY-BEHIND) ∈ T.

Thus, the spatial structure S = (V, F, R, T ) of the labeled picture in Fig. 3.7
consists of all the elements described above: |V | = 10, |F | = 3, |R| = 14,
and |T | = 11.
In the deﬁnition of the triple (vα , fj , δ) for a convex or concave line,
we have chosen as fj the right side face and as vα a vertex that is to theleft of the line and is on the left side face. Since our aim is to represent
convexedness or concaveness of the line, the range in choice of the triple canbe widened. For example, we can adopt as fj the left side face and as vα a
vertex that is to the right of the line and is on the right side face (in this case
δ is the same as above), or we can adopt as fj the right side face and as vα a
vertex that is to the right of the line and is on the left side face (in this caseδ should be changed from PROPERLY-FRONT to PROPERLY-BEHIND
or vice versa). Consider the line drawing in Fig. 3.7 again. For the line s2 s3
we have generated the triple (v7 , f3 , PROPERLY-FRONT). Instead of this
triple, however, we can choose any one of the following:(v1 , f3 , PROPERLY-BEHlND),(v4 , f3 , PROPERLY-BEHlND),(v6 , f1 , PROPERLY-BEHlND).
Thus we can save generating the pseudo-vertex v7 . This kind of modiﬁcation
is useful for computer implementation of the present method. We adopt theabove deﬁnition of the spatial structure only because we want to describe
our basic idea simply.

54

3.4

3. Correct and Incorrect Pictures

Interpretation as a Planar-Panel Scene

Suppose that S = (V, F, R, T ) is the spatial structure of labeled picture
D = (J, E, u, h). Let |V | = n and |F | = m. For each vertex vα = (xα , yα , zα )in V , xα and yα are given constants whereas zα is an unknown variable.
Hence, we have n unknowns z1 , · · · , zn . With each panel fj in F , we associatea planar surface
aj x + bj y + z + cj = 0,
on which the panel fj should lie. This equation cannot represent a surface
that is parallel to the z axis. There is, however, no problem because wehave assumed that such panels never occur (recall Assumption 2.4). Thus
we further obtain 3m unknowns a1 , b1 , c1 , · · · , am , bm , cm .
An element (vα , fj ) of R represents the fact that vα lies on the planar
surface containing fj , and hence we get
aj xα + bj yα + zα + cj = 0.

(3.1)

Note that this equation is linear with respect to the unknowns. Gathering
all such equations, one for each element of R, we get the system of linear
equations
Aw = 0,(3.2)
where w = t (z1 · · · zn a1 b1 c1 · · · am bm cm ) (t denotes transpose) and A is aconstant matrix of size |R| × (3m + n).
Next we consider relative depth constraints represented by T . A tripleof the form (vα , vβ , FRONT) represents the fact that “vertex vα is in frontof vertex vβ ”. From the way we construct S, we can easily see that if(vα , vβ , FRONT) is an element of T , then the projection of vα coincides
with that of vβ , that is, xα = xβ and yα = yβ . Therefore, the constraint
represented by the triple can be paraphrased byzα ≥ zβ ,(3.3a)

because we see the scene from the view point inﬁnitely distant in the positive
direction of the z axis. Similarly, for the triple (vα , vβ , BEHIND), we getzα ≤ zβ .

(3.3b)A triple of the form (vα , fj , PROPERLY-FRONT) represents that the vertex
vα is properly in front of the planar surface on which the panel fj lies, andhence we get
aj xα + bj yα + zα + cj > 0.

(3.3c)

3.4 Interpretation as a Planar-Panel Scene

55

Similarly, for the triple (vα , fj , PROPERLY-BEHIND), we get
aj xα + bj yα + zα + cj < 0.

(3.3d)

We can note that any element of T belongs to one of the above fourtypes. Gathering all inequalities of the forms (3.3a), · · ·, (3.3d), we get
Bw > 0,(3.4)

where B is a constant matrix of size |T | × (3m + n), and the inequality
symbol is an abbreviation of componentwise inequalities, some of whichallow equalities.
Thus, a labeled hidden-part-eliminated line drawing is associated withthe spatial structure S, and we consequently obtain (3.2) and (3.4) uniquely.
Now, we can state the next theorem.
Theorem 3.1 (Correct pictures of planar-panel scenes). A labeledline drawing D represents a planar-panel scene if and only if the system
consisting of (3.2) and (3.4) has a solution.
Proof. First suppose that D represents a planar-panel scene. Then, fromthis planar-panel scene we can construct a solution to (3.2) and (3.4) in thefollowing way. First, for each j (j = 1, · · · , m) we deﬁne three reals aj , bj , cj
in such a way that aj x + bj y + z + cj = 0 coincides with the surface on which
the jth panel lies. Next, for each α (α = 1, · · · , n) we deﬁne a real zα as the z
coordinate of the point of intersection of the line that goes through (xα , yα , 0)parallel to the z axis and a panel which vα is to lie on. Finally, using then + 3m reals, we construct column vector w = t (z1 · · · xn a1 b1 c1 · · · am bm cm ).
From the construction, w satisﬁes (3.2) and (3.4). Thus, if D represents a
planar-panel scene, the system consisting of (3.2) and (3.4) has a solution.
Next suppose that we are given constants z1 , · · · , zn , a1 , b1 , c1 , · · · , am , bm ,cm such that w = t (z1 · · · zn a1 b1 c1 · · · am bm cm ) satisﬁes (3.2) and (3.4).
From w we construct a planar-panel scene in the following way. For eachj (1 ≤ j ≤ m) we ﬁx the planar surface aj x + bj y + z + cj = 0 to athree-dimensional space, and scissor oﬀ some part of it in such a way thatthe projection of the remaining part coincides with the corresponding region [fj ] on the picture plane. In this way we obtain the set of m panels
fj (j = 1, · · · , m) in a three-dimensional space. These panels may toucheach other, but do not penetrate one another because their projections on
the picture plane do not overlap. Next we slightly extend them so that they
overlap along occluding lines. We ﬁx a suﬃciently small positive constantε. Let l be any occluding line of D, and [fj ] and [fk ] be the right side region

56

3. Correct and Incorrect Pictures

and the left side region, respectively, of l. We extend panel fk toward theoutside of the boundary line segment corresponding to l in such a way thatthe additional part forms an isosceles triangle whose base coincides with theboundary line segment and whose height equals to ε, as shown in Fig. 3.8.
We execute the extension for all occluding lines and rename the resulting
panels as fk (k = 1, · · · , m).

Figure 3.8. Extension of a panel beyond an occluding line.

Now we can show that the collection of the panels fj (j = 1, · · · , m)form a planar-panel scene represented by D. First, the panels are all planar.
Second, the physical properties of convex lines and concave lines are satisﬁed.
Indeed, let l be a convex or concave line, and [fj ] and [fk ] be the right andthe left side regions. Then, Proposition 3.1 assures us that the depths offj and fk coincide at the two end points of l (strictly, we have to say “atthe three-dimensional counterparts of the two end points of l”, because lis on the picture plane, neither on fj nor on fk ; the strict expression is,
however, unnecessarily long, and hence we use the abbreviated expression),and hence the surface consisting of fj and fk is continuous at all points on l.
Moreover, it follows from Proposition 3.3 that fj and fk form a ridge alongl if l is convex, whereas they form a valley if concave.
Third, the physical properties of occluding lines are satisﬁed for thefollowing reason. Let l be an occluding line, and s, t, [fj ], [fk ] respectively be3.5 Interpretation as a Polyhedral Scene

57

the initial junction, the terminal junction, the right side region, and the left
side region of l. Furthermore, let l∗ be the three-dimensional counterpart of lthat belongs to the boundary of the panel fj . Then, Proposition 3.2 assures
us that the panel fk passes behind the line segment l∗ , and Proposition
3.4 further assures us that there is a net gap in depth between fk and the
midpoint of l∗ , which is what the occluding line means.
Last, the panels do not penetrate one another. As we have just seen,
there is a net gap in depth between the occluded panel fk and the midpointof the occluding boundary line segment l∗ . Moreover, none of the panels isparallel to the z axis. Therefore, if we choose a suﬃciently small value as ε,we can execute the extension of panels without penetrating others.
Example 3.1 (cont.)
Let S = (V, F, R, T ) be the spatial structure obtained in the last section from the labeled picture in Fig. 3.7. As we haveseen, S satisﬁes |V | = 10, |F | = 3, |R| = 14, and |T | = 11. Hence, the associated system, (3.2) and (3.4), consists of 14 equations and 11 inequalities withrespect to 19 (= |V |+3|F |) unknowns z1 , · · · , z10 , a1 , b1 , c1 , · · · , a3 , b3 , c3 . For
example, since (v1 , f1 ) ∈ R, we get
a1 + 3b1 + z1 + c1 = 0(note that x1 = 1 and y1 = 3); since (v1 , v1 , BEHIND) ∈ T , we getz1 ≤ z1 ;since (v5 , f1 , PROPERLY-BEHIND) ∈ T , we get
3a1 + 6b1 + z5 + c1 < 0(note that x5 = 3 and y5 = 6), and so on. This system of (3.2) and (3.4)
has solutions. For example, we can easily see thatz1 = 0, z2 = 0, z3 = 0, z4 = 0, z5 = −10, z6 = 10, z7 = 0, z8 = −5,
z9 = −5, z10 = 0, a1 = 0, b1 = 0, c1 = 0, a2 = 2, b2 = 2, c2 = −8,
a3 = 2, b3 = −2, c3 = −4
satisfy the system, and hence from Theorem 3.1 the labeled picture in
Fig. 3.7 represents a planar-panel scene correctly.

3.5

Interpretation as a Polyhedral Scene

We have restricted our consideration to planar-panel scenes, scenes consisting of thin objects . We now return to polyhedral objects, objects with ﬁnite
thickness. We can prove the next theorem.

58

3. Correct and Incorrect Pictures

Theorem 3.2 (Correct pictures of polyhedral scenes).
A labeledline drawing D represents a polyhedral scene if and only D represents a
planar-panel scene.
Proof. Assume that D represents a polyhedral scene. From this polyhedral scene we can easily construct a planar-panel scene that D can represent.
For this purpose, we ﬁrst collect all of the visible parts of the faces of thepolyhedrons in the scene, which can be thought of as a collection of planar
panels, and next, for each occluding line in D, we execute the extension
shown in Fig. 3.8. Thus, if D represents a polyhedral scene, D represents a
planar-panel scene.
Assume conversely that D represents a planar-panel scene. From thisplanar-panel scene, we can construct a polyhedral scene by ﬁlling the rearside of the panels with material in the following way.
Let z0 be a constant such that z0 < zα for any vertex vα = (xα , yα , zα )in the scene. We ﬁrst partition each panel into triangles in an arbitrary way.
We call the resultant triangles triangular panels. For each triangular panel,
we generate a new vertex, say v0 , such that the projection of v0 on the x-yplane coincides with that of the center of gravity of the triangular panel andthat the z coordinate of v0 is equal to z0 , and generate a tetrahedron by
packing material inside the convex hull deﬁned by the triangular panel andthe new vertex v0 . Since the scene is seen from the point that is inﬁnitely
far in the positive direction of the z axis, v0 is behind the triangular panel
and hence the three new faces and the three new edges of the tetrahedron
are all invisible. In this way we generate a tetrahedron for every triangularpanel. Let X1 be the set of all tetrahedrons thus generated.
The set-theoretical union of elements of X1 may be considered as a polyhedral scene, but it is of no interest because tetrahedrons align accidentallyand form “pathological” edges just like an edge shown in Fig. 2.1; it does notsatisfy Assumption 2.2. We must construct a “normal” polyhedral scene.
For this purpose, we next “weld” objects along these pathological edges.
Let l be a convex edge (where an “edge” means a three-dimensionalcounterpart of a line in the line drawing) or a concave edge or a line segment
generated by partitioning panels into triangles, let v1 and v2 be the twoterminal points of l, and let fj and fk be the two triangular panels sharing
l. Furthermore, let v3 and v4 be points on fj and fk , respectively, such that
{v1 , v2 , v3 } and {v1 , v2 , v4 } form isosceles triangles whose base coincides withl and whose height is equal to ε, where ε is a small positive constant. Next,
let v0 be a new vertex such that the projection of v0 on the x-y plane
coincides with that of the midpoint of l and the z coordinate of v0 equals3.6 Linear Programming Problem

59

z0 . We ﬁll two tetrahedrons deﬁned by {v0 , v1 , v2 , v3 } and by {v0 , v1 , v2 , v4 }with material, and glue them together along the triangular face {v0 , v1 , v2 }.
Then we get a six-face object, of which only the two faces {v1 , v2 , v3 } and{v1 , v2 , v4 } are visible and the other four faces are invisible. We generate
similar six-face objects for all convex edges, concave edges, and other line
segments shared by two triangular panels. Let X2 be the set of all such
six-face objects.
Let X be the set-theoretical union of all elements of X1 and X2 . Then,
X is a polyhedral scene whose projection on the x-y plane coincides with
D. Indeed, we ﬁll the rear side of the panels with material in such a waythat newly generated faces of tetrahedrons and of six-face objects are allinvisible, and hence the line drawing of X coincides with D. Moreover, X
satisﬁes Assumption 2.2 for the following reason. First, new vertices (v0 in
the above notation) generated in the rear side of the panels are distinct, andhence no pair of newly generated edges (invisible edges) align in the scene X.
Second, “pathological” edges generated by the union of all the tetrahedrons
are welded by six-face objects. Thus, if D represents a planar-panel scene,
D represents a polyhedral scene.

3.6

Reducing to a Linear Programming Problem

Theorems 3.1 and 3.2 give us a theoretical answer to the problem of how
to discriminate between correct and incorrect pictures, However, it is notvery tractable in that the system of (3.4) contains proper inequalities (i.e.,
inequalities that do not allow equalities) such as (3.3c) and (3.3d). The
equations (3.2) and inequalities (3.4) place linear constraints on the n + 3m
unknowns, and hence the set of solutions to (3.2) and (3.4) form a polytope(i.e., a convex polyhedron) in the (n + 3m)-dimensional space. It should be
noted that this set is not necessarily closed, because some portions of theboundary of the polytope are deﬁned by the proper inequalities. In general
the judgment of nonemptiness of an open set is not so easy as that of aclosed set. Fortunately, however, we can convert the system consisting of(3.2) and (3.4) to a more tractable one.
Let e be any positive constant, and e be a |T |-dimensional vector whose
ith component is e if the ith inequality in (3.4) is of the form (3.3c) or (3.3d),
and is 0 if it is of the form (3.3a) or (3.3b). We construct an inequality system
Bw ≥ e.
Then, we get the following.

(3.5)

60

3. Correct and Incorrect Pictures

Proposition 3.5. The system consisting of (3.2) and (3.4) has a solution
if and only if the system consisting of (3.2) and (3.5) has a solution.
Proof.
Since e ≥ 0, (3.5) implies (3.4), and hence a solution to (3.2)
and (3.5) satisﬁes (3.4). Conversely, let w 1 be a solution to (3.2) and (3.4).
Then, we can ﬁnd a suﬃciently large positive constant d such that w2 = dw 1
satisﬁes (3.2) and (3.4).
From Theorems 3.1 and 3.2 and Proposition 3.5 we directly obtain thetheorem.
Theorem 3.3 (Discrimination between correct and incorrect pictures). For any labeled picture D, the following four statements are equivalent:(1) D represents a planar-panel scene.
(2) D represents a polyhedral scene.
(3) the system consisting of (3.2) and (3.4) has a solution.
(4) the system consisting of (3.2) and (3.5) has a solution.
Since all inequalities in (3.5) allow equalities, the solutions to the systemcomposed of (3.2) and (3.5) form a closed set, and the judgment of nonemptiness of this set is equivalent to the judgment of the existence of a feasible
solution to a linear programming problem whose constraint set is deﬁnedby (3.2) and (3.5). Moreover, methods for judging the existence of feasible
solutions have been well established (Dantzig, 1963). Hence condition (4)in Theorem 3.3 can be checked eﬃciently. Thus the problem of discrimination between correct and incorrect line drawings is reduced to the problemof judging the existence of a feasible solution to the linear programming
problem.

3.7

Perspective Projection

When the scene is at a ﬁnite distance from the observer, the picture is obtained as a perspective projection with the observer as the center of the
projection. A perspective projection is diﬀerent from an orthographic projection. However, as far as the realizability of a polyhedral scene is concerned, there is no diﬀerence between the perspective projection and theorthographic projection. This can be understood in the following way.
Without loss of generality suppose that the center of the projection (i.e.,the observer) is at the origin (0, 0, 0) and the picture plane is z = 1, as shownin Fig. 3.9. Let pα = (xα , yα , 1) denote the position vector of the projection

3.7 Perspective Projection

61(onto the picture plane) of a vertex vα , and xα = pα /tα denote the position
vector of vα itself, where tα is unknown. Let qj ·x = −1 denote the equationof the face fj , where qj = (aj , bj , cj ). This equation cannot represent a planethat passes through the origin. There is, however, no problem because wehave assumed that no face is coplanar with the observer (recall Assumption
2.4).

Figure 3.9. Perspective projection.
If the vertex vα is on the face fj , we get q j · pα + tα = 0, that is,
aj xα + bj yα + cj + tα = 0,
which has the same form as (3.1) (although the meaning of the unknowns
is slightly diﬀerent).
If the two vertices v α and v β are projected on the same point (i.e.,pα = pβ ) and v α is in front of v β , then we get
1
1
≤ ,
tα
tβ

that is,tα ≥ tβ .

This inequality is of the same form as (3.3a). If the vertex vα is properly infront of the face fj , we get
−1
1
<
,
tα
qj · pαthat is,aj xα + bj yα + cj + tα > 0,62

3. Correct and Incorrect Pictures

which is of the same form as (3.3c). Inequalities of the same forms as (3.3b)and (3.3d) can be obtained similarly. Therefore, we get the same systemof linear equations and linear inequalities as in the case of the orthographic
projection.
Thus, there is no diﬀerence between the algebraic structure of the orthographic projection and that of the perspective projection, and consequently
we get the next theorem.
Theorem 3.4 (Equivalence between the orthographic and perspective projections).
Let D be a labeled picture and p be any threedimensional point in the front side of the picture plane. Then D is aperspective projection of a polyhedral scene with respect to the center ofprojection p if and only if D is an orthographic projection of a polyhedral
scene.
Proof. Without changing the realizability of the picture D, we can translate the (x, y, z) coordinate system and change the scale in such a way thatp coincides with the origin and the picture plane is on the surface z = 1.
Hence the theorem follows from the above argument.
Therefore, the realizability of a scene depends on neither where the observer stands nor whether the picture is an orthographic projection or aperspective projection. We hereafter treat the pictures as the orthographic
projections of the scenes, but because of Theorem 3.4 all the results in thisbook can be applied also to the case of perspective projections with, if necessary, only obvious modiﬁcations.

3.8

Pictures with Additional Information

We have concentrated our attention only on the information conveyed by alabeled picture itself. In practical situations, however, we are often given
additional information.
One type of such additional information is about the occluded part of theobjects. For example, consider the picture in Fig. 3.10(a). Some cue may tellus that fj and fk belong to the same panel, or at least it seems worth while
to consider whether such an interpretation is possible. Our formulation caneasily be generalized for these kinds of additional information. In the caseof Fig. 3.10, the only thing we have to do is to add three more equations,aj = ak ,bj = bk ,cj = ck ,3.8 Pictures with Additional Information63

to (3.2). Note that these additional equations are also linear and hence thelinear programming methods are still applicable to this case.

(a)

(b)

Figure 3.10. Examples of additional information.

Another type of additional information is given by shadows (Shafer andKanade, 1983; Shafer, 1985). Suppose that pictures contain shadows andfurthermore that the correspondences between edges and their shadows are
given. Then, the system of equations (3.2) can be augmented by introducing virtual planes each of which should contain both an edge and thecorresponding shadow line.
Consider for example a line drawing given in Fig. 3.10(b), which represents a polyhedral scene with shadows. Suppose that we know that the
shadow line 1-2 is caused by the edge 3-4. Then, we introduce a new virtual
plane, say fj , and add to (3.2) the following four new equations:aj xα + bj yα + zα + cj = 0,

α = 1, 2, 3, 4.

Other pairs of edges and their shadows can be treated in a similar manner.

Chapter 4

Correctness of
Hidden-Part-Drawn Pictures
We have presented in terms of linear algebra a necessary and suﬃcient condition for a labeled picture to represent a polyhedral scene, and have thus
reduced the problem of judging the correctness of the picture to the problemof judging the existence of a solution to a certain system of linear equations
and inequalities, which can be solved by linear programming techniques.
However, the pictures have been restricted to hidden-part-eliminated ones.
Here we shall generalize the condition so that it can be applied to hiddenpart-drawn pictures.

4.1

Ambiguity in Interpretation

As has been seen, a labeled hidden-part-eliminated picture deﬁnes a uniquespatial structure. If the hidden part is also drawn, on the other hand, alabeled picture cannot necessarily represent the spatial structure uniquely.
Let us consider the labeled picture in Fig. 4.1(a). The lines in the picture
constitute two connected components, one representing a hexahedron, andthe other representing a little more complicated object. The labels tell usthat the bottom of the hexahedron should touch some other face. There
are, however, two possible faces on which the hexahedron can lie, as shownin (b) and (c), where the objects are seen from the view angle indicated by
the large arrow in (a).
Thus, even if a picture is labeled, the corresponding spatial interpretation
is not unique. The correctness of a labeled picture should be judged foreach of the spatial interpretations. While in the case of natural pictures65

66

4. Hidden-Part-Drawn Pictures

Figure 4.1. Ambiguity in interpretation of a labeled hidden-part-drawn line
drawing. The picture (a) admits the two interpretations (b) and(c).

a spatial structure is extracted automatically from a labeled picture, here
we shall consider a spatial structure as new information. Assuming that weare given both a labeled picture and a spatial structure, we study how tojudge whether the labeled picture represents the spatial structure correctly.
This is the main reason why we treat hidden-part-drawn pictures in thisnew chapter.
In addition to the basic assumptions in Section 2.1, we make some moreassumptions.
Assumption 4.1. Edges incident to a vertex are not collinear with eachother.
Assumption 4.2. Every face is a simple polygon.
These two assumptions are about the objects themselves. Assumption
4.1 is helpful when we try to distinguish between projections of vertices andaccidental crossings of distinct edges on the picture plane. Assumption 4.2
implies that a face has no holes and consequently the boundary of the facecan be represented by a cyclic list of edges.
Assumption 4.3. Any pair of vertices is not collinear with the observer.
Assumption 4.4. The observer is outside the object.
Assumption 4.5.
plane .

The whole part of the object is drawn in the picture4.2 Face-Layer Structure

67

These three assumptions state relationships between the object and theobserver. Assumption 4.3 together with Assumptions 2.4 and 2.5 is usuallyparaphrased by saying that the observer is in “general position,” which
implies that interesting spatial features do not disappear in the picture. For
example, if two edges are noncollinear in a space, the corresponding two lines
are likewise noncollinear in the picture. Assumption 4.4 excludes a certainclass of pathological interpretations. Assumption 4.5 reduces the number ofpossible interpretations, as was done in Chapter 2.

4.2

Face-Layer Structure

In a way similar to the case of hidden-part-eliminated pictures, let D =(J, E, u, h) be a labeled line drawing, where J is the set of junctions at
which two or more lines meet, E is the set of lines represented by orderedpairs of junctions, u is a mapping from J to R2 so that u(s) denotes the
position of the junction s, and h is a mapping from E to the set of the eightcategories of lines given in Fig. 2.6 so that h(l) denotes the label assigned
to the line l. Here again we assume that the lines in E have been divided
into as small fragments as possible, and hence lines do not meet each otherexcept at their terminal points.
In hidden-part-drawn pictures, there often appear X-type junctions, thatis, junctions composed of two pairs of collinear lines. X-type junctions usually occur when projections of two edges spatially apart cross each other on
the picture plane. Since the objects are in general position with respect tothe observer, it follows from Assumption 4.1 that X-type junctions nevercorrespond to vertices of the objects. Let J2 be the set of all X-type junctions, and let J1 = J − J2 . Then, there is a one-to-one correspondence
between the set J1 and the set of all vertices of the object.
Since an X-type junction does not correspond to any vertex, line drawing
D should satisfy this condition: If (s1 , s2 ) and (s2 , s3 ) are mutually collinear
lines meeting at the X-type junction s2 , then the two lines have the sameline category, i.e., h((s1 , s2 )) = h((s2 , s3 )). This is what we observed in Rule2.4.
For convenience, we also introduce another notation for the lines in the
picture. While E represents the set of all minimal line fragments connecting
junctions, let E ∗ denote the set of all line segments connecting junctionsin J1 . Hence, an element of E ∗ may have some X-type junctions midway.
That is, an element of E ∗ can be considered as a concatenation of one ormore elements of E of the form ((s1 , s2 ), (s2 , s3 ), . . . , (sk−1 , sk )) such that68

4. Hidden-Part-Drawn Picturesthe (sα , sα+1 )’s (α = 1, 2, . . . , k − 1) are collinear and have the same label
and that s1 and sk belong to J1 and all the other junctions s2 , s3 , . . . , sk−1
belong to J2 . From our assumptions there is a one-to-one correspondence
between E ∗ and the set of all edges of the object.
Unlike the case of natural pictures, we cannot extract a unique spatial
structure directly from a labeled hidden-part-drawn picture because of theambiguity we have seen in the last section. In order to avoid the ambiguity
in interpretation we need some more information about the structure of thescene. For this purpose, we introduce a new concept, “face-layer structure”.

Figure 4.2. Line of sight emanating from the viewer. It passes through faces
facing the viewer and those facing opposite to the viewer alternatingly.

A face-layer structure is an ordered triple L = (F1 , F2 , g), whose intuitive
meaning is the following. F = F1 ∪ F2 is the set of all visible and invisible
faces of the object, and it is partitioned into F1 and F2 (F1 ∩ F2 = ∅) in sucha way that outward normals to the faces in F1 are in the direction of theobserver, and those to the faces in F2 are in the opposite direction. Since
each face fj ∈ F1 ∪ F2 is a simple polygon in a space (recall Assumption
4.2), the projection of fj onto the picture plane, denoted by [fj ], is a simple
polygon on the picture plane.
The third constituent, g, represents how the faces overlap each otherwhen seen by the observer. Consider a line of sight emanating from theobserver and penetrating the object. If we travel along this line, we ﬁrst
pass through a face facing the observer, next pass through a face facing
opposite to the observer, and similarly pass through these two kinds of faces

4.2 Face-Layer Structure

69

alternatingly, as shown in Fig. 4.2. Hence, for each point p on the picture
plane there exist exactly an even number of faces whose projections containp, half of which belong to F1 and the other half to F2 . Let (f1 , f2 , . . . , f2k )be the list of faces that appear in this order when we travel along the lineof sight passing through the picture point p. Then f2j−1 (j = 1, . . . , k)should belong to F1 and f2j (j = 1, . . . , k) to F2 . Moreover, even if p moves
on the picture plane, the associated list of faces does not change unless p
passes from one side of a boundary line of some polygon [fj ] to the otherside, because the faces should not penetrate each other. Hence, we neednot specify the list of faces for each point p; we need to specify it only foreach region deﬁned by the partition of the picture plane induced by all theboundary lines of the projections of the faces.
Keeping this in mind, we deﬁne the face-layer structure formally as thetriple L = (F1 , F2 , g) satisfying the next three conditions, (1), (2), and (3):(1) F1 and F2 are two disjoint sets (elements of F1 ∪ F2 are called “faces”).
(2) With each face fj ∈ F1 ∪ F2 is associated a simple polygon on the picture
plane (this polygon is called the “projection” of the face fj and is denotedby [fj ]).
(3) Let P be any picture region deﬁned by the partition of the plane inducedby all the boundary lines of the projections of the faces. Then, g(P ) is
the list of an even number of faces, say g(P ) = (f1 , f2 , . . . , f2k ), suchthat all the projections [fj ] (j = 1, 2, . . . , 2k) include P and such thatf2j−1 ∈ F1 and f2j ∈ F2 for j = 1, 2, . . . , k. Moreover, P is not containedin a projection of any face that does not appear in the list g(P ).
The deﬁnition of the face-layer structure is independent of a labeled
picture. Now we construct relationship between these two structures. A
face-layer structure L = (F1 , F2 , g) is said to be consistent with a labeledline drawing D = (J, E, u, h) if they satisfy the following three conditions,(1), (2), and (3):(1) For any fj ∈ F1 ∪ F2 , the boundary of [fj ] consists of lines in E ∗ (i.e.,the set of lines connecting non-X-type junctions).
(2) Every line in E ∗ belongs to the boundaries of exactly two of the projections [fj ].
(3) Let l be any line in E ∗ , and let [fj ] and [fk ] be two polygons whoseboundaries share l. Then, (3a) if l is a solid line with + or − (i.e., thetype (a) or (d) in Fig. 2.6), both fj and fk belong to F1 and [fj ] and [fk ]are mutually in the opposite sides of l; (3b) if l is a broken line with +or − (i.e., the type (e) or (h) in Fig. 2.6), both fj and fk belong to F2

70

4. Hidden-Part-Drawn Picturesand [fj ] and [fk ] are mutually in the opposite sides of l; and (3c) if l is aline with an arrow (i.e., the type (b), (c), (f), or (g) in Fig. 2.6), one of
fj and fk belongs to F1 and the other belongs to F2 , and both [fj ] and[fk ] are to the right of the arrow.

These conditions are necessary for F = F1 ∪F2 to be a correct set of facesof the object represented by the picture D. This can be understood when
we recall that all the corners of the projections of the faces should belong to
the set J1 (Assumptions 2.4, 2.5, and 4.1), every edge of the object should
be shared by exactly two faces (Assumption 2.2), and the line categories inFig. 2.6 depend only on local conﬁgurations of faces around the edges.
Since the boundary of every polygon [fj ] is composed of lines in E ∗ ,all the corners of the boundary belong to J1 . Hence, if we list the corners on the boundary of [fj ] in the counterclockwise order, we get a cyclic
list, say (s1 , s2 , . . . , sk , s1 ), where si ∈ J1 (i = 1, . . . , k). This list speciﬁes the polygonal region [fj ] uniquely. We hereafter use the notation[fj ] = (s1 , s2 , . . . , sk ) in order to represent that [fj ] is a polygon bounded by
the lines (s1 , s2 ), (s2 , s3 ), . . . , (sk−1 , sk ), and (sk , s1 ).
Note that the above deﬁnitions of F1 , F2 , and g are not constructive;
there may be more than one way to choose them. Thus a face-layer structure
L consistent with D is not necessarily unique. This is why we call L a facelayer structure “consistent with” D, but not the face-layer structure “of”
D.
One problem here is how to get a face-layer structure. One of the mainsituations of machine interpretation of hidden-part-drawn pictures can befound in man-machine communication between a human designer and acomputer-aided system for geometric design. In this situation it is the human designer who draws a line drawing, and hence he can also tell thesystem the face-layer structure of the object he intends by the line drawing.
It is also possible to extract all consistent face-layer structures from a labeled line drawing automatically. The key point is how to choose eﬃciently
the set of polygonal regions [fj ] with the required properties. For this purpose, “cyclic order properties” of edges and vertices around faces can play
an important role (Sugihara, 1978; Shapira and Freeman, 1979; Fukui et al.,1983). In what follows, however, we do not consider this problem any more,
but merely assume that we are given a face-layer structure together withthe labeled line drawing.

4.3 Spatial Structure

4.3

71

Spatial Structure

Suppose that we are given a labeled line drawing D = (J, E, u, h) and a facelayer structure L = (F1 , F2 , g) consistent with D. Then we can construct
the spatial structure S = (V, F, R, T ) of D and L. Like the spatial structureof a natural picture, V is the set of vertices on the surface of the object,and F is the set of faces. R is the set of vertex-face pairs representing
which vertices should be on which faces. T is a set of ordered triples of theform (α, β, δ) representing relative distances of parts of the object from theobserver, where α and β are taken from V ∪ F and δ is taken from the set{PROPERLY-FRONT, PROPERLY-BEHIND}.
The spatial structure S = (V, F, R, T ) is deﬁned in a constructive manner. F is deﬁned as F = F1 ∪ F2 . The other three sets, V, R, and T , areinitially set empty, and elements are added to them in the following way.
As has been seen, there is a one-to-one correspondence between J1 andthe set of vertices of the object. Hence, for each element sα of J1 , wegenerate the corresponding vertex vα = (xα , yα , zα ), where u(sα ) = (xα , yα )and zα is an unknown, and add it to V . Next, for each polygon, say [fj ] =(s1 , s2 , . . . , sk ) (where s1 , s2 , . . . , sk are elements of J1 ), we generate pairs(v1 , fj ), (v2 , fj ), . . . , (vk , fj ) and add them to R. The three sets V, F , and R
generated by now represent the basic structure about which vertices should
be on which faces. Since each line in E ∗ belongs to the boundaries of the
projections of exactly two faces, we get the following.
Proposition 4.1. Let (s1 , s2 ) be any line in E ∗ . Then, there are exactly
two faces, say fj and fk , such that (s1 , s2 ) belongs to the boundary of [fj ]and that of [fk ]. Moreover, there exist vα and vβ in V such that(xα , yα ) = u(s1 ), (xβ , yβ ) = u(s2 ),(vα , fj ), (vα , fk ), (vβ , fj ), (vβ , fk ) ∈ R.
Next, we shall augment V, R, and T in order to represent relative distances and the thickness of the object.
For each line in E ∗ we generate one element of T so that it may represent
the physical category of the corresponding edge. Let l be a line in E ∗ , and[fj ] and [fk ] be the two polygons whose boundaries contain l.
First suppose that l is labeled with + or − (i.e., l belongs to the category(a), (d), (e), or (h) in Fig. 2.6). Then, [fj ] and [fk ] are mutually on opposite
sides of l (recall condition (3) in the deﬁnition of the consistency of L with
D). Hence, as we have done in the construction the spatial structure of anatural picture, we choose a vertex, say vα , such that vα lies on fk but not

72

4. Hidden-Part-Drawn Pictureson fj (i.e., (vα , fk ) is an element of R but (vα , fj ) is not) and such that vα ison the fk side with respect to l, and add the triple (vα , fj , δ) to T , whereδ = PROPERLY-BEHIND if l has the label +,δ = PROPERLY-FRONT if l has the label − .
Next suppose that l is labeled with an arrow (i.e., l belongs to the category (b), (c), (f), or (g) in Fig. 2.6). Then, both [fj ] and [fk ] are to theright of the arrow, and one of fj and fk belongs to F1 and the other toF2 . Without loss of generality let fj belong to F1 and fk belong to F2 . We
choose a vertex, say vα , such that vα lies on fk but not on fj and such thatvα is to the right of the arrow, and add the triple (vα , fj , δ) to T , whereδ = PROPERLY-BEHIND if l is a solid line (i.e., the category (b) or (c)in Fig. 2.6),
δ = PROPERLY-FRONT if l is a broken line (i.e., the category (f) or (g)in Fig. 2.6).
Now we get the following.
Proposition 4.2.
Let l be any line in E ∗ , and l be contained in theboundary of [fj ] and that of [fk ]. Then we see, if necessary by interchanging
fj and fk , that there exists a vertex, say vα , such that vα is on the fk sidewith respect to l and(vα , fk ) ∈ R,

(vα , fj ) ∈/ R,(vα , fj , δ) ∈ T,

where δ = PROPERLY-BEHIND if l has the label + or l is a solid line withan arrow, and δ = PROPERLY-FRONT if l has the label − or l is a broken
line with an arrow.
Finally, V, R, and T are augmented in order to represent the relative distance information given by the mapping g. The picture plane is partitioned
into regions by lines in E. Let P be one of such regions, p be an arbitrary
interior point of P , and let g(P ) = (f1 , f2 , . . . , f2k ).
We ﬁrst generate 2k new vertices, say vα (α = 1, 2, . . . , 2k), whose(x, y) coordinates coincide with those of p, generate 2k vertex-face pairs(v1 , f1 ), (v2 , f2 ), . . . , (v2k , f2k ), and generate 2k − 1 triples (vα , vα+1 ,PROPERLY-FRONT) (α = 1, 2, . . . , 2k − 1). Thus we get the following.
Proposition 4.3.
Let P be any region deﬁned by the partition of thepicture plane induced by the lines in E. Then, there exists an interior point4.4 Example

73

p of P such that, for any consecutive two faces fα and fα+1 in the list g(P ),there exist two vertices, say vα and vα+1 , whose (x, y) coordinates coincidewith those of p and(vα , fα ), (vα+1 , fα+1 ) ∈ R,
(vα , vα+1 , PROPERLY-FRONT) ∈ T.
Next for each junction s (∈ J1 ∪ J2 ) on the boundary of P we do the following. We generate 2k new vertices, say wβ (β = 1, 2, . . . , 2k), whose(x, y) coordinates coincide with u(s), and generate 2k vertex-face pairs(w1 , f1 ), (w2 , f2 ), . . . , (w2k , f2k ). For each β (β = 1, 2, . . . , 2k − 1), if theboundary of [fβ ] and that of [fβ+1 ] share a common line and s is on thiscommon line (this occurs when s is on a line, say l, in E ∗ and l belongs
to both the boundary of [fβ ] and that of [fβ+1 ]), then we identify vβ withvβ+1 , and otherwise we add the triple (wβ , wβ+1 , PROPERLY-FRONT) to
T . Hence, we get the next proposition.
Proposition 4.4. Let P be any region deﬁned by the picture plane induced by the lines in E. For any junction s on the boundary of P and
for any consecutive two faces fj and fj+1 in the list g(P ), there exist two
vertices, say vα and vβ , in V such that(xα , yα ) = (xβ , yβ ) = u(s),(vα , fj ), (vβ , fj+1 ) ∈ R,
(vα , vβ , PROPERLY-FRONT) ∈ T,
unless s is on both the boundary of [fj ] and that of [fj+1 ].
Thus we have completed the construction of the spatial structure S =(V, F, R, T ) of the line drawing D = (J, E, u, h) and the face-layer structure
L = (F1 , F2 , g).

4.4

ExampleBefore presenting our main theorem, we will see by an example how thespatial structure can be constructed.
Let D = (J, E, u, h) be the labeled line drawing shown in Fig. 4.3(a),where
J = J1 ∪ J2 ,J1 = {1, 2, . . . , 10},J2 = {11, 12, . . . , 15},E = {(1, 2), (1, 5), (1, 6), (2, 3), (2, 12), (3, 8), (3, 12),(4, 5), (4, 11), (4, 13), etc.}

74

4. Hidden-Part-Drawn Picturesand u and h are as indicated in the ﬁgure (strictly, the labels should be assigned to elements of E, but in the ﬁgure the labels are assigned to elementsof E ∗ ; this is because, as we have seen in Rule 2.4, mutually collinear lines
meeting at an X-type junction should have the same label). Since the junctions 11, 12, . . ., 15 are of the X-type, the set of lines connecting non-X-typejunctions, E ∗ , consists of 15 elements; for example, the line 5-10 belongs toE ∗ whereas the lines 5-11, 11-14, and 14-10 belong to E.

Figure 4.3. Labeled line drawing, and the partition of the plane induced by
all the lines.
Let us deﬁne the face set F = F1 ∪ F2 by
F1 = {f1 , f2 , f3 },F2 = {f4 , f5 , f6 , f7 },[f1 ] = (1, 5, 4, 3, 2),[f2 ] = (1, 6, 10, 5),[f4 ] = (1, 6, 7, 2),[f5 ] = (2, 7, 8, 3),[f7 ] = (6, 10, 9, 8, 7).

[f3 ] = (3, 4, 9, 8),[f6 ] = (4, 9, 10, 5),

4.4 Example

75

The lines in E partition the picture plane into one outer region, say P0 ,and eleven polygons, say P1 , P2 , . . . , P11 , as shown in Fig. 4.3(b). Let g bedeﬁned byg(P0 ) = ∅,g(P2 ) = (f1 , f4 ),g(P4 ) = (f1 , f5 ),g(P6 ) = (f3 , f4 ),g(P8 ) = (f2 , f7 ),g(P10 ) = (f3 , f6 ),g(P1 ) = (f2 , f4 ),g(P3 ) = (f1 , f6 , f2 , f4 ),g(P5 ) = (f3 , f6 , f2 , f4 ),g(P7 ) = (f3 , f5 ),g(P9 ) = (f3 , f6 , f2 , f7 ),g(P11 ) = (f3 , f7 ).

Then, the triple L = (F1 , F2 , g) is a face-layer structure, and we can easily
see that L is consistent with the line drawing D given in Fig. 4.3(a). Indeed,
every line in E ∗ belongs to the boundaries of the projections of exactly two
faces (for example, the line 1-2 belongs to the boundaries of [f1 ] and [f4 ]and to them only), and these two faces possess the required properties (forexample, [f1 ] and [f4 ] are both to the right of the arrow assigned to the line 12, and f1 ∈ F1 whereas f4 ∈ F2 ). Moreover, at each region Pi (i = 1, . . . , 11),g(Pi ) has an even number of faces, and the ﬁrst and the third faces (if they
exist) are taken from F1 whereas the second and the fourth faces are takenfrom F2 .
From the above D and L we can generate the spatial structure S =(V, F, R, T ) systematically. The face set F has already been deﬁned in L.
The other three sets V, R, and T are initially made empty, and new elements
are generated and added to them in the following way.
First, for each element of J1 the associated vertex is generated and added
to V :
v1 = (2, 8, z1 ),v5 = (7, 7, z5 ),v9 = (4, 2, z9 ),v2 = (9, 8, z2 ),v6 = (2, 4, z6 ),v10 = (7, 3, z10 ).

v3 = (11, 6, z3 ),v7 = (9, 4, z7 ),v4 = (4, 6, z4 ),v8 = (11, 2, z8 ),Second, for each face, say fj , and each corner of the boundary of [fj ], we
generate the associated element of R. From [f1 ] = (1, 5, 4, 3, 2), we generate
the ﬁve elements(v1 , f1 ), (v5 , f1 ), (v4 , f1 ), (v3 , f1 ), (v2 , f1 ) ∈ R.
New elements of R are generated similarly for f2 , f3 , . . . , f7 . At this point|R| = 4 × 5 + 5 × 2 = 30, because there are ﬁve quadrilateral faces and two
pentagonal faces in F .

76

4. Hidden-Part-Drawn Pictures

Third, new elements of T are generated for lines in E ∗ . The line 1-2 is asolid line with an arrow from the junction 1 to the junction 2, and this line
is shared by the boundary of [f1 ] and that of [f4 ]. Since f4 belongs to F2 ,we choose one vertex which lies on f4 but not on f1 and whose projection
on the picture plane is to the right of the arrow, say v6 (or alternatively v7 ),and generate(v6 , f1 , PROPERLY-BEHIND) ∈ T.
Elements of T are generated similarly for other lines in E ∗ , one for each line.
Hence at this point the number of elements of T is 15 (= |E ∗ |).
Finally, V, R, and T are augmented for the polygonal regions boundedby the lines of the picture, that is, the regions P1 , P2 , . . . , P11 in Fig. 4.3(b)(since g(P0 ) = ∅, we do nothing for P0 ). In order to illustrate this process
we consider the region P3 , because it is more informative than considering
P1 . We choose an arbitrary point in P3 , say p3 = (6, 6.33), which is thecenter of gravity of the three corners of P3 . Since g(P3 ) = (f1 , f6 , f2 , f4 ), we
generate four new vertices,v11 = (6, 6.33, z11 ),v12 = (6, 6.33, z12 ) ∈ V,

v13 = (6, 6.33, z13 ),v14 = (6, 6.33, z14 ) ∈ V,

four vertex-face pairs,(v11 , f1 ), (v12 , f6 ), (v13 , f2 ), (v14 , f4 ) ∈ R,
and three triples,(v11 , v12 , PROPERLY-FRONT),(v12 , v13 , PROPERLY-FRONT) ∈ T,

(v13 , v14 , PROPERLY-FRONT) ∈ T.
The region P3 has three corners, that is, the junctions 4, 11, and 5; new elements are further generated at these corners. At the junction 4, we generate
four new vertices,
v15 = (4, 6, z15 ),v16 = (4, 6, z16 ) ∈ V,

v17 = (4, 6, z17 ),v18 = (4, 6, z18 ) ∈ V,

and four vertex-face pairs,(v15 , f1 ), (v16 , f6 ), (v17 , f2 ), (v18 , f4 ) ∈ R,
Since the boundary of [f1 ] and that of [f6 ] share the line 4-5 and the junction
4 is on this line, we identify v15 with v16 ; that is, we delete v16 from R and4.5 Realizability of a Polyhedral Scene

77

replace (v16 , f6 ) with (v15 , f6 ). On the other hand, the junction 4 is neither
on the boundary of [f2 ] nor on that of [f4 ], and hence we generate the two
triples(v15 , v17 , PROPERLY-FRONT),(v17 , v18 , PROPERLY-FRONT) ∈ T.

Note that the ﬁrst constituent of the left triple is not v16 but v15 ; this isbecause we have identiﬁed v16 with v15 .
At the junction 5, we ﬁrst generate four new vertices. However, the ﬁrst
and the second vertices are identiﬁed with each other because the boundaryof [f1 ] and that of [f6 ] share the line 4-5. Similarly the second and third
vertices are identiﬁed with each other because the boundary of [f6 ] and thatof [f2 ] share the line 5-10 and the junction 5 is on this line. Hence, we
eventually generate the two vertices
v19 = (7, 7, z19 ),v20 = (7, 7, z20 ) ∈ V,

the four vertex-face pairs(v19 , f1 ), (v19 , f6 ), (v19 , f2 ), (v20 , f4 ) ∈ R,
and the triple(v19 , v20 , PROPERLY-FRONT) ∈ T,
where v19 denotes the vertex resulting from the identiﬁcation of the initially
distinct three vertices, one of which was on f1 , another was on f6 , and still
another was on f2 . Finally, at the junction 11, we generate
v21 = (7, 6, z21 ),v22 = (7, 6, z22 ), v23 = (7, 6, z23 ) ∈ V,

(v21 , f1 ), (v22 , f6 ), (v22 , f2 ), (v23 , f4 ) ∈ R,
(v21 , v22 , PROPERLY-FRONT), (v22 , v23 , PROPERLY-FRONT) ∈ T.
For the other regions, P1 , P2 , P4 , . . . , P11 , we generate new elements in asimilar manner and thus complete the spatial structure S.

4.5

Realizability of a Polyhedral Scene

Let D be a labeled line drawing, L be a face-layer structure consistent withD, and S = (V, F, R, T ) be the spatial structure of D and L. We canconstruct a system of linear equations and linear inequalities from S in thesame manner as we did in the case of natural pictures.

78

4. Hidden-Part-Drawn Pictures

For each vertex vα = (xα , yα , zα ) (∈ V ), xα and yα are known constants
and zα is an unknown. With each face fj (∈ F ), we associate a planar
surface aj x + bj y + z + cj = 0 on which fj should lie, where aj , bj , and cj are
unknowns. Thus, we have altogether |V | + 3|F | unknowns. Since an element(vα , fj ) of R indicates that the vertex vα should be on the face fj , we get
aj xα + bj yα + zα + cj = 0.
Collecting all such linear equations, one for each element of R, we obtainthe system of linear equations
Aw = 0,(4.1)

where w = t (z1 · · · zn a1 b1 c1 · · · am bm cm ), m = |F |, n = |V |, and A is aconstant matrix of size |R| × (3m + n).
Elements of T represent relative distances between parts of the objects.
From a triple of the form (vα , vβ , PROPERLY-FRONT) we getzα > zβ ,from a triple of the form (vα , fj , PROPERLY-FRONT) we get
aj xα + bj yα + zα + cj > 0,
and from a triple of the form (vα , fj , PROPERLY-BEHIND) we get
aj xα + bj yα + zα + cj < 0.
Collecting all of the above three kinds of inequalities, one from each elementof T , we obtain the system of linear inequalities
Bw > 0,(4.2)

where B is a constant matrix of size |T | × (3m + n).
Now we can prove the next theorem.
Theorem 4.1 (Correctness of hidden-part-drawn pictures). Let D
be a labeled hidden-part-drawn line drawing, L be a face-layer structure
consistent with D, and S be the spatial structure of D and L. D representsa polyhedral scene in which the faces are arranged along each line of sightin the order as indicated by L if and only if the system consisting of (4.1)
and (4.2) has a solution.

4.5 Realizability of a Polyhedral Scene

79

Outline of the proof.
If D represents a polyhedral scene in which thefaces are located in the way indicated by L, then from this scene we canobtain a solution to the system of (4.1) and (4.2).
Conversely, suppose that the system of (4.1) and (4.2) has a solution, say
w. Then, we can construct a polyhedral scene from w in the following way.
First, for each face fj ∈ F , we locate the planar surface aj x+bj y +z +cj = 0(where aj , bj , and cj are given in w), and scissor oﬀ some portion of it,
forming a polygonal panel in such a way that the projection of the panel
coincides with the polygon [fj ]. Next, we pack material between the panels.
For this purpose, consider the partition of the picture plane induced by all
the lines in E. Let P be any one of such partitioned regions, and let g(P ) =(f1 , f2 , . . . , f2k ). If we translate the polygonal region P in the direction
perpendicular to the picture plane, the swept volume forms a prism extended
inﬁnitely in both the positive and negative directions of the z axis. Now wepack material in the portion of the prism pinched by the two panels f2j−1
and f2j for every j = 1, 2, . . . , k (recall that f2j−1 ∈ F1 and f2j ∈ F2 ). We
can indeed pack a nonzero volume of material in each portion because there
are nonzero gaps between the faces (Proposition 4.3). We repeat the sameprocess for every picture region, and thus construct a polyhedral scene.
We can see that this scene is what is represented by D and L. Indeed,ﬁrst, the polygonal panels are all planar, and for each partitioned region
P on the picture plane, the panels are arranged along the line of sight in
the order in which they appear in g(P ) (Propositions 4.3 and 4.4). Second,from the deﬁnition of the face-layer structure, for each line l in E ∗ there
exist exactly two panels, say fj and fk , such that the boundaries of the twopanels share a common edge in the space, whose projection on the picture
plane coincides with l (Proposition 4.1); each edge is shared by exactly twopanels. Third, the panels do not penetrate each other, because for each
picture region bounded by the lines in E the corresponding panels do nottouch each other except at the boundaries of the panels (Proposition 4.4).
Fourth, exactly one side of each panel is ﬁlled with material; if the facebelongs to F1 , material is packed in the rear side (i.e., the side with a smallerz coordinate) , and if it belongs to F2 , material is packed in the front side(i.e. , the side with a larger z coordinate). Finally, the conﬁguration formedby material thus packed is the same as is required by the label assigned toeach line (Proposition 4.2). Hence we get the theorem.
Thus we have obtained a necessary and suﬃcient condition for a hiddenpart-drawn line drawing to represent a polyhedral scene. It should be notedthat (4.1) and (4.2) have the same forms as those of (3.2) and (3.4). However,80

4. Hidden-Part-Drawn Picturesnote that all the inequalities in (4.2) are proper, that is, the inequalities
do not include equalities. Let e be any positive constant and e be a |T |dimensional vector whose components are all equal to e. Then, in the same
way as in the last chapter, we can show that the existence of a solution to(4.1) and (4.2) is equivalent to the existence of a solution to (4.1) andBw ≥ e.

(4.3)

Thus, the problem of judging the correctness of a hidden-part-drawn drawing
is also reduced to the problem of judging the existence of a feasible solution
to the linear programming problem.
Moreover, we can show that Theorem 3.4 is valid also for hidden-partdrawn line drawings. That is, the correctness of a picture does not depend
on whether it is considered as the orthographic projection or perspective
projection. However, we omit the proof because it is very similar to that for
natural pictures.

Chapter 5

Algebraic Structures of Line
Drawings
A necessary and suﬃcient condition for a labeled picture to be correct has
been given in terms of linear equations and inequalities. When a picture
is judged correct, the next problem is to reconstruct the three-dimensional
structure of the object represented there. However, the structure is notunique; many diﬀerent objects can yield the same picture. Here we study
how many and what kinds of degrees of freedom remain in the choice of theobject represented by a correct picture.

5.1

Degrees of Freedom in the Choice of Objects

In the last two chapters we considered natural pictures and hidden-partdrawn pictures separately. In what follows, on the other hand, we treat
these two kinds of pictures in a unifying manner. Let D be a labeled line
drawing and S = (V, F, R, T ) be a spatial structure associated with D; S
is unique if D is a natural picture, whereas S depends on the choice of aface-layer structure if D is a hidden-part-drawn picture. Let
Aw = 0,(5.1)

Bw > 0(5.2)

be the set of equations and that of inequalities obtained from the spatial
structure S, that is, (5.1) and (5.2) stand for (3.2) and (3.4), respectively, if
D is a natural picture, and they stand for (4.1) and (4.2) if D is a hiddenpart-drawn pictures. Furthermore, let
Bw ≥ e81(5.2 )

82

5. Algebraic Structures

denote (3.5) if D is a natural picture and (4.3) if D is a hidden-part-drawn
picture. As has been seen, for the picture D to be correct, for the system
consisting of (5.1) and (5.2) to have a solution, and for the system consistingof (5.1) and (5.2 ) to have a solution are all equivalent.
Suppose that the picture D represents a polyhedral scene correctly.
Then, the picture itself does not specify the scene uniquely; an inﬁnite number of diﬀerent scenes can be represented by D. Hence, we can determine
values of z coordinates of some vertices and/or values of some face parameters arbitrarily and can still obtain a polyhedral scene. Now, how many andwhat kinds of diﬀerent scenes can the picture represent? We will answer
this question in this chapter.
As we have seen, there is a one-to-one correspondence between a polyhedral scene that the picture D can represent and a solution to the system
consisting of (5.1) and (5.2). The number of possible scenes, therefore, isequal to the number of solutions to (5.1) and (5.2).
Recall that the unknown vector w consists of the z coordinates of vertices
and the face parameters; that is, w = t (z1 · · · zn a1 b1 c1 · · · am bm cm ), wheren = |V | and m = |F |. Hence the total number of unknowns is n + 3m;
a solution to (5.1) and (5.2) can be considered as a point in an (n + 3m)dimensional Euclidean space. The set of solutions, therefore, forms a certain
region in this space.
The dimension of this region depends mainly on (5.1). Indeed, each
inequality in (5.2) represents an (n + 3m)-dimensional half space, and hence
the set of all inequalities in (5.2) deﬁnes an intersection of the half spaces. If
this intersection is empty, the associated line drawing does not represent any
polyhedral scene, which we are not interested in. Otherwise, it usually forms
an (n + 3m)-dimensional region, because the intersection of a ﬁnite numberof k-dimensional half spaces in a k-dimensional space remains k-dimensional
unless the half spaces are in some special position. In what follows, therefore,
we assume that (5.2) form an (n + 3m)-dimensional region, and concentrate
our attention upon (5.1).
Each equation in (5.1) restricts the solutions to an (n+3m−1)-dimensional
hyperplane in the (n + 3m)-dimensional space . Since (5.1) contains rank(A)independent equations, all the solutions to (5.1) form a region of dimension(n + 3m) − rank(A). This means that there are n + 3m − rank(A) degrees
of freedom in the choice of a solution to (5.1); in other words, there exists
a set of n + 3m − rank(A) unknowns such that we can specify the values ofthese unknowns independently, and once we do we get a unique solution to(5.1).

5.1 Degrees of Freedom83

Let ui denote the ith component of the unknown vector w:
ui = zi

if 1 ≤ i ≤ n,ui = aj

if i = n + 3j − 2,

1 ≤ j ≤ m,ui = bj

if i = n + 3j − 1,

1 ≤ j ≤ m,ui = cj

if i = n + 3j,

1 ≤ j ≤ m.

Furthermore, let H denote the set of all unknowns: H = {z1 , . . . , zn , a1 , b1 , c1 ,. . . , am , bm , cm } = {u1 , . . . , un+3m }. Suppose that we give an arbitrary value
to the ith unknown ui , that is, ui = di , where di is an arbitrary constant.
This equation can be rewritten as ei · w = di , where ei is an (n + 3m)dimensional row vector whose ith component is 1 and all the other components are 0’s. It is obvious that we can choose an arbitrary value for ui
and can still obtain a solution to (5.1) if and only if the system composed ofei ·w = di and (5.1) has a solution for any di . More generally, for any subset
X of the unknown set H, we can choose any values for the unknowns in X
and can still obtain a solution to (5.1) if and only if the system consistingof(5.3)
ei · w = di for ui ∈ X
and (5.1) has a solution for any di .
Let {A} denote the set of row vectors in the matrix A. Since the rank of
A is invariant under permutation of rows of A, the rank can be considered
as a function of the row vector set {A}, rather than the matrix A itself.
Hence we can write rank({A}) = rank(A). Using this notation, we deﬁnea nonnegative integer-valued function ρH on 2H (where 2H represents thefamily of all subsets of H) byρH (X) = rank({A} ∪ {ei | ui ∈ X}) − rank({A}),(5.4)

where X ⊆ H. Then, we get the following.
Theorem 5.1 (Degrees of freedom in the choice of objects).
Let
X be any subset of the unknown set H. Then, ρH (X) is the maximum
cardinality of the subset Y of X such that even if we ﬁx values of theunknowns in Y arbitrarily, the system of (5.1) still has a solution.
Proof. We have n + 3m − rank(A) degrees of freedom in the choice of asolution to (5.1). If we are given values of the unknowns in X, we have theadditional constraints of the equations given by (5.3), and hence the degrees
of freedom in the choice of a solution decrease ton − 3m − rank({A} ∪ {ei | ui ∈ X}),

84

5. Algebraic Structures

which corresponds to the degrees of freedom in the choice of a solution
to the system composed of (5.1) and (5.3). The value ρH (X) represents
the diﬀerence of these two kinds of the degrees of freedom; that is, ρH (X)represents how much the degrees of freedom decrease when values of theunknowns in X are given. Thus, ρH (X) represents the maximum numberof unknowns in X whose values can be chosen arbitrarily.
We call ρH (X) the degrees of freedom of the unknown set X. The unknown set X is said to be independent if |X| = ρH (X), and dependent
otherwise. A maximal independent set is called a base. From Theorem 5.1
we see that we can choose values of the unknowns in X arbitrarily if andonly if X is independent, and that we can specify a solution to (5.1) uniquely
by giving arbitrary values to the unknowns in X if and only if X is a base.
Thus, the function ρH tells us how the degrees of freedom in the choice ofa solution to (5.1) are distributed over the unknowns, or in other words, it
tells us how the degrees of freedom in the choice of a polyhedral scene are
distributed over the vertices and the faces.
Let us partition the unknown set H into the set of the z coordinatesof the vertices HV = {z1 , . . . , zn } = {u1 , . . . , un } and the set of the faceparameters HF = {a1 , b1 , c1 , . . . , am , bm , cm } = {un+1 , . . . , un+3m }, and letρH denote also the function obtained by restricting the domain to the familyof subsets of HV or to the family of subsets of HF . Then, for any X ⊆ HV ,
ρH (X) represents the maximum number of z values in X that can be chosen
independently. Similarly, for any X ⊆ HF , ρH (X) represents the maximum
number of face parameters in X that can be chosen independently. The
use of the same symbol ρH for the functions on the three diﬀerent sets
H, HV , and HF does not cause confusion because we can easily understandfrom context what set is under consideration. Thus, the function ρH also
represents, when the domain is restricted, the distribution of the degrees
of freedom in the choice of a polyhedral scene over the vertices or over thefaces.
Since there is a natural one-to-one correspondence between the vertex
set V and the z coordinate set HV , we can introduce from ρH naturally afunction ρV on 2V ; that is, for any X ⊆ V , we can deﬁneρV (X) = ρH ({zα | vα ∈ X}).

(5.5)

For any subset X of V , X is said to be independent if |X| = ρV (X) anddependent otherwise, and a maximal independent set is called a base.
In the spatial structure S every vertex is at least on one face and every
face has at least three vertices, and hence all the degrees of freedom can be5.1 Degrees of Freedom85

removed by specifying z coordinates of some parameters. Thus we get
ρV (V ) = ρH (HF ) = ρH (H) = n + 3m − rank(A).

(5.6)

Example 5.1. Consider the labeled hidden-part-eliminated line drawing
shown in Fig. 5.1(a). This picture has six junctions, and they are numbered
as shown in the ﬁgure. Let vα (α = 1, . . . , 6) be the vertex of the object thatgives rise to the junction α. (Formally, there are some other vertices thatare on the background surface, but we now concentrate our attention on thevertices on the object at the center of the scene.) There are exactly four
degrees of freedom in the choice of the object represented by the picture,
because we can arbitrarily locate three vertices on one face and one morevertex that is not on this face. For example, if we give z values to v1 , v3 ,and v4 , the left quadrilateral face is ﬁxed in a space and consequently thespatial position of v6 is also determined. Hence we get ρV ({v1 , v3 , v4 }) =ρV ({v1 , v3 , v4 , v6 }) = 3, and consequently {v1 , v3 , v4 } is independent whereas{v1 , v3 , v4 , v6 } is dependent. Next if we specify one more vertex, say v2 , thenthe other two quadrilateral faces are ﬁxed and eventually v5 is also ﬁxed in
the space. Thus, we can give arbitrarily z values to the vertices v1 , v2 , v3 , v4
(provided that they do not violate the line labels), and once we do the object
is determined uniquely. Hence {v1 , v2 , v3 , v4 } is a base.
We have 4 degrees of freedom in the choice of the scene, but 1 degree of
freedom is due to the translation of the whole scene along the z axis. We
therefore have 3 degrees of freedom in the choice of the object shape itself.
In Fig. 5.1, (b) and (c) illustrate how the object deforms if we give diﬀerent
z values to the base {v1 , v2 , v3 , v4 }. In (b), we choose the z coordinates of
the three vertices v1 , v2 , v3 in such a way that they are on a plane parallelto the picture plane, and see how the object changes for diﬀerent values ofthe z coordinate of v4 . In (c), on the other hand, the three vertices v1 , v3 , v4
are ﬁxed, and v2 is changed.
Example 5.2.
Let us consider the labeled hidden-part-eliminated line
drawing in Fig. 5.2. The picture has ﬁve junctions, which are numbered
1, 2, . . . , 5, as shown in the ﬁgure. For a junction α (α = 1, 2, . . . , 5), letvα be the corresponding vertex on the surface of the object at the centerof the scene. Furthermore, let the four faces of the object be f1 , f2 , f3 , f4 ,as shown in the ﬁgure (here again we exclude the surrounding backgroundsurface from our consideration). This picture can represent a pyramid seenfrom above, but it can also represent many other objects because the four
vertices v1 , v2 , v3 , and v4 need not be coplanar.
The parameter set {a1 , b1 , c1 , a2 }, for example, is independent. This can

86

5. Algebraic Structures

Figure 5.1. Ambiguity in interpretation of a labeled hidden-part-drawn line
drawing; a picture can represent many diﬀerent objects.

be understood in the following way. We ﬁrst choose any values for a1 , b1 ,and c1 in order to ﬁx the face f1 in the three-dimensional space. When f1
is ﬁxed, the three vertices on it are also ﬁxed, and hence the face f2 , whichshares the vertices v1 and v5 with f1 , has only one degree of freedom due
to rotations around the line connecting v1 to v5 . To remove this degreeof freedom, we can specify any one of the three parameters a2 , b2 , and c2
arbitrarily (provided that the edge v1 -v5 be convex). Thus, {a1 , b1 , c1 , a2 } isindependent; that is,ρH ({a1 , b1 , c1 , a2 }) = 4.

5.1 Degrees of Freedom

87

Figure 5.2. Picture of a four-face object.

The parameter set {a1 , b1 , a2 , b2 }, on the other hand, is dependent, because of the following reason. Recall that the jth surface is represented by
the equation aj x + bj y + z + cj = 0, which is perpendicular to the vector(aj , bj , 1) and which intersects the z axis at (0, 0, −cj ). Hence, the pair ofparameters aj and bj represents the normal to the surface, and if the normal
has been given, the other parameter cj corresponds to the degree of freedom
due to the translation along the z axis. Therefore, if the values of a1 andb1 are given, the normal to the face f1 is determined, and consequently the
direction of the line v1 -v5 is determined. Since the face f2 should be parallelto this line, the normal to f2 cannot be chosen arbitrarily; if one of a2 andb2 is given, the other is automatically determined. Thus, we have seenρH ({a1 , b1 , a2 , b2 }) = 3.
The parameter set {a1 , b1 , c1 , a2 , a3 } is a base. Indeed, giving any values
to a1 , b1 , c1 , a2 , we can ﬁx the two faces f1 and f2 in the space, and consequently ﬁx the edge v2 -v5 . The face f3 , therefore, has only one degreeof freedom corresponding to rotations around the line v2 -v5 . This degreeof freedom can be removed if we give a value to a3 . Then, since boththe edges v3 -v5 and v4 -v5 have been ﬁxed, the face f4 is also determineduniquely. Thus, the shape of the whole object is speciﬁed when the valuesof a1 , b1 , c1 , a2 , a3 are given; there are ﬁve degrees of freedom in the choiceof the object. This implies that if we want to determine the object shape by
specifying z values of vertices, we have to specify the z values of all the ﬁve
vertices. This can also be understood by noting that the faces are all triangular, and consequently a spatial position of any vertex is not determinedby the spatial positions of the other vertices.

88

5. Algebraic Structures

The unknown set {z1 , z3 , z4 , a1 , b1 } is an example of a base containing
both elements of HV and those of HF . This is because the pair of a1 and b1
determines the normal to the face f1 , z1 determines where the face f1 intersects the z axis (thus a1 , b1 , z1 deﬁne f1 uniquely), and z3 and z4 determine
the remaining part of the object.
In the above two examples we were able to ﬁnd at a glance how manydegrees of freedom we have in the choice of the objects; we need not calculate
the rank of the matrix A. This is because we could ﬁnd a “convenient”
base in the sense that once values of the unknowns in the base are ﬁxed,
all the other unknowns are determined in a step-by-step manner. In thecase of Fig. 5.1(a), for example, if we give values to v1 , v2 , v3 , v4 , the left
quadrilateral face and the right upper quadrilateral face are determined ﬁrst,
consequently v6 and v5 , and ﬁnally the right lower quadrilateral face and thetriangular face at the center are determined. This corresponds to the factthat if values of the unknowns in the base are given, the solution to (5.1) canbe obtained by substitution; we need not solve all of (5.1) simultaneously.
Sometimes, however, we cannot ﬁnd such a convenient base. If there is nosuch convenient base, we have to solve (5.1) “simultaneously” in order toreconstruct a polyhedral scene from the line drawing on one hand, and wemust give nontrivial consideration (or must calculate the rank of the matrix
A directly) in order to understand how many degrees of freedom we have inthe choice of the object on the other hand. This case is illustrated in thenext example.
Example 5.3. Let us consider the line drawing shown in Fig. 5.3 (a),which represents an object composed of four quadrilateral planar panels
connected in a cyclic manner along the four edges v1 -v5 , v2 -v6 , v3 -v7 , andv4 -v8 (where vi denotes the vertex arising at junction i).
The vertex set {v1 , v2 , v3 , v5 } is a base. This can be understood as follows. Let junction 9 be the intersection of the lines 1-5 and 4-8, and junction
10 be the intersection of the lines 2-6 and 3-7, as shown in (b). Then, theline 9-10 represents the intersection of the two panels f1 and f4 , where thesurface on which the panel fj lies is also referred to as the “panel” fj . Thus
we can say that the vertex v9 , which corresponds to junction 9, is on thepanels f1 , f3 , f4 , and the vertex v10 is on the panels f1 , f2 , f4 . Now supposethat we give z values to the vertices v1 , v2 , v3 , v5 . Then, since v1 , v2 , v5 are
ﬁxed in the space, the panel f4 is ﬁxed and consequently v6 , v9 , v10 are alsoﬁxed. Next from v2 , v3 , v6 , the panel f2 is ﬁxed and so is v7 . Finally fromv3 , v9 , v10 , the panel f1 is ﬁxed and hence v4 , v8 , f3 are all ﬁxed. Therefore{v1 , v2 , v3 , v5 } is a base.

5.1 Degrees of Freedom

89

Figure 5.3. Picture of an object composed of four planar panels.

The above consideration tells us that if f2 and f4 are ﬁxed in the space,
f1 and f3 are also determined uniquely. In other words, the determinationof spatial positions of v1 , v3 , v5 , v7 results in the determination of spatial
positions of f1 and f3 , because the substructure composed of f1 and f3
touches the substructure composed of f2 and f4 only at these four vertices.
This implies that the vertex set {v1 , v3 , v5 , v7 } is a base for the two-panel
object shown in (c). Moreover, the substructure composed of f2 and f4 hasessentially the same structure as that of f1 and f3 , and hence {v1 , v3 , v5 , v7 }is also a base for this substructure. Thus, the vertex set {v1 , v3 , v5 , v7 }is a base for the original picture (a). Note that the two virtual panels(v1 , v2 , v10 , v9 ) and (v4 , v3 , v10 , v9 ) in (b) form the same conﬁguration as the

90

5. Algebraic Structures

object in (c). We see therefore that {v1 , v2 , v3 , v4 } is also a base of theoriginal picture (a).
We must note, however, that the distribution of the degrees of freedom
may change when the junctions are drawn in some “special” position. For
example, if picture (b) is drawn in such a way that the three lines 1-2, 3-4,
and 9-10 have a common point of intersection as shown in (d), then the four
vertices v1 , v2 , v3 , v4 are coplanar in any object represented by the picture
and consequently the vertex set {v1 , v2 , v3 , v4 } is dependent, whereas thevertex set {v1 , v2 , v3 , v5 } still remains a base.
On the other hand, consider the case in which the four lines 1-5, 2-6,
3-7, and 4-8 have a common point of intersection, as shown in (e) (notethat if any three out of the four lines have a common point of intersection, the other should also pass through the point because otherwise thepicture is incorrect). We can easily see that in any object that can be represented by picture (e) the four vertices v1 , v3 , v5 , v7 and the four vertices
v2 , v4 , v6 , v8 are respectively coplanar. Therefore, when the z values of thevertices v1 , v2 , v3 , v5 are given, the panels f2 and f4 only are ﬁxed while f1
and f3 are not. We must give a z value to one more vertex (for example,
the vertex v4 ), in order to ﬁx the whole structure. Thus, there are 5 degrees
of freedom in the choice of the object from picture (e), and the vertex set{v1 , v2 , v3 , v4 , v5 } is an example of a base.
Remark 5.1 In Example 5.3 we have introduced two new conventions.
First, though our object world is that of polyhedrons, we also consider
planar-panel scenes. This is because (5.1) essentially represents the conﬁguration composed of planar surfaces and points on them; it does notdepend on which sides of the surfaces are ﬁlled with material (whereas (5.2)
depends on them). We can present a polyhedron whose degrees-of-freedom
structure is essentially the same as the planar-panel object in Fig. 5.3(a).
Indeed, if we add four triangular faces (v1 , v2 , v3 ), (v1 , v3 , v4 ), (v5 , v6 , v7 ),(v5 , v7 , v8 ) to Fig. 5.3(a), the resultant object is a polyhedron and the distribution of the degrees of freedom of this new object is the same as that of
the original planar-panel object (note that addition of triangular faces does
not change the essential structure of the degrees of freedom). Here we takeup the planar-panel object because otherwise the triangular faces will makethe picture unnecessarily complicated.
The second convention is that though we are considering labeled pictures,
we sometimes treat unlabeled pictures as if they were labeled. We shall use
this convention when the most natural spatial structure that the original
picture evokes in our mind seems unambiguous, or when we can express the5.2 Matroids91

associated spatial structure more simply by words than by labels. Fig. 5.3(a)seems to evoke in our mind two kinds of objects; one is composed of the four
panels f1 , f2 , f3 , f4 , and the other has one more panel at the bottom, thatis, the panel (v5 , v6 , v7 , v8 ). We are now considering the former because westated so at the beginning of Example 5.3.
We will hereafter adopt these two conventions whenever we can avoid
treating unnecessarily messy ﬁgures.
As we have seen in the last example, the distribution of the degrees of
freedom in the choice of objects depends on both which faces have which
vertices in the spatial structure and where the junctions are drawn in the
picture plane. Hence, if we treat line drawings in a purely geometricalmanner, we have to perform complicated ﬁgure-construction tasks (whichusually requires heuristic and analogical skills) in order to tell what sets ofvertices form bases. The function ρH deﬁned by (5.4), on the other hand,
gives us a very powerful tool, by which a computer can tell the distributionof the degrees of freedom in an analytical and systematic manner.
While in this section we have deﬁned the degrees of freedom in termsof the ranks of some row vector sets, we will present in the next chapter acounting theorem by which we can ﬁnd the degrees of freedom by integer
calculation only.

5.2

Matroids

Let E be a ﬁnite set and ρ be an integer-valued function on 2E . A pair(E, ρ) is called a matroid if the following three conditions are satisﬁed for
any X, Y ⊆ E (Welsh, 1976):0 ≤ ρ(X) ≤ |X|,
X⊆Y

implies(5.7a)
ρ(X) ≤ ρ(Y ),ρ(X ∪ Y ) + ρ(X ∩ Y ) ≤ ρ(X) + ρ(Y ).

(5.7b)(5.7c)

E and ρ are called a support set and a rank function, respectively, of thematroid (E, ρ). A subset X of E is called independent if ρ(X) = |X| anddependent otherwise. A maximal independent set is called a base of thematroid.
The function ρH deﬁned by (5.4) satisﬁes the above conditions (5.7a),(5.7b), and (5.7c). For the proof we refer to textbooks such as the one by
Welsh (1976), but we can understand it intuitively in the following manner.
First for any set X of unknowns, the value of the degrees of freedom is

92

5. Algebraic Structuresneither negative nor greater than the size of X; hence ρH satisﬁes condition(5.7a). Next, if X ⊆ Y , then Y can admit the same degrees of freedom
as, or greater degrees of freedom than, X can, and thus condition (5.7b) issatisﬁed. Finally, let us consider how many degrees of freedom remain in
X − Y when values of some unknowns outside X − Y are given. If values of
the unknowns in Y are given, there remain in X −Y only ρH (X ∪Y )−ρH (Y )degrees of freedom; see Fig. 5.4. If on the other hand values of the unknowns
in X ∩ Y are given, then the degrees of freedom left to X − Y amount toρH (X)−ρH (X ∩Y ). Less degrees of freedom remain in X-Y if values of moreunknowns outside X − Y are given (for example, less degrees of freedom areleft for us to choose z values of vertices in X − Y when we ﬁx z values ofthe vertices in Y than when we ﬁx z values of the vertices in X ∩ Y .) Thus
we getρH (X ∪ Y ) − ρH (Y ) ≤ ρH (X) − ρH (X ∩ Y ),which is equivalent to the condition (5.7c).

Figure 5.4. Third axiom in the deﬁnition of the matroid; smaller degrees of
freedom remain in X − Y if the degrees of freedom are removed
from a larger set outside X − Y .

Thus, the pairs (H, ρH ), (HV , ρH ), and (HF , ρH ) are matroids, and consequently so is the pair (V, ρV ).
One of the salient properties of a matroid (E, ρ) is that ρ(X) = ρ(E)holds for any base X (⊆ E); that is, every base has the same cardinality
ρ(E). This can be seen in the following way. Let X be any subset of E,
and suppose that there exist Y1 and Y2 such that ρ(X) = ρ(Y1 ) = ρ(Y2 ),X ⊆ Y1 ⊆ E, and X ⊆ Y2 ⊆ E. Then, on one hand, from (5.7b) we getρ(Y1 ∩ Y2 ) = ρ(X) and ρ(Y1 ∪ Y2 ) ≥ ρ(X). On the other hand, from (5.7c)
we get ρ(Y1 ∪ Y2 ) + ρ(Y1 ∩ Y2 ) ≤ ρ(Y1 ) + ρ(Y2 ), and consequently, using
ρ(Y1 ) = ρ(Y2 ) = ρ(Y1 ∩ Y2 ) = ρ(X), we get ρ(Y1 ∪ Y2 ) ≤ ρ(X). Therefore,5.2 Matroids

93

we see ρ(Y1 ∪ Y2 ) = ρ(X), which implies that for any X ⊆ E there exists a
unique maximal subset Y such that ρ(X) = ρ(Y ) and X ⊆ Y ⊆ E. We callthis Y the closure of X, and denote it by Y = cl(X). X is called a ﬂat if
cl(X) = X. Now suppose that X is independent and ρ(X) < ρ(E). Then,
E − cl(X) is not empty, and moreover, it follows from the deﬁnition of theclosure that ρ(X ∪ {x}) = ρ(X) + 1 for any x ∈ E − cl(X). Thus, X ∪ {x}is also independent. In other words, any independent set can be augmented
without violating the independence until it becomes a base. Therefore, everybase has the same cardinality ρ(E).
This property is important from the viewpoint of computational complexity, because we can obtain a base of a matroid eﬃciently in the following
way. Initially let X be an empty set. Next, choose and delete elements e fromE one by one, and add them to X if X ∪{e} is independent and discard themotherwise. Eventually X becomes large enough to satisfy ρ(X) = ρ(E), andthus we get a base. This procedure is called a “greedy algorithm” (Edmonds,
1971).
The greedy algorithm can also ﬁnd a minimum-weight base. Supposethat each element of E has a nonnegative value called a weight. If theelement with the minimum weight is taken at every stage of the greedy
algorithm, the resultant base attains the minimum sum of the weight among
all the bases.
One application of a minimum-weight base arises in the use of a spot
range ﬁnder. A spot range ﬁnder is a device for measuring a range to apoint on the object from the observer. One method for this purpose istriangulation; that is, a spot light is projected onto the object, the imageof the spot is observed from another angle, and the triangle formed by thelight source, the observer, and the point on the object is determined (Ishii
and Nagata, 1976). Another method is the measurement of time of ﬂight;that is, an amplitude modulated laser beam is projected on the object, thereﬂected light is detected, and the phase diﬀerence is observed (Nitzan et al.,1977). The measurement of range data is time consuming because a range of
only one point can be obtained at a time and the direction of the projectionof the light is usually changed by a mechanical manner (for example, by
the rotation of a mirror). It is therefore desired that a range ﬁnder beused as few times as possible. Suppose that we have already obtained aline drawing from an image originated with a real polyhedral object, andthat we want to measure ranges of a minimum number of points in orderto recover the three-dimensional shape of the object. Suppose, furthermore,that we can estimate an expected error of measurement for each vertex of
the object. Then, the problem can be reduced to the problem of ﬁnding a

94

5. Algebraic Structuresbase of the matroid (V, ρV ) with the minimum sum of weights, where theweights denote the expected errors. Hence, we can solve the problem by thegreedy algorithm.

5.3

Pictures with Four Degrees of Freedom

Given a correct line drawing D and its spatial structure S, we have at least
four degrees of freedom in the choice of a polyhedral scene represented by
D and S unless the scene consists of only one face. This can be intuitively
understood when we note that we have to specify three parameters in order
to ﬁx one face in the space and at least one more parameter to ﬁx anotherface. More formally, we get the following.
Theorem 5.2 (Lower bound of the degrees of freedom). Let D bea labeled line drawing and S be a spatial structure associated with D. If D
together with S represents a polyhedral scene and S has two or more faces,
then there are at least four degrees of freedom in the choice of a polyhedral
scene from D and S.
Proof.
Let P denote a set of three-dimensional points forming a polyhedral scene represented by D and S, and P  denote the set of all points(x , y  , z  ) obtained by the aﬃne transformation
⎡

⎤

⎡

⎤⎡

⎤

⎡

⎤

x
1 0 0
x
0
⎢  ⎥ ⎢⎥⎢⎥ ⎢⎥⎣ y ⎦ = ⎣ 0 1 0 ⎦⎣ y ⎦ + ⎣ 0 ⎦,

z
α β γ
z
δ

(5.8)

where α, β, and δ are any real numbers, γ is a positive real number, and(x, y, z) moves over P . Since the transformation is aﬃne, the edges andthe faces of P are transformed to some edges and faces, respectively, of P  ,and hence P  also is a polyhedral scene. Moreover, P  admits the same line
drawing D and the same spatial structure S as P does, because, ﬁrst, thetransformation does not change the x and y coordinates of the points, andsecond, the determinant of the coeﬃcient matrix of the transformation (5.8)
is positive (recall γ > 0) and hence the transformation does not change thespatial orientation; that is, the outer normals to the faces are never reversed.
Thus, P  is a polyhedral scene represented by D and S. The transformation(5.8) has the four parameters, and their values are determined uniquely
if the destinations of noncoplanar four points on P are speciﬁed. These
noncoplanar four points can always be chosen because the scene has two5.3 Pictures with Four Degrees of Freedom95

or more faces. Therefore, z values of at least four vertices can be chosen
arbitrarily when we want to reconstruct a polyhedral scene from D and S.
It may be interesting to note that if γ < 0, the transformation (5.8)
applied to a polyhedral scene P generates a polyhedral scene, say P  , thathas the reversed orientation in the sense that any set of three noncoplanar
vectors forming a right hand system in P is transformed to the one forming
a left hand system. In terms of the labels, the category (a) in Fig. 2.6
is transformed to the category (h), the category (d) to the category (e).
Particularly, if α = β = 0 and γ = −1, then P  is a mirror image of P
with respect to a mirror parallel to the x-y plane. For (unlabeled) hiddenpart-drawn pictures whose hidden lines are also represented by solid lines,
a pair of interpretations that are mirror images of each other usually occurs
in human visual perception, and this phenomenon is called Necker’s reversal(Gregory, 1971). In the case of hidden-part-eliminated pictures, on theother hand, this phenomenon does not occur. This is probably because thetransformation (5.8) with a negative γ brings rear invisible faces to the front,
so that the corresponding line drawings must also be changed.
We have shown that there are at least four degrees of freedom when wereconstruct a polyhedral scene from a correct line drawing. If the degrees of
freedom are exactly four, the corresponding polyhedral scenes possess thefollowing remarkable property.
Theorem 5.3 (Collinearity-coplanarity property).
Let D and S
be a line drawing and the associated spatial structure, respectively, and℘(D, S) be the set of all polyhedral scenes that can be represented by D
and S. If ρV (V ) = 4 (that is, there are exactly four degrees of freedom inthe choice of a polyhedral scene), then a vertex set X (⊆ V ) that is collinear(resp. coplanar) in some scene P in ℘(D, S) is also collinear (resp. coplanar)in any scene P  in ℘(D, S).
Proof.
Let us choose from ℘(D, S) an arbitrary scene, say P , and ﬁx
it. Without loss of generality, let {v1 , v2 , v3 , v4 } be a base of the matroid(V, ρV ) (note that the cardinality of every base is 4 because ρV (V ) = 4),
and let z1 , z2 , z3 , z4 be the real numbers representing the z coordinates of
the associated four vertices in the scene P . Any scene, say P  , in ℘(D, S)
is speciﬁed uniquely if we choose four real numbers, say z1  , z2  , z3  , and z4  ,for the z coordinates of the vertices v1 , v2 , v3 , and v4 . On the other hand, we
can uniquely determine the transformation of the form (5.8) that transforms
the four points (xi , yi , zi ) (i = 1, . . . , 4) to (xi  , yi  , zi  ). Let P  be the resultof the transformation applied to P . However, since P  is a polyhedral scene

96

5. Algebraic Structuresand {v1 , v2 , v3 , v4 } is a base, it follows that P  and P  represent the same
scene. Thus, any two scenes in ℘(D, S) can be transformed to each other by
a transformation of the form (5.8). Since the transformation (5.8) preserves
both collinearity and coplanarity, we get the theorem.
Theorem 5.3 enables us to judge whether some classes of ﬁgure-construction
problems have unique solutions or not. Let D be a correct line drawing, S
be the associated spatial structure, and ℘(D, S) be the set of following all
polyhedral scenes D and S can represent. Let us consider the following.
Problem 5.1.
Given S and D, ﬁnd the intersection of a planar surface
passing through the three vertices v1 , v2 , v3 (∈ V ) and a straight line passing
through the two vertices v4 , v5 (∈ V ), and draw it on the picture plane.
Problem 5.2.
Given S and D, ﬁnd the intersection of a planar surface
passing through the vertices v1 , v2 , v3 (∈ V ) and a planar surface passing
through the vertices v4 , v5 , v6 (∈ V ), and draw it on the picture plane.
These kinds of problems do not always make sense, because the intersection to be found usually depends on a polyhedral scene chosen from ℘(D, S),and so does its projection on the picture plane. However, if ρV (V ) = 4, theresult of the ﬁgure construction is unique because collinearity and coplanarity of any vertex set do not depend on the choice of a polyhedral scenein ℘(D, S). Thus, we get the following.
Corollary 5.3.1 (Unique solvability of ﬁgure-construction problems).
If ρV (V ) = 4, ﬁgure-construction problems of the types given by
Problems 5.1 and 5.2 admit unique solutions.
Note that we have obtained Theorem 5.3 and Corollary 5.3.1 by considering the pictures as orthographic projections of polyhedral objects, However,as we saw in Section 3.7, the algebraic structure of pictures does not depend
on whether we consider the pictures as orthographic projections or perspective projections. The above theorem and corollary are therefore valid also
for perspectively drawn pictures.
Theorem 5.3 also gives us a general principle for solving the ﬁgureconstruction problems.
Principle 5.1.
Choose any one polyhedral scene the picture can represent, ﬁnd the intersection in a three-dimensional space, and project theresult on the picture plane.
Theorem 5.3 assures us that the result does not depend on the choice ofthe polyhedral scene. This principle will also play an important role in the5.3 Pictures with Four Degrees of Freedom

97

correction of incorrect pictures in Chapter 7.

Figure 5.5. Unique solvability of ﬁgure-construction problems: the ﬁgureconstruction problem (a) admits the unique solution shown in(b), whereas the problem (c) does not and the problem (d) does
only partially.

Example 5.4. Let us consider this ﬁgure-construction problem: “Findthe intersection of the object represented in Fig. 5.5(a) and the plane passing through the three points p, q, r on the visible faces of the object (hereagain we assume that the picture evokes a common spatial structure in every
reader, and hence we omit the labels; recall Remark 5.1).” Since this line
drawing can be a picture of a pentagonal prism, the picture is correct. Moreover, if we specify z values of some noncoplanar four vertices (for example,
v1 , v2 , v3 , and v6 ), the whole structure is located uniquely in the space, andtherefore there are exactly four degrees of freedom. The above problem canbe decomposed into several problems of ﬁnding the intersections between theobject edges and the cutting plane (i.e., the plane passing through p, q, r),

98

5. Algebraic Structuresthat is, the problem of ﬁnding the intersection between the cutting plane
and the edge v2 -v7 , that between the cutting plane and the edge v3 -v8 , andso on. Hence from Corollary 5.3.1, the original ﬁgure-construction problem
admits a unique solution. The solution is shown in (b).
Next consider this problem: “Find the intersection between the object
represented in Fig. 5.5(c) and the cutting plane passing through the threepoints p, q, r on the visible faces.” Since all the faces are triangular, thedegrees of freedom in the choice of the object amount to the number ofvertices, 5. Hence the solution is not unique. If, on the other hand, thepoint r is on the left rear invisible face as shown in (d), then the problem
can be partially solved. This is because the left three triangular faces form
a substructure with exactly 4 degrees of freedom, so that the intersection
between the cutting plane and the three faces can be determined uniquely.
The partial solution is shown in (d).
Example 5.5. The last observation in Example 5.4 leads to an extreme
case. Consider this problem: “Find the intersection of the corner of a polyhedron shown in Fig. 5.6(a) and the cutting plane passing through the threepoints p, q, r on the surface.” Without changing the degrees of freedom, we
can consider the picture as the picture of a tetrahedron, and hence there areexactly 4 degrees of freedom in the choice of this partial structure. Therefore, the problem has a unique solution.

Figure 5.6. Simplest example of a uniquely solvable ﬁgure construction problem.

5.3 Pictures with Four Degrees of Freedom99

We can easily obtain the solution by employing Principle 5.1, but ﬁgure construction on a purely two-dimensional plane is also possible in thefollowing way (see also Crapo, 1981).
Let the three lines be l1 , l2 , and l3 , and the three faces be f1 , f2 , andf3 , as shown in (b). First, choose an arbitrary point, say a, on the line l1 ,and let b be the intersection of the line l2 and the line ap (here by ap wedenote the line passing through a and p), and c be the intersection of theline l3 and the line aq. Then, the triangle abc can be interpreted as theintersection of the three-dimensional corner and the plane passing throughp, q, and a. Next, let d be the intersection of the line pq and the line bc.
Since in the space the points b and c are on the face f1 , the point d canbe interpreted as the intersection of the line pq and the face f1 . Hence, theline dr is also in the face f1 . Finally, let b be the intersection of the line drand the line l2 , c be the intersection of dr and l3 , and a be the intersectionof b p and l1 . In the space the point d is both on the line pq and on theface f1 , and consequently the plane determined by the two lines pq and drpasses through the three points p, q, and r, and this plane cuts the threeedges corresponding to l1 , l2 , l3 at a , b , c , respectively. Thus, the trianglea b c is the intersection of the corner and the plane passing through p, q, r.
It may be interesting to note that the result does not change even if wechange the interpretation from a convex corner to a concave corner such as acorner of a room, that is, even if we change all the labels + in the picture (a)to −. This is because the change of the interpretation merely corresponds
to the application of the transformation (5.8) with a negative γ, and hence
the collinearity and coplanarity are still preserved.
Example 5.6. Another class of ﬁgure-construction problems is shown in
Fig. 5.7. Line drawings (a), (b), and (c) are hidden-part-eliminated pictures,
and all three objects admit exactly four degrees of freedom. Suppose thatthe rear side of the object represented in (a) consists of three faces, one
having the vertices v1 , v2 , v3 , another having v3 , v4 , v5 , and the still other
having v5 , v6 , v1 . Then, from Corollary 5.3.1 the pairwise intersections of
the three invisible faces are determined uniquely on the picture plane, andhence all the hidden lines can be recovered from the visible part, as shownin (a’). Similarly if each rear face of the objects in (b) and (c) has at least
three visible vertices and we know them, we can uniquely recover all thehidden lines, as shown in (b’) and (c’). The hidden lines in Fig. 5.7 were
found by a computer program, which employed Principle 5.1.
Pictures with exactly four degrees of freedom admit another important
property, which gives us a simple way to judge the correctness of the pictures.

100

5. Algebraic Structures

Figure 5.7. Uniqueness of ﬁgure construction of the hidden parts of the objects.

As has been seen in Theorem 3.3, the problem of judging the correctness ofa picture can be reduced to a problem of judging the existence of a feasible
solution to some linear programming problem. Though eﬃcient methods(such as the simplex method; see Dantzig; 1963) have been developed todeal with linear programming problems, the time required is not negligible,
particularly when the complexity of the pictures grows. However, if thepictures have exactly four degrees of freedom, we need not solve the linear
programming problem; instead we need to examine only two solutions to(5.1).
In order to see this, let us ﬁrst recall that a labeled picture is correct if
and only if a solution exists to the associated system of the equations Aw = 0
and the inequalities Bw > 0 deﬁned by (5.1) and (5.2). Let Bw < 0 denotethe set of inequalities obtained from Bw > 0 by replacing every occurrence5.3 Pictures with Four Degrees of Freedom

101of ≥ with ≤ and > with <, and let Bw = 0 denote the set of equations
obtained by replacing all the inequalities with equalities. Then, we get thenext theorem.
Theorem 5.4. Let D be a labeled line drawing representing a polyhedral
scene correctly, and let Aw = 0 and Bw > 0 be the associated equations
and the inequalities deﬁned by (5.1) and (5.2). If D admits exactly four
degrees of freedom in the choice of the scene (i.e., ρV (V ) = 4), any solution
w to Aw = 0 satisﬁes Bw > 0 or Bw < 0 or Bw = 0.
Proof. For any solution w = t (z1 , · · · zn a1 b1 c1 · · · am bm cm ) to Aw = 0,
let P (w) be the corresponding conﬁguration composed of the planes in thespace; that is,
P (w) = {(x, y, z) | aj x + bj y + z + cj = 0 for some fj ∈ F }.
Because of the same discussion as given in the proofs of Theorems 5.2 and
5.3, it can be shown that, for any solution w1 to Aw = 0, w2 is a solution
to Aw = 0 if and only if P (w1 ) is transformed to P (w2 ) by a transformationof the form (5.8).
Recall that, if the line drawing D is a hidden-part-eliminated one, aninequality in Bw > 0 is of the form (3.3a), (3.3b), (3.3c), or (3.3d). In theformer two cases, the inequality represents the constraint that one of thetwo vertices vα and vβ having the same x and y coordinates should have agreater z coordinate than the other. In the latter two cases, it represents
the constraint that the vertex vα should be in one of the two half spacesdeﬁned by the face fj . Similarly, as we have seen in Chapter 4, Bw > 0
driven from a hidden-part-drawn picture also consists of the same two typesof constraints as above. These two kinds of constraints are preserved by
the transformation (5.8) if γ > 0, and are reversed if γ < 0 (note that the
spatial orientation is preserved if the determinant of the matrix in (5.8) is
positive, and is reversed if negative).
Now, since D is a correct line drawing, there exists a solution, say w1 ,to Aw = 0 and Bw > 0. Let w2 be any vector that satisﬁes Aw = 0. Then,P (w2 ) is obtained from P (w1 ) by some transformation of the form (5.8).
According to whether the parameter γ in the transformation is positive,
zero, or negative, w2 satisﬁes Bw2 > 0, Bw2 = 0, or Bw2 < 0, respectively.
Thus we get the theorem.
From this theorem, we can construct a simple method for ﬁnding a solution to Aw = 0 and Bw > 0. Suppose that there are exactly four degrees
of freedom in the choice of the solution to Aw = 0. Then, there exist four102

5. Algebraic Structures

vertices, say v1 , v2 , v3 , and v4 , such that their z values z1 , z2 , z3 , and z4
uniquely specify the solution w to Aw = 0 (a method for ﬁnding them will
be given in the next chapter). If we choose the z values in such a way thatthe four vertices are coplanar, then the corresponding w satisﬁes Bw = 0.
Otherwise, we have these three cases: (1) w satisﬁes Bw > 0, (2) w satisﬁes
Bw < 0, or (3) w satisﬁes neither of them. In case (1), w is a solution
we want to get. In case (2), we can get a desired solution from w by thetransformation (5.8) with a negative γ. In case (3), there exists no solution.
Hence, we get the following algorithm for ﬁnding a solution to Aw = 0 and
Bw > 0.
Method 5.1 (Recovery of a polyhedral scene from a line drawing
with exactly four degrees of freedom).
Input: a labeled line drawing having four degrees of freedom in the choice ofthe polyhedral scene. (Without loss of generality, let {z1 , z2 , z3 , z4 } forma base of the matroid (V, ρV ); that is, speciﬁcation of the values of thesefour unknowns determines a solution to Aw = 0 uniquely.)
Output: a polyhedral scene represented by the line drawing.
Procedure:
Step 1. Assign any real numbers to z1 , z2 , and z3 .
Step 2. Find the intersection of the plane passing through the three vertices
vα = (xα , yα , zα ), α = 1, 2, 3, and the line that is parallel to the zaxis and that passes through the point (x4 , y4 ). Let the intersection(0)be (x4 , y4 , z4 ).
(1)
(2)
(1)
(0)
Step 3. Choose any real numbers z4 and z4 such that z4 < z4 <(2)
(1)
z4 . (Then, the orientation of (v1 , v2 , v3 , v4 ) is opposite to that of
(2)
(k)
(k)
(v1 , v2 , v3 , v4 ), where v4 = (x4 , y4 , z4 ), k = 1, 2.)(1)
Step 4. If the vector, say w(1) , speciﬁed by (z1 , z2 , z3 , z4 ) satisﬁes Bw > 0,(2)then return w(1) . If the vector, say w(2) , speciﬁed by (z1 , z2 , z3 , z4 )satisﬁes Bw > 0, then return w(2) . Otherwise return “false”.
By this method, we can judge the correctness of the picture D quickly.
If it returns “false”, D is incorrect, and otherwise D is correct.

5.4

Axonometric Projection

The line drawings we have considered so far give no quantitative information
about the thickness of the objects; they describe qualitative structures of theobjects, but do not specify lengths of edges or orientations of faces. There is,5.4 Axonometric Projection

103

however, an exceptional class of engineering line drawings called axonometricdrawings. The axonometric drawings are the orthographic projection of
objects, and they contain scales in certain principal directions, so that we
can read real lengths of edges that are parallel to the scale axes. Thus
they specify objects more deﬁnitely than usual pictures. In this section we
study how many degrees of freedom are left to the objects represented by
the axonometric drawings.
Let (X, Y, Z) be a three-dimensional Cartesian coordinate system ﬁxed
to an object. This coordinate system is supposed to be chosen in such a waythat a large number of the edges of the object are parallel to the coordinate
axes. Let eX , eY , and eZ denote the unit vectors along the X, Y , and Z
axes, respectively.
As before, we consider another Cartesian coordinate system, say (x, y, z),whose x-y plane is regarded to be a picture plane. The object and the unit
vectors eX , eY , eZ are projected orthographically on this plane, as shownin Fig. 5.8. Contrary to the (X, Y, Z) coordinate system, the (x, y, z) coordinate system is chosen in general position with respect to the object sothat no accidental alignment occurs in the picture plane. The projectionof the object together with that of the unit vectors eX , eY , eZ is called anaxonometric drawing of the object.

Figure 5.8. Axonometric projection.

Let lX , lY , lZ be the projection on the x-y plane of the unit vectors

104

5. Algebraic Structures

eX , eY , eZ , respectively. Since lX is the image of the unit vector, |lX | denotes
the ratio of the projected length to the real length (where |l| denotes thelength of the vector l). This ratio is common to all edges that are parallelto the X axis in the space. Similarly, |lY | and |lZ | denote the ratios of the
projected lengths to the real lengths of edges that are parallel to the Y axis
and the Z axis, respectively. Moreover, since we have assumed that the(x, y, z) coordinate system is in general position, we can easily ﬁnd edges
that are parallel to the coordinate axes:
Heuristic 5.1. If a line segment is parallel to the projected axis lX [resp.
lY or lZ ], then the corresponding edge in the scene is also parallel to the X
axis [resp. the Y axis or the Z axis].
Using this heuristic together with ratios |lX |, |lY |, |lZ |, we can determine
real lengths of edges that are parallel to the coordinate axes. For example,
if there is a line segment in a picture that is parallel to lX and of length t,then the line segment is an image of an edge that is parallel to the X axis
and of length t/|lX |.
In many practical line drawings, lX , lY , lZ are not drawn explicitly. Thisis because, ﬁrst, for engineering objects such as mechanical parts and buildings, the directions of the vectors lX , lY , lZ can often be found easily as
the directions of the three prevailing groups of mutually parallel edges, andsecond, once the directions of lX , lY , lZ (on the picture plane) are found,
the ratios |lX |, |lY |, |lZ | can be calculated in a systematic manner (see, forexample, Kanatani, 1986). However, we assume for simplicity that the threevectors lX , lY , lZ are given explicitly in the line drawing.
Note that from the vector lX in the picture we can determine the direction of the corresponding spatial vector eX up to the mirror-image reversal
with respect to a mirror parallel to the x-y plane. The ambiguity due to themirror-image reversal may be removed if we analyze the line drawing globally; in particular, important information is given by the distinction between
solid lines (visible edges) and broken lines (invisible edges) at junctions having three lines that are respectively parallel to lX , lY and lZ (Kanatani,1986). In what follows, however, we simply assume that all of the three spatial vectors eX , eY , eZ face toward the viewer. Hence, given lX , lY , lZ , wecan determine the directions of eX , eY , eZ uniquely. Thus, if all the edges
are connected and are parallel to eX , eY , or eZ , then the spatial structureof the edges (i.e., the skeleton of the object) can be determined uniquelyfrom its axonometric drawing.
Let D be a labeled axonometric line drawing and S = (V, F, R, T ) be a
spatial structure associated with D. As we have seen, the associated three-5.4 Axonometric Projection

105

dimensional structure should satisfy (5.1). Also, the axonometric axes give
additional constraints to the three-dimensional structure in the following
way.
Let EX , EY , and EZ be the sets of edges that are parallel to the X
axis, the Y axis, and the Z axis, respectively. Suppose that each edge in
EX , EY , EZ is represented by an ordered pair of the terminal vertices inwhich the order coincides with the positive direction of the associated axis.
Hence for example, “(vα , vβ ) ∈ EX ” implies that there is an edge connecting
vα with vβ and that the direction from vα to vβ coincides with the positive
direction of the X axis.
Now suppose that (vα , vβ ) is in EX . Recall that the ratio of the lengthof the edge to the length of its image is 1/|lX |, which implies that if a point
moves along the image of the edge in the lX direction by distance |lX |, thenthe corresponding spatial point moving along the edge itself increases its z
coordinate by 1 − |lX |2 . Thus we get

1 − |lX |2 (xβ − xα )2 + (yβ − yα )2zβ − zα =

|lX |

.

(5.9a)The right hand side of (5.9a) is a constant determined by the line drawing
D, and hence (5.9a) is linear in the unknowns zα and zβ . In a similar way,
for an element (vα , vβ ) in EY we getzβ − zα =1 − |lY |2 (xβ − xα )2 + (yβ − yα )2
|lY |

,

(5.9b).

(5.9c)

and for an element (vα , vβ ) in EZ we getzβ − zα =1 − |lZ |2 (xβ − xα )2 + (yβ − yα )2|lZ |Collecting all the equations of the above three types (i.e., (5.9a), (5.9b),and (5.9c)), we get a system of linear equations,
Cw = d,(5.10)

where w is the unknown vector w = t (z1 · · · zn a1 b1 c1 · · · am bm cm ), C is aconstant matrix of size |EX ∪EY ∪EZ |×(n+3m), and d is a |EX ∪EY ∪EZ |dimensional constant vector.
Thus, the object represented by the axonometric drawing D is constrained by (5.1) and (5.10). Hence, we haven + 3m − rank({A} ∪ {C})106

5. Algebraic Structures

degrees of freedom in choosing the object and locating it in the space.
For any subset X of the set of the unknowns H = {z1 , . . . , zn , a1 , b1 , c1 ,. . . , am , bm , cm }, let us deﬁne a function σH (X) byσH (X) = rank({A} ∪ {C} ∪ {ei | ui ∈ X}) − rank({A} ∪ {C}),(5.11)

where ei denotes an (n + 3m)-dimensional vector whose ith component is
1 and the other components are 0’s. Then, by the same discussion as in
Sections 5.1 and 5.2, we see that (H, σH ) is a matroid and σH (X) is the
maximum cardinality of a subset Y of X such that if we give values to theunknowns in Y arbitrarily, the system consisting of (5.1) and (5.10) still
admits a solution. In other words, we can remove σH (X) degrees of freedom
in the choice of the object by selecting appropriate values for the unknowns
in X. Thus, the matroid (H, σH ) represents how the degrees of freedom inthe choice of the object are distributed in the set H of the unknowns. We
call σH (X) the degrees of freedom of the set X.
Since one degree of freedom is due to the translation along the z axis, theobject shape itself admits σH (H)− 1 degrees of freedom. That is, σH (H)− 1
additional data (such as lengths of edges and angles between faces) are
required in order to specify the shape of the object uniquely.
Example 5.7. Consider the axonometric line drawing D shown in Fig. 5.9
together with the spatial structure
V = {v1 , . . . , v6 },F = {f1 , . . . , f5 },R = {(v1 , f1 ), (v2 , f1 ), (v3 , f1 ), (v1 , f2 ), (v2 , f2 ), (v4 , f2 ),(v5 , f2 ), (v1 , f3 ), (v3 , f3 ), (v4 , f3 ), (v6 , f3 ), (v2 , f4 ),(v3 , f4 ), (v5 , f4 ), (v6 , f4 ), (v4 , f5 ), (v5 , f5 ), (v6 , f5 )},EX = {(v3 , v1 ), (v6 , v4 )},EY = {(v3 , v2 ), (v6 , v5 )},EZ = {(v4 , v1 ), (v5 , v2 ), (v6 , v3 )}.
In the ﬁgure, the vertex vα (α = 1, . . . , 6) is denoted by the number α. The
face f1 corresponds to the top face of the object, f2 the front face, f3 theleft rear face, f4 the right rear face, and f5 the bottom face. From thisline drawing, we get the system of linear equations (5.1) and (5.10), whose
coeﬃcient matrices satisfy rank({A} ∪ {C}) = 20. HenceσH (H) − 1 = 6 + 3 × 5 − 20 − 1 = 0;

5.4 Axonometric Projection

107

Figure 5.9. Axonometric line drawing representing a unique shape.

that is, the shape is uniquely represented by this picture.
This result is reasonable for the following reason. First, note that, forany edge in EX ∪ EY ∪ EZ , if we specify the spatial position of one terminal
vertex, then the position of the other terminal vertex is determined uniquely.
Second, note that the graph composed of the node set V and the arc set
EX ∪ EY ∪ EZ is connected. Therefore, if we specify the position of any
one vertex of the object (this corresponds to the removal of the degreeof freedom of the translation along the z axis), then the whole structureis uniquely located in a three-dimensional space, which coincides with our
result σH (H) − 1 = 0.
Example 5.8.
Next consider the line drawing D shown in Fig. 5.10,
where V, F, R, EZ are the same as those in Example 5.7, but EX = ∅ andEY = ∅ (note that the object has the same topological structure as that inFig. 5.9, but unlike Fig. 5.9 no line segment is parallel to lX or lY ). The
system consisting of (5.1) and (5.10) satisﬁes rank({A} ∪ {C}) = 18, andhence we get
σH (H) − 1 = 6 + 3 × 5 − 18 − 1 = 2;
that is, two more data are necessary to specify the shape uniquely. Thiscan be understood in the following way. Since the three side edges areparallel to the Z axis, the three side faces are all parallel to the Z axis. The
three edges on the top face are respectively parallel to the three edges on
the bottom face, and consequently the top face is parallel to the bottom
face. However, no edge is parallel to the X axis or the Y axis, and hence
there is no information about the angles between the top face and the side
faces. The gradient of the top face (or, in other words, the direction of thenormal to the top face) has two degrees of freedom, and once these degrees

108

5. Algebraic Structuresof freedom are removed, the shape is determined uniquely. This is what our
result σH (H) − 1 = 2 means.

Figure 5.10. Axonometric line drawing admitting two degrees of freedom.
For example, U = {z1 , z2 , z3 } is a base of the matroid (H, σH ). Hence, if
we specify values of z1 , z2 , z3 , then the shape and the position is determined.
Giving the ﬁrst value, say the value of z1 , corresponds to the removal of thedegree of freedom of the translation along the z axis, and consequently we
can give any value to z1 without aﬀecting the shape of the object. We
put z1 = 0. Then, the shape of the object can be speciﬁed by selecting
appropriate values for z2 and z3 .

Chapter 6

Combinatorial Structures ofLine Drawings
We have presented the two modules, the module for ﬁnding candidates for
spatial interpretations of a line drawing, and the module for discriminating
betwe6.1 en correct and incorrect interpretations. Indeed, they constitutea theoretical solution to the problem of line drawing interpretation. In apractical sense, however, they alone cannot enable a machine to interpret line
drawings as human beings do, because the algebraic treatment of picturesin the second module is too strict to mimic ﬂexible human perception; somepictures are judged to be incorrect only because they contain slight errors
in the vertex positions. In order to overcome this diﬃculty we shall in thisand the succeeding two chapters present the third module, which makes amachine more ﬂexible in that it can extract the three-dimensional structureseven if the pictures contain vertex position errors and hence are incorrect ina strict sense. For this purpose we study in this chapter some combinatorial
structures of line drawings that will play main roles in the third module.

6.1

Diﬃculties in the Algebraic Approach

Using Theorem 3.3 (or Theorem 4.1 in the case of hidden-part-drawn pictures), we can judge whether an assignment of labels to a picture is a correctinterpretation of the picture or not. Indeed the theorem represents a necessary and suﬃcient condition for a picture to be correct in terms of linear
algebra. However, this algebraic condition is too sensitive to numerical errors in the following two points.
First, the system of equations (5.1) is not necessarily linearly indepen109

110

6. Combinatorial Structures

dent. When it is linearly dependent, even small errors in numerical computation cause the rank of A, the coeﬃcient matrix of (5.1), to change, sothat it is not easy to judge the existence of a solution to (5.1) and (5.2) in astable manner. Therefore, before applying the linear programming method,
we have to check linear independence of the matrix A; if it is not linearly
independent, redundant equations should be deleted from the system of
equations (5.1) in order to make it independent.
Second, even if the system of equations (5.1) is linearly independent, thetheorem is too strict to be applied to practical data, which usually containnumerical errors due to digitization, etc.
The superstrictness of the theorem can be illustrated by the typical example shown in Fig. 6.1(a). This labeled line drawing corresponds to theinterpretation of the picture as a top view of a truncated pyramid. In astrict sense, however, it does not represent any polyhedron; indeed, if itwere a truncated pyramid, the three quadrilateral faces would have a common point of intersection in the three-dimensional space (when they wereextended), and hence the three lines of pairwise intersections should meet at
a common point on the picture plane, but they do not, as has been shownin Fig. 1.3. This implies that there is no solution to the system consistingof (3.2) and (3.4) associated with this picture. Thus, Theorem 3.3 judgesthat the picture is incorrect.

Figure 6.1. Sensitivity of correctness to vertex positions: the correctness ofpicture (a) is sensitive to vertex-position errors, whereas that of(b) is not.

It should be noted that this diﬃculty is not the same as the ﬁrst point.
Indeed the system of equations (5.1) associated with the line drawing in
Fig. 6.1(a) is linearly independent, as will be shown later (see Example 6.1).

6.2 Generically Reconstructible Structures

111

What is important is that though the judgment based on Theorem 3.3
is correct, it is quite diﬀerent from what we want. Line drawings drawn
by human beings or extracted from light intensity images almost always
contain vertex position errors, and in order to extract three-dimensional
structures from these line drawings, a machine should be tolerant of such
inevitable errors. Indeed the labeling scheme discussed in Chapter 2 is muchtolerant of quantitative errors; it treats line drawings in a symbolic manner.
However, recall that the labeling scheme alone is not enough for the pictureinterpretation, because pictures of impossible objects often admit consistentassignments of the labels (recall the pictures (e) and (f) in Fig. 2.15). Thus,
we have to search for some intelligent mechanism in order to make a machine
ﬂexible in the sense that, like human beings, it can accept pictures even if
they contain errors in their vertex positions.

6.2

Generically Reconstructible Incidence Structures

We have seen that a picture of a truncated pyramid like Fig. 6.1 (a) becomesincorrect when vertices (and consequently the lines incident to them) are
moved slightly on the picture plane. However, not all pictures are so sensitive
to the vertex positions. A picture of a tetrahedron shown in Fig. 6.1(b), forexample, represents a polyhedral object correctly even if the vertex positions
are perturbed. Thus, some pictures are sensitive to vertex position errors,
while others are not. Here we shall distinguish between these two kinds ofpictures more precisely. For this purpose we concentrate our attention upon
the equations (5.1), and introduce some new concepts.
Let D be a labeled line drawing, and let S = (V, F, R, T ) be its spatial
structure. Recall that an element of R is of the form (vα , fj ), representing
the constraint that the vertex vα should be on the face fj . In what follows
we call elements of R incidence pairs, and the triple I = (V, F, R) composedof the ﬁrst three constituents of S the incidence structure associated withthe line drawing D. In a more formal manner, we can say that a triple
I = (V, F, R) is an incidence structure, if V and F are mutually disjointﬁnite sets and R is a subset of V × F , where V × F denotes the set of allordered pairs whose ﬁrst elements are taken from V and second elementsfrom F . The incidence structure I = (V, F, R) can also be regarded as a
bipartite graph having the two node sets V and F and the arc set R. If(v, f ) ∈ R, we say that “the vertex v is on the face f ” and “the face f has
the vertex v.”

112

6. Combinatorial Structures

For an incidence structure I = (V, F, R), we use the following notation.
For any subset X of V , let F (X) be the set of faces that has at least
one vertex in X, and let R(X) be the set of incidence pairs whose ﬁrst
components belong to X; that is,
F (X) = {f | (v, f ) ∈ R for some v ∈ X}

(X ⊆ V ),R(X) = {(v, f ) | (v, f ) ∈ R and v ∈ X}

(X ⊆ V ).

Similarly for any subset X of F , let V (X) be the set of vertices that are
on at least one face in X, and let R(X) be the set of incidence pairs whose
second components belong to X; that is,
V (X) = {v | (v, f ) ∈ R for some f ∈ X}

(X ⊆ F ),R(X) = {(v, f ) | (v, f ) ∈ R and f ∈ X}

(X ⊆ F ).

Furthermore, for any subset X of R, let V (X) and F (X) be the set ofvertices and that of faces, respectively, that appear in some elements of X;
that is,V (X) = {v | (v, f ) ∈ X}

(X ⊆ R),F (X) = {f | (v, f ) ∈ X}

(X ⊆ R).

The above notation may seem ambiguous. Indeed V (X), for example,
is used both for X ⊆ F and for X ⊆ R. In what follows, however, we use
the notation only when we can say from the context which it means; thenotation can save many symbols.
A triple I  = (V  , F  , R ) is called a substructure of the incidence structure
I = (V, F, R) if V  ⊆ V, F  ⊆ F , and R ⊆ R∩(V  ×F  ). For any subsets X ⊆V, Y ⊆ F , and Z ⊆ R, the substructures (X, F (X), R(X)), (V (Y ), Y, R(Y )),and (V (Z), F (Z), Z) are called the substructures induced by X, Y , and Z,
respectively.
Though the system of the equations (5.1) was originally introduced fora polyhedral scene, it represents the constraints placed by the incidence
structure I, that is, the constraints placed by which vertices should be on
which planes. Other properties of the polyhedral scene (such as propertiesof edges and thickness of objects) are all represented by the inequalities(5.2). Hence, it seems natural to interpret a solution to (5.1) not as apolyhedral scene itself but as a collection of planes in the space. That is,with any solution w = t (z1 · · · zn a1 b1 c1 · · · am bm cm ) to (5.1), we associate
the collection, say P (w), of the planes deﬁned by
P (w) = {(x, y, z) | aj x + bj y + z + cj = 0 for some fj ∈ F }.

(6.1)

6.2 Generically Reconstructible Structures

113

A solution w = t (z1 · · · zn a1 b1 c1 · · · am bm cm ) to (5.1) is said to be nondegenerate if aj = ak or bj = bk or cj = ck holds for any j and k (1 ≤ j < k ≤m), and degenerate otherwise. In other words, w is nondegenerate if andonly if no two distinct elements of F correspond to the same plane in P (w).
The system of equations (5.1) always has a degenerate solution; for example,
the (n + 3m)-dimensional null vector w = t (0 · · · 0) is a solution to (5.1).
On the other hand, the system does not necessarily have a nondegenerate
solution.
Whether or not the system of equations (5.1) admits a nondegenerate
solution depends on the vertex positions (x1 , y1 ), . . . , (xn , yn ), and the incidence structure I = (V, F, R) because they deﬁne the system (recall thatA, the coeﬃcient matrix of (5.1), contains x1 , y1 , . . . , xn , yn as its components). For example, it seems at least intuitively obvious that the picture ofa tetrahedron in Fig. 6.1(b) admits a nondegenerate solution, whereas any
solution is degenerate for the picture of an “impossible truncated pyramid”
in Fig. 6.1(a); this picture has a nondegenerate solution only when it isdrawn in the way that the three edges have a common point of intersection.
What is important is that if the picture is sensitive to vertex positions,the associated system of equations (5.1) has nondegenerate solution only
when the vertices are drawn in some special position. From this observation
we can introduce the following deﬁnition.
The n points (x1 , y1 ), . . . , (xn , yn ) are said to be in generic position if
the 2n real numbers x1 , y1 , . . . , xn , yn are algebraically independent over therational ﬁeld. By the deﬁnition of the algebraic independence, if the points
are in generic position, any polynomial of x1 , y1 , . . . , xn , yn with coeﬃcients
being rational numbers is 0 if and only if it is identically 0 when we consider
x1 , y1 , . . . , xn , yn as indeterminate symbols. Roughly speaking, therefore,
the vertices being in generic position means that there is no special dependence among the vertex positions; for example, no three points are on acommon straight line or no three lines meet at a common point. In practical situations the vertices can almost always be regarded as being in generic
position because any special dependence, if exists, will be lost by digitization
errors, computation errors, and so on.
In particular, if the vertices are in generic position, a subdeterminantof the coeﬃcient matrix A in (5.1) does not vanish unless it is identically 0
when x1 , y1 , . . . , xn , yn are considered as indeterminate symbols, and hence
the existence of nondegenerate solutions depends on I only. Thus, we canintroduce the next deﬁnition.
Tue incidence structure I = (V, F, R) is said to be generically reconstructible if and only if the system of the equations (5.1) has a nondegen-114

6. Combinatorial Structureserate solution when the vertices are in generic position. In other words,
the incidence structure I is generically reconstructible if and only if for any
picture whose incidence structure is I and whose vertices are in generic position, the associated system of equations (5.1) admits a solution w such thatthe planar surfaces corresponding to elements of F are mutually distinct
in the conﬁguration P (w). Therefore, if I is generically reconstructible,
the correctness of the picture is not aﬀected by small errors in vertex positions. Note, however, that being generically reconstructible does not imply
that the corresponding picture represents a polyhedral scene, because thegeneric reconstructibility depends only on (5.1) whereas the correctness ofthe picture depends on both (5.1) and (5.2).
Now we can state the following theorems, which will play the most important role in the third module.
Theorem 6.1 (Linear independence of the equations (5.1)). Let
D be a labeled line drawing whose vertices are in generic position, and let
I = (V, F, R) be its incidence structure. Then, the equations (5.1) associatedwith D are linearly independent if and only if, for any nonempty subset X
of R,|V (X)| + 3|F (X)| ≥ |X| + 3.
(6.2)
Theorem 6.2 (Recognition of the generic reconstructibility). For
any incidence structure I = (V, F, R), the following three statements areequivalent.
(1) I is generically reconstructible.
(2) For any subset X of F such that |X| ≥ 2,
|V (X)| + 3|X| ≥ |R(X)| + 4.

(6.3)

(3) For any subset X of R such that |F (X)| ≥ 2,
|V (X)| + 3|F (X)| ≥ |X| + 4.

(6.4)

Corollary 6.2.1. Let D be a labeled line drawing, and let I be the associated incidence structure. If the vertices of D are in generic position and
I is generically reconstructible, the equations (5.1) associated with D are
linearly independent.
Theorem 6.2 and Corollary 6.2.1 were ﬁrst conjectured by Sugihara andproved by him for special cases, including pictures of trihedral objects andpictures of convex objects (Sugihara, 1979c, 1984c). Quite recently they

6.2 Generically Reconstructible Structures

115

were proved completely by Whiteley (1988). The proofs will be given in thenext section.
The important point of the theorems is that both the linear independence
and the generic reconstructibility can be recognized by integer calculation
only.
Example 6.1.
Let us consider the labeled line drawing in Fig. 6.1(a)again. If we regard it as a natural picture (i.e., a picture representing only
visible part of the object), the object has six vertices and four faces: |V | =6 and |F | = 4. Since the three faces are quadrilateral and the other istriangular, there are altogether 15 (= 3 × 4 + 1 × 3) incidence pairs: |R| =15. Therefore, substituting X = F in the inequality (6.3), we see thatthe left-hand side amounts to |V | + 3|F | = 6 + 3 × 4 = 18, whereas theright-hand side to |R| + 4 = 15 + 4 = 19, falsifying the inequality. Hence,from Theorem 6.2 the incidence structure associated with this picture is not
generically reconstructible, and consequently this picture does not represent
a polyhedral scene when the vertices are in generic position.
However, the incidence structure satisﬁes the inequality (6.2) in Theorem
6.1, and hence the equations (5.1) are linearly independent when the vertices
are in generic position. This shows that the two diﬃculties discussed in
Section 6.1 are not equivalent.
In the above counting we do not consider the background plane corresponding to the surrounding region in the picture. Even if the backgroundplane and the vertices on it are added to the incidence structure, it is still
generically unreconstructible. We can see this from Theorem 6.2, because
the inequality (6.3) is falsiﬁed if we adopt as X the subset consisting of thefour visible faces of the truncated pyramid.
The generic unreconstructibleness can be seen also when we regard thepicture as a hidden-part-drawn one (i.e., when we count the invisible faceforming the base triangle of the truncated pyramid).
On the other hand, the object represented in Fig. 6.1(b) has four visible
vertices and three visible faces, which are all triangular, and hence has 9(= 3×3) incidence pairs. Putting X = F , the left-hand side of the inequality(6.3) equals |V | + 3|F | = 4 + 3 × 3 = 13 and the right-hand side also equals|R| + 4 = 9 + 4 = 13. Thus, the inequality (6.3) is satisﬁed. In a similarmanner we can see easily that the inequality holds for any two-element
subset X of F . Hence the incidence structure associated with the picture in
Fig. 6.1(b) is generically reconstructible.
From the viewpoint of time complexity, Theorem 6.2 in its original form
is not very practical. If we check statement (2) in the theorem in a straight-

116

6. Combinatorial Structures

forward manner, we have to check the inequality (6.3) for almost all subsetsof the face set F ; it will require O(2m ) time in the worst case, where mdenotes the number of the faces. The check of statement (3) also requires
O(2|R| ) time. Fortunately, however, the check can be done in O(|R|2 ) if we
modify the theorem. An eﬃcient algorithm will be given in Chapter 8.

6.3

Proofs of the Main Theorems

Here we shall prove Theorems 6.1 and 6.2. The proofs below are due toWhiteley (1988).
Let M = {1, 2, . . . , p} and N = {1, 2, . . . , q}, respectively, be the setsof the ﬁrst p and the ﬁrst q natural numbers, and let W be a subset of
M × N . The triple G = (M, N, W ) can be regarded as a bipartite graphhaving the left node set M , the right node set N , and the arc set W . We
call an element i of M the ith left node and an element j of N the jth rightnode. An element (i, j) of W is called the arc connecting the ith left nodewith the jth right node, and i and j are called the left terminal node andthe right terminal node, respectively, of the arc (i, j). For any subset M of M , let N (M  ) denote the set of right nodes that are connected to someelements of M  ; that is,
N (M  ) = {j | (i, j) ∈ W for some i ∈ M  }(M  ⊆ M ).

Then, the triple (M  , N (M  ), W ∩ (M  × N (M  ))) also forms a bipartite
graph, which we call the subgraph of G induced by the left node set M  .
A subset W  of W is called a matching of G = (M, N, W ) if the terminal
nodes of arcs in W  are all distinct. A matching W  of G is said to becomplete if any element of M is a terminal node of some arc in W  . A
subset M  of M is said to have a complete matching if the subgraph induced
by M  has a complete matching.
Let G = (M, N, W ) be a bipartite graph having p left nodes and q rightnodes, and let X be a p by q matrix of indeterminates xij (1 ≤ i ≤ p, 1 ≤j ≤ q). We deﬁne the p by q matrix Θ(G, X) with entities θij by
θij = xij
θij = 0if (i, j) ∈ W,
otherwise.

The next proposition is a well-known theorem .
Proposition 6.1.
Let G = (M, N, W ) be a bipartite graph. For anysubset M of M , the following three statements are equivalent.

6.3 Proofs of the Main Theorems

117(1) M  has a complete matching.
(2) Any subset Z of M  satisﬁes |Z| ≤ |N (Z)|.
(3) The rows of Θ(G, X) corresponding to the elements of M  are linearly
independent.
The equivalence of (1) and (2) was proved by Hall (1935), and the equivalence of (1) and (3) was proved by Edmonds (1967) and Mirsky and Perfect(1967) (see also Mirsky, 1971).
For a bipartite graph G = (M, N, W ) having p left nodes and q rightnodes and a p by q matrix X of indeterminates, we consider the following
system of linear equations:Θ(G, X)u = 0,

(6.5)

where u is a q-dimensional unknown vector. For any solutions u1 and u2 to(6.5), αu1 + βu2 also is a solution to (6.5). Thus the solutions to (6.5) forma linear space of the dimension q − rank(Θ(G, X)); the space is called thekernel of θ(G, X) and its dimension the nullity of Θ(G, X). If the nullity
equals k, we can choose k out of q entities of the unknown vector u in such a
way that any entity of the solution vector to (6.5) can be expressed as a linear
combination of these k entities; the k-element subset of N corresponding tothese k entities is said to span the kernel.
Then, we get the next proposition.
Proposition 6.2. For a bipartite graph G = (M, N, W ) and a nonnegative integer k, the following two statements are equivalent.
(1) |M | = |N |− k and, for any nonempty subset M  of M , |M  | ≤ |N (M  )|−k.
(2) The nullity of Θ(G, X) is k and, for any k-element subset N  of N , N spans the kernel of Θ(G, X).
Proof. Assume that statement (1) is true. Then, any subset M  of M satisﬁes |M  | ≤ |N (M  )|, and from Proposition 6.1 the rows of Θ(G, X) are linearly independent. Thus, the nullity of Θ(G, X) equals |N |−rank(Θ(G, X)) =|N | − |M | = k. Next, for any k-element subset N  = {j1 , j2 , . . . , jk } of N ,let G∗ = (M ∗ , N ∗ , W ∗ ) be the bipartite graph obtained by adding to G
k new left nodes p + i, i = 1, . . . , k (where p = |M |), and k new arcs
(p + i, ji ), i = 1, 2, . . . , k; that is,M ∗ = M ∪ {p + 1, . . . , p + k},
N ∗ = N,W ∗ = W ∪ {(p + 1, j1 ), . . . , (p + k, jk )}.

118

6. Combinatorial Structures

Then, |M ∗ | = |N ∗ | and, for any subset M  of M ∗ , |M  | ≤ |N ∗ (M  )|. Hencefrom Proposition 6.1 the rows of Θ(G∗ , X ∗ ) are linearly independent, whereX ∗ is a p+k by p+k matrix of indeterminates. Since the k rows corresponding to the added k left nodes have nonzero entities only on the k columns
corresponding to elements of N  , N  spans the kernel.
Conversely, assume that statement (2) is true. Suppose, contrary to thetheorem, that there exists a nonempty subset M  of M such that |M  | >|N (M  )| − k; let M  be minimal with this property. Then, we get |M  | =|N (M  )| − (k − l) for some l > 0. Because of the minimalness of M  , any
proper nonempty subset Z of M  satisﬁes |Z| ≤ |N (Z)|−k ≤ |N (Z)|−(k−l).
Hence, from the former half of the proof, the nullity of Θ(G , X  ) is k − l,where G is the subgraph of G induced by M  and X  is the submatrix of X
composed of the |M  | rows corresponding to M  and the |N (M  )| columns
corresponding to N (M  ). Thus, N (M  ) spans the kernel of Θ(G , X  ), which
is of dimension k−l. Since Θ(G , X  ) is a subgraph of Θ(G, X), N (M  ) spansan at most (k − l)-dimensional subspace of the kernel of Θ(G, X). However,
N (M  ) has at least k − l + 1 elements. Hence, any k-element subset of N
containing N (M  ) can span at most (k − 1)-dimensional subspace of thekernel of Θ(G, X). This contradicts the assumption.
A bipartite graph is said to be of degree k + 1 if every left node isconnected with exactly k + 1 right nodes. Let M = {1, 2, . . . , p} and N ={1, 2, . . . , q}, and let G = (M, N, W ) be a bipartite graph of degree k + 1.
Note that in our notation the left nodes and the right nodes are ordered. For
an element (i, j) of W , we deﬁne sign(i, j) to be (−1)l−1 if the right node j
is the lth node connected with the left node i. Let Y be a k by q matrix withentities yij such that yk1 = yk2 = · · · = ykq = 1 and the other entities are
distinct indeterminates, and, for any (i, j) ∈ W , let Y (i/j) denote the k by
k matrix composed of the columns of Y corresponding to the right nodes in
N ({i}) except the right node j. Now, we deﬁne the p by q matrix Φ(G, Y )with entities ϕij by
ϕij = sign(i, j)det(Y (i/j))
ϕij = 0if (i, j) ∈ W,

otherwise.

Then, we get the next proposition.
Proposition 6.3. Let G = (M, N, W ) be a degree k + 1 bipartite graphhaving p left nodes and q right nodes, and let Y be a k by q matrix whose lastrow is (1 · · · 1) and whose other rows are composed of indeterminate entities.
For any subset M  of M , the following two statements are equivalent.

6.3 Proofs of the Main Theorems

119(1) For any nonempty subset Z of M  , |Z| ≤ |N (Z)| − k.
(2) The rows of Φ(G, Y ) corresponding to M  are linearly independent.
Proof. Note that whether statement (1) and/or (2) is true depends only
on the subgraph induced by M  ; it does not depend on the other part of
the underlying bipartite graph. Therefore, without loss of generality we canassume that the left node set of G has been augmented so that, for any k + 1
right nodes, there exists the left node that is connected to all of them andq.
to them only; hence p =k+1
First we assume that M  satisﬁes statement (1) and derive statement(2). Since our goal here is to show linear independence of the correspondingrows, it suﬃces to consider M  that is maximal with the required property.
Thus, without loss of generality we assume that |M  | = |N (M  )| − k. LetG be the subgraph induced by M  , and let us renumber the nodes in Gin such a way that M  = {1, 2, . . . , |M  |} and N (M  ) = {1, 2, . . . , |N (M  )|}.
Furthermore, let X be an |M  | by |N (M  )| matrix of indeterminates xij .
Then, by Proposition 6.2, the nullity of Θ(G , X) is exactly k (and hence therows of Θ(G , X) are linearly independent), and the kernel is spanned by any
k-element subset of N (M  ). We choose as a basis for the kernel the rows ofa k by |N (M  )| matrix U with entities uij (i = 1, . . . , k; j = 1, . . . , |N (M  )|).
Without loss of generality we can choose (1 · · · 1) as the kth row of U
in the following way. First, since the row vectors of U span the kernel ofΘ(G , X), any column of U has a nonzero entities in some row. Hence,
making an appropriate linear combination of the rows, we obtain a row
whose entities are all nonzero, and replace some row of U with this new row;
let us put this new row at the bottom (i.e., the kth row) of U . Next, withoutchanging the linear independence of the rows of Θ(G , X), we multiply thejth column of Θ(G , X) by ukj and the jth column of U by 1/ukj . In
what follows let us denote the resultant two matrices by Θ(G , X) and U ,respectively. Thus modiﬁed matrix U has (1 · · · 1) as the kth row and theset of rows of U still form a basis for the kernel of Θ(G , X).
Now, let uj denote the jth column of U . Then, for any left node i in M  ,we have j xij uj = 0, where the summation is taken over all right nodes
j connected with the left node i. For simplicity, if we assume that the left
node i is connected with the ﬁrst k + 1 right nodes 1, 2, · · · , k + 1, then the

120

6. Combinatorial Structuresequation can be expressed by⎡

u1 u2 · · ·⎢⎢uk+1 ⎢
⎢
⎣

xi1
xi2
..
.

⎤
⎥
⎥
⎥ = 0.
⎥⎦

xi,k+1
In other words,
u1 · · · uk



⎤

⎡

xi1
⎢ .. ⎥⎣ . ⎦ = −xi,k+1



uk+1

.

xik
Since the coeﬃcient matrix in the left-hand side is nonsingular, by Cramer’s
formula we getxij =(−1)k−j det[u1 · · · uj−1 uj+1 · · · uk+1 ]xi,k+1det[u1 · · · uk ](i = 1, . . . , k).

If we put
xi,k+1 = (−1)k+1 det[u1 · · · uk ],then we get
xij = (−1)j−1 det[u1 · · · uj−1 uj+1 · · · uk+1 ] (j = 1, . . . , k).
Thus (xi1 · · · xi,k+1 0 · · · 0), the row of Θ(G , X), coincides with the corresponding row of the matrix Φ(G , X), which is a specialization of Φ(G , Y ).
Since these rows associated with M  are linearly independent in Θ(G , X),
they remain independent in Φ(G , Y ). The corresponding rows in Φ(G, Y )can be obtained from the rows of Φ(G , Y ) by inserting 0’s in some columns;
they still remain independent in Φ(G, Y ). Thus we get statement (2).
Conversely, assume that M  satisﬁes statement (2). For each left node iin M  and each row, say the lth row, of Y , we haveylj (−1)j−1 det(Y (i/j)) = 0,jwhere the summation is taken over all the right nodes connected with the left
node i. This is because the left-hand side is the determinant of a (k + 1) by(k + 1) matrix with two rows the same. Thus, the kernel of the submatrix of
Φ(G, Y ) composed of the rows corresponding to M  contains all the k rowsof Y . Hence, the kernel of the submatrix forms a k or more dimensional

6.3 Proofs of the Main Theorems

121

space, which together with statement (2) implies that |M  | ≤ |N (M  )| − k.
Since any subsets of a linearly independent set of rows are also linearly
independent, we get, for any nonempty subset Z of M  , |Z| ≤ |N (Z)| − k.
Let I = (V, F, R) be an incidence structure. Recall that an element(vα , fj ) of R represents the constraint that the αth vertex should be on thejth plane, and hence corresponds to a linear equation of the form (3.1). If
the plane fj has exactly three vertices in I (that is, |V ({fj })| = 3), theplane places no essential constraint on the three-dimensional position of thevertices; indeed we can construct the planar surface in the space for any
given position of the three vertices. If, on the other hand, the plane fj has
four vertices, say v1 , v2 , v3 , and v4 , then it constrains the vertices in sucha way that they should be coplanar in the space. This constraint can be
expressed by x x x x 
2
3
4 
 1
 y

 1 y2 y3 y4 
 = 0,
 1
1 1 1 
 z1 z2 z3 z4 and consequently

 x
 2

 y2

 1















 x x x 
 x x x 
 x x x 
x3 x4 
3
4 
2
4 
2
3 
 1
 1
 1







y3 y4  z1 − y1 y3 y4  z2 + y1 y2 y4  z3 − y1 y2 y3  z4 = 0.







 1
 1
 1
1 1 
1 1 
1 1 
1 1 
(6.6)
Thus, a set of four vertices on a common plane imposes one linear constraint
upon the z coordinates z1 , . . . , zn of the vertices. Keeping this in mind, we
introduce the following deﬁnition.
For any incidence structure I = (V, F, R), we deﬁne a degree 4 bipartite
graph G(I) whose right nodes correspond to the elements of V and whose
left nodes correspond to the sets of four coplanar vertices speciﬁed as below,that is, G(I) = (∪Mj , V, ∪Wj ) where, for each face fj with 3 + l vertices,
say v1 , v2 , . . . , v3+l ,Mj = {tj1 , . . . , tjl },Wj = {(tji , v1 ), (tji , v2 ), (tji , v3 ), (tji , v3+i ) | i = 1, . . . , l},and for fj with three or less vertices, both Mj and Wj are empty.
Then, each left node of G(I) corresponds to an equation of the form (6.6),
and the coeﬃcients of the equation are the entities of the corresponding row

122

6. Combinatorial Structuresof the matrix Φ(G(I), Y ), where⎡⎤x1 x2 · · · xn⎢⎥
Y = ⎣ y1 y2 · · · yn ⎦ .
1 1 ··· 1(6.7)

Proposition 6.4.
Let D be a labeled line drawing having v vertices
drawn at (xi , yi ), let I = (V, F, R) and G(I) = (M, N, W ) be the associatedincidence structure and the degree 4 bipartite graph, and let Y be a 3 by nmatrix of the form (6.7). If the vertices are in generic position, the following
four statements are equivalent.
(1) The rows of the coeﬃcient matrix A in the equations (5.1) are linearly
independent.
(2) For any nonempty subset R of R, |R | ≤ |V (R )| + 3|F (R )| − 3.
(3) The rows of Φ(G(I), Y ) are linearly independent.
(4) For any nonempty subset M  of M , |M  | ≤ |N (M  )| − 3.
Proof.
Without loss of generality we can assume that in I any face has
at least three vertices and any vertex is at least on one face. This can beunderstood in the following way. First, deletion of an isolated vertex fromI does not aﬀect linear independence of the rows of A or the inequality instatement (2). Second, if some face has less than three vertices, we can
add new vertices that are only on this face until the face has exactly threevertices. The addition does not aﬀect the linear independence of the rowsof A because it does not place any new constraint on the original vertices
and faces. It does not aﬀect the inequality in statement (2) either, because
at each time one vertex and one incidence pair are added simultaneously.
Third, the above change of I does not concern faces having four or morevertices; it does not change G(I) and consequently does not aﬀect statement(3) or (4).
Under this assumption we get |M | = |R| − 3|F |, and from the deﬁnition
we get |N | = |V |.
For each solution w = t (z1 · · · zn a1 b1 c1 · · · am bm cm ) to (5.1), the vector u = t (z1 · · · zn ) composed of the ﬁrst n entities of w is a solution toΦ(G(I), Y )u = 0. Conversely, from each solution to Φ(G(I), Y )u = 0, we
can construct the unique solution w to (5.1), because every face has atleast three vertices and they determine the planar surface uniquely. Hence,
the two solution spaces have the same dimensionality, say d. Then we
get d = |V | + 3|F | − rank(A) = |V | − rank(Φ(G(I), Y )), and consequently
rank(A) = rank(Φ(G(I), Y )) + 3|F |. Since A has |M | + 3|F | (= |R|) rows

6.3 Proofs of the Main Theorems

123

and Φ(G(I), Y ) has |M | rows, the rows of A are linearly independent if andonly if the rows of Φ(G(I), Y ) are linearly independent. Thus, statements(1) and (3) are equivalent.
Next suppose that statement (2) is true. This implies that no two faces
have four vertices in common, because if v1 , v2 , v3 , and v4 are all on both fj
and fk , then R = {(vα , fj ), (vα , fk ) | α = 1, 2, 3, 4} falsiﬁes the inequality
in statement (2). Therefore, any left node in M corresponds to the uniqueface that generates the node. For any left node t in M , let f (t) be thecorresponding unique face and M̃ (t) be the set of all left nodes generated by
the face f (t). By the deﬁnition of G(I), if f (t) has l vertices, M̃ (t) contains
l−3 elements, one of which is t. Assume, contrary to the theorem, that somesubset M  of M satisﬁes |M  | > |N (N  )| − 3. Then, M̃  deﬁned by ∪M̃ (t)where the union is taken over all t in M  also satisﬁes |M̃  | > |N (M̃  )| − 3,
because the extension from M  to M̃  adds at most one right node for eachadded left node. Let F  = {f (t) | t ∈ M  } and R = R(F  ). Then, we get|M̃  | =(|V ({fj })| − 3) = |R | − 3|F  | = |R | − 3|F (R )|fj ∈F ≤ |V (R )| − 3 = |N (M̃  )| − 3.
This is a contradiction. Thus, statement (2) implies statement (4).
Conversely, suppose that statement (4) is true, but that some subset R
of R satisﬁes |R | > |V (R )| + 3|F (R )| − 3. Let R1 = R(F (R )). Then R1
also satisﬁes |R1 | > |V (R1 )| + 3|F (R1 )| − 3, because the extension from Rto R1 adds at most one vertex but no face for each added incidence pair.
Next let F0 be the set of faces in F (R ) that have exactly three vertices, and
let R2 = R1 − R(F0 ). Then R2 also satisﬁes |R2 | > |V (R2 )| + 3|F (R2 )| − 3,
because the shrinkage from R1 to R2 deletes exactly three incidence pairs
for each deleted face in F0 . Let F2 = F (R ) − F0 and M2 be the set of left
nodes in G(I) generated by faces in F2 . Then
|R2 | =

fj ∈F2(|V ({fj })|) =(|V ({fj })| − 3 + 3) = |M2 | + 3|F2 |fj ∈F2≤ |N (M2 )| + 3|F2 | − 3 = |V (R2 )| + 3|F (R2 )| − 3,
which is a contradiction. Thus statement (4) implies statement (2).
Hence, we get equivalence of statements (2) and (4). Since the equivalence of statements (3) and (4) is a direct consequence of Proposition 6.3,
we have completed the proof.
Proof of Theorem 6.1. Theorem 6.1 is nothing but a paraphrase of theequivalence of statements (1) and (2) in Proposition 6.4.

124

6. Combinatorial Structures

Proof of Theorem 6.2.
Assume that statement (3) in the theorem istrue. From Proposition 6.4 the equations (5.1) are linearly independent andhave a solution space of dimension |V | + 3|F | − |R|. If we take any two faces
fj and fk and add a new common vertex v, this creates a new incidence
structure I ∗ = (V ∗ , F, R∗ ) with one more vertex and two more incidence
pairs. Hence, for any nonempty subset X of R∗ , |V (X)|+3|F (X)| ≥ |X|+3.
From Proposition 6.4 again, the equations (5.1) associated with I ∗ are alsolinearly independent and have a solution space of dimension |V | + 3|F | −|R| − 1. If fj and fk generate the same plane in P (w) for any solution w
to (5.1), this is impossible. So we conclude that, for some solution w, thetwo faces are distinct in P (w). This is true for any pair of faces, and hencesome appropriate linear combination of these solutions gives a nondegenerate
solution to (5.1). This implies that statement (1) is true.
Next assume that statement (3) is false. Then, for some subset X of
R with |F (X)| ≥ 2, we have |V (X)| + 3|F (X)| ≤ |X| + 3. Without lossof generality we choose as X a minimal subset with this property. Then,|V (X)| + 3|F (X)| = |X| + 3 and, for every nonempty subset X  of X,|V (X  )| + 3|F (X  )| ≥ |X  | + 3 (note that if |F (X  )| = 1, the equality holds).
From Proposition 6.4, the equations (5.1) associated with the substructure(V (X), F (X), X) have a solution space of dimension 3, and hence the faces
in F (X) must be identical in P (w) for any solution w. Hence statement (1)is false as well.
Thus we have shown equivalence of statements (1) and (3).
Assume that statement (2) is true. For any subset X of R, let us deﬁneg(X) by g(X) = |X| − |V (X)|. Suppose that r = (v, f ) is an element of
R − X. Then we get g(X ∪ {r}) = |X| + 1 − |V (X) ∪ {v}|, and henceg(X ∪ {r}) = g(X) + 1

if v ∈ V (X),g(X ∪ {r}) = g(X)if v ∈ V − V (X).

Therefore, g(X) is monotonically nondecreasing; that is, X1 ⊆ X2 ⊆ R
implies g(X1 ) ≤ g(X2 ). Now suppose that X is any subset of R with|F (X)| ≥ 2, and let Y = F (X). Since X ⊆ R(Y ), we getg(X) = |X| − |V (X)| ≤ g(R(Y )) = |R(Y )| − |V (R(Y ))|.
From V (R(Y )) = V (Y ), we get |V (X)| − |X| ≥ |V (Y )| − |R(Y )|. Hence,|V (X)| + 3|F (X)| − |X| − 4 ≥ |V (Y )| + 3|Y | − |R(Y )| − 4 ≥ 0,
which implies that statement (3) is true.

6.4 Generic Degrees of Freedom

125

Conversely, assume that statement (3) is true. Suppose that Y is any
subset of F such that |Y | ≥ 2, and let Z = R(Y ). Then, Y = F (Z) andV (Y ) = V (Z). Therefore, we get|V (Y )| + 3|Y | − |R(Y )| − 4 = |V (Z)| + 3|F (Z)| − |Z| − 4 ≥ 0,
which means that statement (2) is true. Hence, statements (2) and (3) areequivalent.
Proof of Corollary 6.2.1.
An incidence structure that satisﬁes theinequality (6.4) satisﬁes the inequality (6.2). Hence, the corollary is animmediate consequence of Theorems 6.1 and 6.2.

6.4

Generic Degrees of Freedom

In Sections 5.1 and 5.2 we deﬁned two functions ρH and ρV , the degrees of
freedom in the choice of the object represented by a line drawing, in termsof ranks of some matrices (recall (5.4) and (5.5)). When the vertices are in
generic position, the functions are determined by the associated incidence
structure only, and hence the distribution of the degrees of freedom is characterized by the combinatorial structures of line drawings. Here we study
the combinatorial aspects of the functions, which will be used in the fourth
module.
Theorem 6.3 (Combinatorial characterization of the matroid (V, ρV )).
Suppose that the vertices of a labeled line drawing D are in generic position and its incidence structure I = (V, F, R) is generically reconstructible.
Then, a subset Y of V is an independent set of the matroid (V, ρV ) if andonly if|V (X)| + 3|F (X)| ≥ |X| + |V (X) ∩ Y |(6.8)
is satisﬁed for any subset X of R.
Proof.
Recall that the set of rows of the coeﬃcient matrix A in (5.1)
is in one-to-one correspondence with the incidence pair set R. For any
subset X of R, let A(X) denote the submatrix of A composed of the rows
corresponding to X. From the hypothesis and Corollary 6.2.1 the rows of
A are linearly independent, and hence, for any subset X of R, the rows ofA(X) are also independent.
First, assume that a subset Y of V is an independent set of the matroid (V, ρV ) but |V (X0 )| + 3|F (X0 )| < |X0 | + |V (X0 ) ∩ Y | for some subset
X0 of R. The solutions to (5.1) associated with the substructure S0 =

126

6. Combinatorial Structures(V (X0 ), F (X0 ), X0 ) form a linear space of dimension |V (X0 )| + 3|F (X0 )| −rank(A(X0 )), because it has |V (X0 )| + 3|F (X0 )| unknowns. Since the rowsof A(X0 ) are linearly independent, we get|V (X0 )|+3|F (X0 )|−rank(A(X0 )) = |V (X0 )|+3|F (X0 )|−|X0 | < |V (X0 )∩Y |;that is, |V (X0 ) ∩ Y | is greater than the dimension of the linear space formedby the solutions to (5.1) associated with S0 . This contradicts the assumptionthat Y is an independent set. Thus, if Y is independent, the inequality (6.8)
is satisﬁed for any subset X of R.
Next, suppose that a subset Y of V is a minimal dependent set andv ∈ Y . Let V0 and F0 be the set of vertices and that of faces, respectively,that are located uniquely in the space when the z coordinates of vertices in
Y − {v} are given. Obviously Y ⊆ V0 and V (F0 ) ⊆ V0 .
Assume that there exists a vertex v 0 in V0 − V (F0 ). Then, since v 0
is not on any face in F0 , the z coordinate of v 0 must be speciﬁed directly
when we specify the z coordinates of the vertices in Y − {v}, and hencev 0 ∈ Y − {v}. However, since v 0 is not on any face in F0 , the speciﬁcationof the z coordinate of v 0 does not constrain other variables. Thus, Y − {v 0 }must also be dependent. This contradicts the minimalness of Y . Therefore,
V0 − V (F0 ) = ∅, that is, V0 = V (F0 ).
Let X0 = (V0 × F0 ) ∩ R. Because V (F0 ) = V0 (that is, each vertex
in V0 is on some face in F0 ), we get V0 = V (X0 ) and F0 = F (X0 ). Because the system of equations (5.1) associated with (V (X0 ), F (X0 ), X0 ) is
linearly independent and every variable in it can be expressed by a linear
combination of the variables in {zi | v i ∈ Y − {v}}, the matrix A(X0 ) canbe transformed by elementary transformations of rows and permutations ofcolumns into [A0 | A1 ], where A0 is an |X0 | by |Y − {v}| matrix whose
columns correspond to the unknowns in {zα | vα ∈ Y − {v})}, and A1 is the|X0 | by |X0 | identity matrix whose columns correspond to the unknowns in{zα | v α ∈ V0 − (Y0 − {v0 })} ∪ {aj , bj , cj | fj ∈ F0 }. Hence we get|V (X0 )| + 3|F (X0 )| − |X0 | = |Y − {v}|,and consequently|V (X0 )| + 3|F (X0 )| − |X0 | < |Y | = |Y ∩ V (X0 )|.
Thus, if Y is not independent, X0 deﬁned as above does not satisfy theinequality (6.8).
Corollary 6.3.1.
Suppose that the vertices of a labeled line drawing D
are in generic position and its incidence structure I = (V, F, R) is generically6.4 Generic Degrees of Freedom

127

reconstructible. Then, for any subset Y of V , the matroid function ρVsatisﬁesρV (Y ) = max{|Y  | : Y  ⊆ Y, |V (X)| + 3|F (X)|
≥ |X| + |V (X) ∩ Y  |for any X ⊆ R}.

(6.9)

Proof.
From the deﬁnition of ρV , ρV (Y ) is the size of a maximal independent subset of Y , and hence from Theorem 6.3 we get (6.9).

Figure 6.2. Pictures requiring nontrivial consideration in order for us to tell
how many degrees of freedom they have and which sets of vertices
form bases for the associated matroids.

Example 6.2. Fig. 6.2 shows pictures for which intuitive consideration is
not very helpful in telling how many degrees of freedom there are or whichsets of vertices form bases. However, these questions can be answered easily
if we employ Theorem 6.3.
Let us consider the hidden-part-eliminated picture in Fig. 6.2(a). Ina strict sense it is not easy to judge whether the vertices are in generic
position. However, we can expect that they are almost always in generic
position, particularly when the coordinates of the vertices are represented
by the ﬂoating point representation. So we assume that the vertices of thepicture are in generic position.
The object represented here has eight visible vertices (|V | = 8) and four
visible faces (|F | = 4), forming a ring structure. In the picture the αthvertex vα is represented simply by the number α. Since the faces are all
quadrilateral, it has 4 × 4 = 16 incidence pairs (|R| = 16). Thus we get|V | + 3|F | = |R| + 4 = 20. Since any set of two or more faces satisﬁes
the inequality (6.3), the incidence structure is generically reconstructible

128

6. Combinatorial Structures

and the equations (5.1) are linearly independent. Consequently, there are|V | + 3|F | − |R| = 4 degrees of freedom in the choice of the object in thespace. By elementary counting we can see from Theorem 6.3 that any four
vertices, unless they all are on a common face, form a base of the matroid(V, ρV ). Hence the object is speciﬁed and ﬁxed to the space if we give somevalues to the z coordinates of the vertices in, for example, {v1 , v2 , v3 , v4 } or
{v1 , v3 , v5 , v7 }. Note that the incidence structure of this picture is the sameas that of the picture in Fig. 5.3(a). As we saw in Example 5.3, it requires
nontrivial consideration if we want to ﬁnd the degrees of freedom of theincidence structure intuitively. In contrast, Theorems 6.1, 6.2, and 6.3 give
us a systematic way of ﬁnding the degrees of freedom and of ﬁnding a base.
The hidden-part-eliminated picture in Fig. 6.2(b) also has a genericallyreconstructible incidence structure and four degrees of freedom. Here again
the elementary counting leads to the conclusion that any four vertices thatare not all on the same face form a base. Hence, if we specify the z coordinates of the vertices in, for example, {v1 , v4 , v7 ,10 } or {v1 , v3 , v5 , v8 }, thenthe object shape and its spatial position are determined uniquely.

Chapter 7

Overcoming theSuperstrictness
We have found a counting method for judging whether an incidence structure is reconstructible in a generic sense, that is, reconstructible when thevertices are in generic position. If the incidence structure is generically reconstructible, the reconstructibility is not disturbed by small movements ofvertices on the picture plane, and hence the correctness of the picture canbe judged without worrying about digitization errors. If it is not generically reconstructible, on the other hand, the superstrictness of the algebraic
method prevents us from judging the correctness of the picture. The purpose of this chapter is to remove the superstrictness. We shall ﬁrst construct
a method for correcting vertex position errors automatically, and next, using it, establish a mechanism that can judge the correctness of the picture
ﬂexibly in the sense that, even if it is mathematically incorrect, it is judged“practically correct” if the incorrectness is only due to a small deviation ofvertex positions.

7.1

Correction of Vertex Position Errors

From the deﬁnition of generic reconstructibility it follows that if a picture
has a generically reconstructible incidence structure and the vertices are in
generic position, the associated spatial structure composed of planar surfaces
can be realized without any degeneracy. Because we use a digital computer,
we can regard the vertices as being almost always in generic position; any
special relationships among the vertices, if they exist, will be canceled out bydigitization and numerical computation. Therefore, if the incidence struc129

130

7. Overcoming the Superstrictness

ture is generically reconstructible, the reconstructibility is not disturbed bysmall errors in vertex position, so that we can apply our algebraic method(i.e., Theorem 3.3 or Theorem 4.1) directly to the judgment of the correctness of the picture.
In this sense, our problem, the problem of discriminating between correctand incorrect pictures ﬂexibly, has been solved partially. Using Theorem
6.2, we ﬁrst judge whether the associated incidence structure is genericallyreconstructible or not. If it is, we next check directly the existence of afeasible solution to the linear programming problem stated in Theorem 3.3
or 4.1. Thus, our next problem is how we should deal with pictures whose
incidence structures are not generically reconstructible.
If the incidence structure is not generically reconstructible, it can berealized in the space only when the vertices are in some special position.
This means that the vertex positions are not independent; positions of somevertices constrain the others. Using this kind of constraint, we can determine
the correct position of the vertices. This is the basic idea of the following
method for automatic correction of incorrect pictures.
Suppose that an incidence structure I = (V, F, R) is not genericallyreconstructible. Then, the inequality (6.3) is falsiﬁed by some subset X of
F . However, if we delete incidence pairs one by one from R, the resultant
substructure eventually satisﬁes statement (2) in Theorem 6.2. This can beunderstood if we note, ﬁrst, that deletion of an element, say (v, f ), from R
causes the left hand side of (6.3) to decrease by 1 if and only if f ∈ X and v
is not on other faces in X whereas, it causes the right hand side to decreaseby 1 if f ∈ X, and second, that, if R is empty, the inequality (6.3) holds
trivially. Thus, from any incidence structure I = (V, F, R), we can extract amaximal subset, say R∗ , of R such that the substructure I ∗ = (V, F, R∗ ) is
generically reconstructible. If I itself is generically reconstructible, we getR∗ = R, but in general R∗ is not unique.
At least in principle, a maximal generically reconstructible substructure
can be found by applying Theorem 6.2 to all substructures of the incidence
structure I, but this is obviously impractical because the number of substructures is of the exponential order of |R|. In Chapter 8 we shall present a
more practical method, which can ﬁnd a maximal generically reconstructible
substructure in O(|R|2 ) time.
Let D be a labeled line drawing, and let I = (V, F, R) be its incidence
structure. Suppose that I is not generically reconstructible, and hence it ispractically meaningless to judge its correctness directly by Theorem 3.3 (orTheorem 4.1). Let R∗ be a maximal subset of R such that the substructure7.1 Correction of Vertex Position Errors

131

I ∗ = (V, F, R∗ ) is generically reconstructible, and letA(R∗ )w = 0(7.1)

be the system of the equations of the form (5.1) generated from the elementsof R∗ , where A(R∗ ) represents the submatrix of A composed of the rows
corresponding to elements of R∗ . Thus, (7.1) is a subsystem of (5.1). Since
I ∗ is generically reconstructible, we can ﬁnd a nondegenerate solution, sayw∗ , to the system (7.1) and construct the associated conﬁguration P (w ∗ ) of
the surfaces in the space. Note that the projection on the picture plane ofthe points of intersection of the surfaces in P (w ∗ ) coincides with the verticesof the original picture D except for the vertices in V (R − R∗ ), where, for
any Y ⊆ R, V (Y ) denotes the set of vertices appearing in some elementsof Y . If vertices in V (R − R∗ ) are incident to three or fewer faces in theoriginal incidence structure I, their correct position in a three-dimensional
space can be found as intersections of the associated surfaces in P (w ∗ ).
Projecting them on the picture plane, we obtain the correct position of thevertices on the picture plane. Thus we get the following method.
Method 7.1 (Correction of vertex position errors).
Input: A labeled line drawing D and its incidence structure I = (V, F, R).
Output: A corrected line drawing.
Procedure:
Step 1. Find a maximal subset R∗ of R such that I ∗ = (V, F, R∗ ) is generically reconstructible.
Step 2. Find a solution w∗ to (7.1) and (5.2’). If there is no solution, return“false”.
Step 3. Find correct spatial positions of the vertices in V (R − R∗ ) as intersections of the surfaces in the conﬁguration P (w∗ ).
Step 4. Project the corrected positions onto the picture plane.
Step 5. See whether the corrected picture obeys the labeling rules. If it does
not, return “false”.
Step 6. Regenerate the system of inequalities (5.2) using the corrected positions of the vertices. If the new system of inequalities is satisﬁed byw∗ , return the corrected picture. Otherwise return “false”.
If there is no solution to (7.1) and (5.2’) in Step 2, it implies that thesystem of inequalities (5.2’) contains contradictory propositions (note thatthe system of the equations (7.1) always has a nondegenerate solution because I ∗ is generically reconstructible). In this case it is usually impossible
to correct the picture by movements of vertices. So the method returns“false”.

132

7. Overcoming the Superstrictness

Step 3 is not always possible. Let F0 be the set of faces in F that havefour or more vertices on them in I. Then, Step 3 is impossible if a vertex in
V (R − R∗ ) is on four or more faces in F0 . This is because four or more faces
in general do not have any common point. Note that we need not consider
faces in F − F0 , because a face with three or less vertices does not place any
essential constraint on I ∗ ; that is, we can always add the faces in F − F0
after we construct a three-dimensional conﬁguration of the other part ofI ∗ . In order to make Step 3 possible, therefore, we have to delete from R
those incidence pairs that contain vertices which are on at most three faces
when we construct R∗ in Step 1. In other words, Step 3 is possible only
when |({v} × F0 ) ∩ R| ≤ 3 for any v ∈ V (R − R∗ ). An eﬃcient method of
constructing R∗ with this property will be presented in Chapter 8.
Steps 5 and 6 are necessary because displacement of the junctions on the
picture plane may disturb the labeling rules or the system of inequalities(5.2). The labeling rules are usually kept undisturbed if the displacement
is small. However, if it is not so small, the rules may be disturbed. Displacement of a junction sometimes cause the change of a junction type, forexample, from Y-type to W-type, and as a result the labels assigned to thelines around the junction may violate the rules (recall Rules 2.5 and 2.5’).
The system of inequalities (5.2) may also be disturbed because the coeﬃcient matrix B depends on the position of the junctions. Thus, the check in
Steps 5 and 6 is necessary.

Figure 7.1. Correction of vertex position errors: (a) is an incorrect picture,(b) is a generically reconstructible substructure of the incidence
structure of (a), and (c) is a corrected picture.

Example 7.1

Consider the picture of the truncated pyramid in Fig. 7.1(a).

7.1 Correction of Vertex Position Errors

133

As we have seen, the incidence structure I = (V, F, R) of this picture is
not generically reconstructible. Let v be a vertex incident to three faces
f1 , f2 , f3 , as illustrated in the ﬁgure, and deﬁne R∗ as R∗ = R − {(v, f3 )}.
That is, we delete from I the constraint that the vertex v must be on theface f3 , as shown in (b), where the double lines mean that the side faces
may form a gap along these lines. Since the substructure I ∗ = (V, F, R∗ ) is
generically reconstructible, we ﬁnd a nondegenerate solution w∗ and obtainthe correct position of v as the intersection of the three surfaces f1 , f2 , f3
in P (w∗ ). Projecting it onto the picture plane, we correct the picture; theresult of the correction is as shown in (c).
It seems interesting to note that the result of the correction does notdepend on the choice of the solution w∗ . This can be understood in thefollowing way. The picture in Fig. 7.1(b) has exactly four degrees of freedom
in the choice of the spatial structure. Hence from Corollary 5.3.l there exists
a unique solution to the ﬁgure construction problem: “Find the intersectionof the plane f3 and the line shared by f1 and f2 ”, which is a problem of thetype given by Problem 5.1 (see Section 5.3).
Example 7.2. Let I = (V, F, R) be an incidence structure of the hiddenpart-drawn picture shown in Fig. 7.2(a). The picture has eight vertices, six
faces, and 24 incidence pairs (because each of the six faces has exactly four
Vertices on it). Consequently, if we put X = F , the left hand side of (6.3)
amounts to |V | + 3|F | = 8 + 3 × 6 = 26 whereas the right hand side to|R| + 4 = 24 + 4 = 28. Thus, I is not generically reconstructible, and indeed
the picture is incorrect. If we remove any two incidence pairs associatedwith an arbitrary vertex, the structure becomes generically reconstructible.
Therefore, we can correct this picture by the displacement of any one vertex. Examples of the correction are shown in Fig. 7.2(b), (c), (d), where
the circles denote the vertices that were displaced for the correction. The
system of equations (7.1) associated with this picture admits exactly four
degrees of freedom in the choice of the solution, and hence it follows from
Corollary 5.3.1 that, once we choose a vertex to be displaced; the result of
the correction is unique.
Remark 7.1. Method 7.1 contains a great deal of arbitrariness in Steps 1,
2, and 3. We have to reﬁne these steps in order to obtain a precise computer
algorithm.
There is almost no problem in Steps 2 and 3. As we have seen in Examples 7.1 and 7.2, usually the arbitrariness in Step 2 does not aﬀect theresult of the correction. Tue arbitrariness in Step 3 is easily resolved by anatural criterion: “Move each vertex to the nearest correct position.”

134

7. Overcoming the Superstrictness

Figure 7.2. Correction of a hidden-part-drawn picture of a hexahedron: (a)is an incorrect picture, and (b) , (c) , (d) are corrected pictures,
where the circles denote the vertices moved for the correction .

On the contrary, it is not so easy to resolve the arbitrariness in Step
1. There is in general great freedom in the choice of R∗ , and the result of
the correction (i.e., the output of Method 7.1) depends on R∗ . Probably
the theoretically most complete way is to apply Method 7.1 to all possibleR∗ ’s and to select among all the outputs the “best” one as the result of thecorrection. However, this is not practical; indeed the number of possibleR∗ ’s is usually very large; and hence the check of all the possibilities would
result in a combinatorial explosion.
One practical way is to employ some heuristic to choose a “good” subset
as R∗ . An example of such heuristics is the following.
Heuristic 7.1. Correct vertices with shorter edges ﬁrst, where the lengthsof edges are to be measured on the picture plane.
This heuristic is natural because shorter edges are more likely to containerrors in their positions if the picture is drawn by a human hand or is
obtained by computer processing of a light intensity image. Now recall

7.2 Set of All Scenes

135

that the correction of the picture is carried out by displacing vertices in
V (R − R∗ ). Hence Heuristic 7.1 implies that vertices with shorter edges
should be in V (R − R∗ ); that is, the maximal subset R∗ should be searched
for in such a way that incidence pairs containing vertices with longer edges
are included in R∗ as much as possible. An eﬃcient algorithm for ﬁndingR∗ with this property will be given in Chapter 8.

7.2

Set of All Scenes Represented by a Picture

The set of all scenes a labeled line drawing can represent is speciﬁed as theset of all solutions to the system consisting of (5.1) and (5.2). However, in
Method 7.1 we use not (5.1) but (7.1) to reconstruct a spatial conﬁguration ofplanar surfaces, from which the correct positions of vertices are determined.
In other words, we regard (7.1) as an essential part of (5.1) and the otherequations in (5.1) as a redundant part. Indeed what is done in Method 7.1
is to adjust the x and y coordinates of the vertices in V (R − R∗ ) in such a
way that the equations contained in (5.1) but not in (7.1) become linearly
dependent on (7.1). Thus, for any corrected picture, (5.1) and (7.1) areequivalent. Using this fact, we can express the set of all scenes that the
picture can represent more simply.
Let D be a correct, or corrected, line drawing, let I = (V, F, R) be its
incidence structure, and let I ∗ = (V, F, R∗ ) be the maximal generically reconstructible substructure of I that has been used for the correction basedon Method 7.1. Since the system of the equations (7.1), the equations associated with I ∗ , is linearly independent, the coeﬃcient matrix A(R∗ ) can betransformed by some permutation of the columns into [A1 | A2 ], where A1
is an |R∗ | × |R∗ | nonsingular matrix. Let η and ξ be the unknown vectors
corresponding to the columns of A1 and those of A2 , respectively, so that
(7.1) can be expressed byA1 η + A2 ξ = 0.
Since A1 is nonsingular, we getη = −(A1 )−1 A2 ξ.

(7.2)

This expression represents the solutions to (7.1) as a linear combinationof the unknown variables in ξ. In other words, the set of vectors w subject
to (7.1) is identical with the set of vectors (−(A1 )−1 A2 ξ, ξ) without any
constraints. Moreover, it should be noted that in Method 7.1 the equations

136

7. Overcoming the Superstrictnessin (7.1) alone are used for the reconstruction of the polyhedral scene and theother equations in (5.1) are changed so that they become linearly dependenton (7.1). Therefore, (7.2) can be interpreted in the following way: the valuesof the unknowns in ξ can be given arbitrarily, but once they are given, asolution to (7.1) is speciﬁed uniquely. Thus, the unknowns in ξ form a baseof the matroid (H, ρH ) deﬁned by (5.4). This means that we can ﬁnd the setof columns corresponding to A2 by choosing a base of the matroid. If, forexample, we want a base consisting of z coordinates of vertices only, we canﬁnd one by Theorem 6.3 or Corollary 6.3.1; we need not check nonsingularityof submatrices of A(R∗ ) numerically.
From (7.2), the vector w subject to (7.1) can be represented by
w = h(ξ),(7.3)

where h(ξ) is the vector obtained by a certain permutation of the entities ofthe vector (−(A1 )−1 A2 ξ, ξ). Substituting (7.3) in (5.2) and (5.2’), we get,respectively,
Bh(ξ) > 0
(7.4)
andBh(ξ) ≥ e.

(7.4’)The set of solutions to (5.1) and (5.2) is identical with the set of solutions to(7.4), and the set of solutions to (5.1) and (5.2’) is identical with the set ofsolutions to (7.4’). Consequently, the set of all scenes that the picture canrepresent is identical with the set of all solutions to (7.4), and the picture iscorrect if and only if there exists a solution to (7.4’).
The system (7.4) (or (7.4’)) is much smaller than the original system;
it has n + 3m − |R∗ | unknowns and |T | inequalities, whereas the system
consisting of (5.1) and (5.2) (or (5.1) and (5.2’)) has n + 3m unknowns, |R|equations, and |T | inequalities. In order to judge the correctness of a picture
we only need to check whether the system (7.4’) has a solution; we need not
check directly the existence of a solution to the larger system consisting of(5.1) and (5.2’). Hence, for example, Step 2 in Method 7.1 can be replacedby this simpler step:
Step 2’. Find a solution ξ ∗ to (7.4’), and put w∗ = h(ξ ∗ ).

7.3

Practical Judgment of the Correctness

Now we are ready to construct a practical method for judging the correctnessof labeled pictures. The outline of the method is shown by the ﬂow chart in7.3 Practical Judgment of the Correctness

137

Fig. 7.3.

Figure 7.3. Flow chart for a practical judgment of correctness of pictures: if
an input picture comes out through Exit 1 or 5, the picture isjudged correct, and otherwise it is judged incorrect.
Suppose that a labeled line drawing D and its spatial structure S =138

7. Overcoming the Superstrictness(V, F, R, T ) are given. Our aim is to judge the correctness of the picture D“ﬂexibly” in the sense that the picture should be judged correct even if thestrict correctness is disturbed by a small deviation of the vertices.
Using Theorem 6.2, we judge whether the incidence structure I = (V, F, R)
is generically reconstructible. If so, we next check the existence of a solution
to the system deﬁned by (5.1) and (5.2’). This can be done by a method
for ﬁnding a feasible solution to a linear programming problem whose constraint set is given by (5.1) and (5.2’). Finally we judge the correctness by
Theorem 3.3 (or Theorem 4.1) directly; that is, if a solution exists, D isjudged correct (Exit 1 in Fig. 7.3), and otherwise incorrect (Exit 2).
If, on the other hand, I is not generically reconstructible, we cannot apply Theorem 3.3 directly, because Theorem 3.3 judges the correctness ’superstrictly’. Therefore, using Theorem 6.2, we choose a subset R∗ of R in sucha way that the substructure I ∗ = (V, F, R∗ ) is generically reconstructible
and R∗ is maximal with this property, and construct the associated systemof the equations (7.1) and consequently the system of the inequalities (7.4’).
Since I ∗ is generically reconstructible, we can search for a solution to thesystem (7.4’) without fearing numerical errors. If the system does not haveany solution, we conclude that D is incorrect (Exit 3). If it has a solution,
we try to correct vertex position errors by Method 7.1. If the correction is
impossible, we conclude that D is incorrect (Exit 4). If it can be corrected,
then we compare the corrected line drawing with the original one, and judge
whether the vertex position errors are “permissible” or not by some criterion
depending on applications. (For example, we can judge that the errors are
permissible if the maximum distance between the original positions and thecorrected positions of vertices is smaller than a prespeciﬁed threshold, or,alternatively, if the sum of lengths of vertex displacements is smaller thana threshold, etc.). If the errors are permissible, we conclude that D can beconsidered as being practically correct (Exit 5), and otherwise, we conclude
that D is incorrect (Exit 6).
Thus, a machine can judge the correctness ﬂexibly as human beings do.
The point is that we do not judge directly whether the picture is correct but
judge whether the incorrectness is permissible.

7.4

A Classiﬁcation of Line Drawings

We have considered labeled line drawings from several points of view, that is,whether they are, or are not, correct, correctable, and/or generically reconstructible. These points of view naturally form a framework for classifying

7.4 A Classification of Line Drawings

139labeled line drawings.
First, labeled line drawings have the associated incidence structures, andhence can be divided into generically reconstructible drawings and generically unreconstructible ones according to whether the incidence structures are
generically reconstructible or not. The class of generically reconstructibleline drawings is characterized by Theorem 6.2.
Second, labeled line drawings are divided into correctable drawings anduncorrectable ones according to whether they can be corrected by displacements of some vertices together with the lines incident to them. Here, we
adopt the convention that correct pictures belong to the class of correctablepictures, because they can be “corrected” by displacing an empty set of vertices. Thus, correctable line drawings are subdivided into correct drawings
and incorrect ones; the class of correct drawings is characterized by Theorem
3.3 or Theorem 4.1.
Thus, labeled line drawings are divided into the six classes as shown in
Fig. 7.4, where to each class is attached an example picture.

Figure 7.4. Classiﬁcation of labeled line drawings: picture 3 is adapted fromDraper(1978), picture 5 from Huﬀman(1971), and picture 6 from
Penrose and Penrose (1958).

Pictures 1, 2, and 3 in the ﬁgure have generically reconstructible inci-

140

7. Overcoming the Superstrictness

Figure 7.5. Correction of the correctable pictures in Fig. 7.4.

dence structures, but pictures 2 and 3 are not correct.
We can understand the incorrectness of picture 2 in the following way(see Fig. 7.5(a)). Let p be an intersection of the face f1 and the line l0(the position of p on the picture plane can be obtained as the intersectionof the two lines l0 and l = 1). Let Lp be the line that passes through p
and is perpendicular to the picture plane. Furthermore, let z1 , z2 , and z3
be the z coordinates of the points at which Lp meets the faces f1 , f2 , andf3 , respectively, when the faces are extended. Recall that the picture isassumed to be in the x-y plane and the positive direction of the z axis faces
toward the viewer. Therefore, a larger value of z means that the point isnearer to the viewer. We get z1 > z2 because f1 and f2 share the convex
edge l2 . Similarly, we get z2 > z3 because f2 and f3 share the convex edgel3 . On the other hand, p is on both the faces f1 and f3 (note that p, is on l0 ,which is on f3 ), and hence we get z1 = z3 , which is a contradiction. That is,
picture 2 in Fig. 7.4 is incorrect. An example of the correction is shown in
Fig. 7.5(b), where p is on the lower side of l3 in the picture plane and hence
the convex edge l3 gives the inequality z3 > z2 ; there is no contradiction.
Picture 3 is uncorrectable, because it cannot be corrected unless wechange it drastically by interchanging the visible part and the invisible part.
Pictures 4, 5, and 6 in Fig. 7.4 have generically unreconstructlble incidence structures. Picture 5 is not correct because the top face and the front
face should meet at one line, but the two edges are not collinear , as shownin Fig. 7.5(c). It can be corrected, for example, as shown in Fig. 7.5(d).

7.4 A Classification of Line Drawings

141

Picture 6 is not correct and cannot be corrected because its incorrectness
is mainly due to contradictory inequalities caused by occluding edges, andthe contradiction cannot be resolved even if the positions of the vertices arechanged.
There is an intimate relationship between this classiﬁcation frameworkand the procedures: for discrimination between correct and incorrect pictures shown in Fig. 7.3. Suppose that a labeled line drawing is given to theprocedure. Which exit it comes out of depends on which category it belongs
to. For example, picture 1 in Fig. 7.4 comes out of Exit 1, and pictures
2 and 3 out of Exit 2. Picture 4 comes out of Exit 5 unless the thresholdfor the permissible errors is not very small, because the picture represents a
polyhedron correctly only up to digitization errors. Picture 5 will come outof Exit 6 unless the threshold is not very large, and otherwise it comes out
of Exit 5. Picture 6 comes out of Exit 3, because its incorrectness is due toinconsistency in the inequalities (3.4).
Example 7.3.
In visual psychology, there is a class of pictures called“anomalous pictures” or “pictures of impossible objects” (Penrose and Penrose, 1958; Gregory, 1971; Robinson, 1972), and some of them have been discussed also from a mathematical point of view (Huﬀman, 1971; Cowan, 1974,
1977; Draper 1978; Térouanne, 1980; Kulpa, 1983; Thro, 1983). It seems
interesting to classify these pictures from the viewpoint of our classiﬁcation
framework (Sugihara, 1982a). Fig. 7.6 shows some examples of anomalous
pictures. From our point of view, various categories of pictures are included:(a), (b), (f), (g), and (i) are generically unreconstructible, uncorrectable pictures; (c), (j), (k), and (l) are generically reconstructible, correct pictures;(d) is an unlabelable picture; (e) is a generically reconstructible, incorrect,
correctable picture; and (h) is a generically reconstructible, uncorrectablepicture.

142

7. Overcoming the Superstrictness

Figure 7.6. Anomalous pictures: a, b, f, i, j, k, and l are adapted fromDraper (1978), and g and h from Huﬀman (1971).

Chapter 8

Algorithmic Aspects ofGeneric Reconstructibility
The concept of generic reconstructibility has played the main role in the third
module, the module for judging the correctness of pictures ﬂexibly. Though
we found a counting theorem for judging whether an incidence structure is
generically reconstructible or not, it is not eﬃcient from the time complexity
point of view. In the present chapter we shall construct an eﬃcient algorithm for checking the generic reconstructibility of an incidence structureand for ﬁnding a maximal generically reconstructible substructure; the timecomplexity of the algorithm is of the order of the square of the number ofincidence pairs. Thus we complete the third module.

8.1

Network Flow Theory

A polynomially bounded algorithm for checking generic reconstructibility
was ﬁrst found by Sugihara (1979c); here the problem was reduced to the
problem of ﬁnding complete matchings of a certain family of bipartite graphs
and an O(|R|3.5 ) algorithm was constructed, where R denotes the set of incidence pairs. The algorithm was improved by Imai (1985), who found an algorithm for ﬁnding a maximal generically reconstructible substructure, whichruns in O(|R|2 ) time. This algorithm includes the checking of generic reconstructibility, because an incidence structure is generically reconstructible
if and only if its maximal generically reconstructible substructure coincides
with the original structure itself.
This chapter presents Imai’s algorithm for ﬁnding a maximal genericallyreconstructible substructure, which makes our third module more eﬃcient.
143

144

8. Generic Reconstructibility

To this end we ﬁrst review some basic results in network ﬂow theory.
Let R denote the set of real numbers, and let R+ be the set of nonnegative real numbers. For a ﬁnite set E, a function from E to R is called avector on E, and a vector on E is called nonnegative if it is a function fromE to R+ . A vector is called integral if its value is an integer for any elementof E. For a vector g on E and a subset U of E, let g|U denote the restrictionof g to U ; that is, g|U is a vector on U and, for any e ∈ U , g|U (e) = g(e).
For a vector g on E and a subset U of E, we deﬁne g(U ) = e∈U g(e). For asubset U of E, the characteristic vector χU is deﬁned by χU (e) = 1 if e ∈ U
and χU (e) = 0 if e ∈/ U . A characteristic function of a singleton, sayχ{e} , isabbreviated as χe .
A network is a triple Q = (NQ , WQ , cQ ) where NQ is a ﬁnite set, WQ is asubset of NQ × NQ , and cQ is a nonnegative vector on WQ . Elements of NQ
are called nodes, those of WQ arcs, and cQ is the capacity. An alternating
sequence of nodes and arcs p = (u0 , e1 , u1 , e2 , u2 , . . . , en , un ), where ui ∈ NQ
(i = 0, 1, . . . , n) and ei ∈ WQ (i = 1, 2, . . . , n), is called a path from thenode u0 to the node un if for each i = 1, 2, . . . , n either ei = (ui−1 , ui ) or
ei = (ui , ui−1 ). The arc ei is said to be positive in p if ei = (ui−1 , ui ) andnegative if ei = (ui , ui−1 ). A vector g on WQ is called a ﬂow on the network
Q if
0 ≤ g(e) ≤ cQ (e) for any e ∈ WQ .
Intuitively, the network Q = (NQ , WQ , cQ ) can be regarded as a directed
graph having the node set NQ and the arc set WQ together with the capacity
constraint such that for any arc e the amount of commodity that ﬂows
through the arc e in the positive direction in a unit time interval should be
nonnegative and should not be greater than the capacity cQ (e).
For any node u in NQ , let us denote by W + (u) and W − (u) the set ofarcs going out of u and the set of arcs coming into u, respectively. For avector g on WQ , we deﬁne a vector ∂g on NQ by∂g(u) =

e∈W + (u)g(e) −g(e).

e∈W − (u)For a ﬂow g on the network Q, a node u (∈ NQ ) is called a source if∂g(u) > 0, a sink if ∂g(u) < 0, and an intermediate node if ∂g(u) = 0.
Intuitively, ∂g(u) denotes the diﬀerence in the amounts of ﬂow going out of
u and coming into u. Consequently, ∂g(u) = 0 implies that the commodity
passes through u without stagnation, whereas ∂g(u) = 0 implies that theamount of commodity is not preserved at u; ∂g(u) > 0 implies that the8.1 Network Flow Theory

145

commodity is supplied at u, and ∂g(u) < 0 implies that the commodity isconsumed at u.
In what follows, we restrict our consideration to a network with a single
sink, that is, a network in which a unique node, say t, is distinguished as thesink. A vector g on WQ is called a ﬂow on the network Q = (NQ , WQ , cQ )with the sink t if ∂g(t) ≤ 0 and ∂g(u) ≥ 0 for u ∈ NQ − {t}.
Let g be a ﬂow on the network Q = (NQ , WQ , cQ ) with the sink t. A
path p = (u0 , e1 , u1 , . . . , en , un ) from a node u0 to the sink t (un = t) is
said to be ﬂow augmentable if for each i = 1, 2, . . . , n either both ei ispositive in p and g(ei ) < cQ (ei ) or both ei is negative in p and 0 < g(ei ).
Suppose that the path p is ﬂow augmentable. Let us deﬁne Δ(ei ) by Δ(ei ) =cQ (ei ) − g(ei ) if ei is positive in p and Δ(ei ) = g(ei ) if ei is negative in p,
and let Δ(p) = min Δ(ei ) where the minimum is taken over all arcs on thepath p. Furthermore let us deﬁne the vector Δgp on WQ by Δgp (e) = Δ(p)if e is positive in the path p, Δgp (e) = −Δ(p) if e is negative in p, andΔgp (e) = 0 if e is not on p. Then the vector g + Δgp is a ﬂow on Q; thatis, the ﬂow g + Δgp is obtained from the ﬂow g by augmenting the amountΔ(p) of additional ﬂow of commodity through the path p. Thus, for a ﬂow
augmentable path p, we can increase the total amount of net ﬂow coming
into the sink t by Δ(p). A node u is said to be ﬂow augmentable if there isa ﬂow augmentable path from u to the sink t.
For a given ﬂow g on the network Q = (NQ , WQ , cQ ) with the sink t, an
auxiliary graph G(Q, g) = (NG , WG ) having a node set NG and an arc set
WG is deﬁned by NG = NQ and
WG = {e | e ∈ WQ and g(e) < cQ (e)} ∪ {er | e ∈ WQ and g(e) > 0},
where er denotes the reversal of e. That is, in the auxiliary graph G(Q, g),
an arc from u to u exists if and only if there is an arc connecting u andu in WQ (note that the direction of the arc in the original network is notnecessarily from u to u ; it may be from u to u) and the ﬂow is augmentable
along the arc in the direction from u to u . Let Gr (Q, g) be the directed
graph obtained by reversing the directions of all the arcs in G(Q, g). Then,the problem of ﬁnding a ﬂow augmentable path from a given node u to thesink t is reduced to the problem of searching for a directed path from u to t
in the auxiliary graph G(Q, g), and the problem of ﬁnding the set of all ﬂow
augmentable nodes is reduced to the problem of ﬁnding the set of all nodes
reachable from t in Gr (Q, g). Both of them can be solved in O(|WQ |) timeby a standard graph search technique such as the depth-ﬁrst search or thebreadth-ﬁrst search (Aho et al., 1974).

146

8. Generic Reconstructibility

Note that, for any network Q, the null vector g (i.e., g(e) = 0 for any
e ∈ WQ ) is a ﬂow on Q. So, starting with a g that is initially a null vector,
we can augment the ﬂow step by step by ﬁnding a ﬂow augmentable path,say p, and replacing the ﬂow g with the new ﬂow g + Δgp until we cannot
ﬁnd a ﬂow augmentable path any more. Moreover, if the capacity cQ (e)is an integer at any arc e ∈ WQ , the ﬂow g obtained at any stage of theabove ﬂow-augmenting process is an integral vector. This is ﬁrst because
the initial null vector is integral, and second because if g is integral, Δgp
is also integral for any ﬂow augmentable path p. Thus, each time a ﬂow
augmentable path is found, the total amount of ﬂow reaching the sink t canbe augmented by at least one unit.

8.2

Extraction of Generically Reconstructible Substructures

For an incidence structure I = (V, F, R), we associate a network Q(I) =(NI , WI , cI ) with the sink t such that
NI = V ∪ F ∪ R ∪ {t},
WI = {(r, v), (r, f ) | r = (v, f ) ∈ R} ∪ {(v, t) | v ∈ V } ∪ {(f, t) | f ∈ F },cI (e) = ∞if e = (r, v) or e = (r, f )cI (e) = 1

if e = (v, t)cI (e) = 3

if e = (f, t) (f ∈ F ).

(r = (v, f ) ∈ R),(v ∈ V ),Then, for any subset X of R, V (X) and F (X) coincide with the sets ofnodes in V and F , respectively, that are connected with some nodes in
X. In what follows, we consider R as the set of potential source nodes,
whereas we consider V ∪ F as the set of intermediate nodes. Hence by
a ﬂow g we refer to a vector g on WI that satisﬁes ∂g(r) ≥ 0 (r ∈ R),∂g(v) = ∂g(f ) = 0 (v ∈ V, f ∈ F ), and ∂g(t) ≤ 0. The next proposition
is an immediate consequence of the so-called demand-supply theorem in
network ﬂow theory (Ford and Fulkerson, 1962; Iri, 1969a).
Proposition 8.1.
For any nonnegative vector h on R, there is a ﬂow g
on the network Q(I) such that ∂g |R = h if and only if, for any subset X ofR,
h(X) ≤ 3|F (X)| + |V (X)|.
Now, we can state the next theorem.

8.2 Generically Reconstructible Substructures

147

Theorem 8.1.
Let I = (V, F, R) be an incidence structure and X ⊆ R.
Suppose that the substructure (V, F, X) is generically reconstructible. Then,for any r ∈ R − X, the following three statements are equivalent.
(1) (V, F, X ∪ {r}) is generically reconstructible.
(2) For any Y such that r ∈ Y ⊆ X ∪ {r} and |F (Y )| ≥ 2, the inequality|Y | + 4 ≤ |V (Y )| + 3|F (Y )| holds.
(3) For any x ∈ X such that |F ({x, r})| = 2, the network Q(I) = (NI , WI , cI )admits a ﬂow g such that ∂g |R = χX + χx + 4χr .
Proof.
The equivalence of statements (1) and (2) follows immediatelyfrom Theorem 6.2.
Now assume that statement (2) is true. Let x be an element of X
such that |F ({x, r})| = 2, and let h be the vector on R deﬁned by h =χX + χx + 4χr . Let Z be any subset of X ∪ {r}. Case 1: Suppose thatx∈
/ Z. Then, h(Z) ≤ |Z| + 3. If |F (Z)| ≥ 2, it follows from the assumption
and Theorem 6.2 that |Z|+3 ≤ |Z|+4 ≤ 3|F (Z)|+|V (Z)|. If |F (Z)| = 1, we
get |V (Z)| = |Z| and consequently |Z| + 3 = |V (Z)| + 3 = |V (Z)| + 3|F (Z)|.
Thus, we get h(Z) ≤ |V (Z)| + 3|F (Z)|. Case 2: Suppose that x ∈ Z. If|F (Z)| ≥ 2, then h(Z) = 2 + h(Z − {x}) ≤ 2 + |Z| − 1 + 3 = |Z| + 4 ≤|V (Z)| + 3|F (Z)|. If |F (Z)| = 1, then |Z| = |V (Z)| and r ∈/ Z, and hence
h(Z) = |Z| + 1 ≤ |V (Z)| + 3|F (Z)|. Thus, for any subset Z of X ∪ {r},h(Z) ≤ |V (Z)| + 3|F (Z)|. Hence from Proposition 8.1, we get statement(3).
Conversely, assume that statement (3) is true. Let Y be a subset ofX ∪ {r} such that r ∈ Y and |F (Y )| ≥ 2. Then, there exists an element xof X such that |F ({x, r})| = 2. From our assumption it follows that there
exists a ﬂow g on Q(I) = (NI , WI , cI ) such that ∂g |R = χX + χx + 4χr , andhence from Proposition 8.1 χX (Y ) + χX (Y ) + 4χr (Y ) ≤ |V (Y )| + 3|F (Y )|.
Since Y contains both r and x, χX (Y ) = |Y |−1, χx (Y ) = 1 and 4χr (Y ) = 4;
thus we get |Y | + 4 ≤ |V (Y )| + 3|F (Y )|.
When a generically reconstructible substructure, say (V, F, X), of anincidence structure I = (V, F, R) is given, statement (3) in the theorem
aﬀords us an eﬃcient way for augmenting the incidence pair set X one by
one while preserving generic reconstructibleness. Suppose that (V, F, X) is
generically reconstructible. Then, for any subset Y ⊆ X, we have |Y | ≤|V (Y )| + 3|F (Y )|. Consequently, from Proposition 8.1, the network Q(I)has a ﬂow g such that ∂g |R = χX . Moreover, since the capacities of arcs
are all integers, we can ﬁnd as g a ﬂow whose value is integral at everyarc. Using the ﬂow g, we can check, for an element r of R − X, genericreconstructibility of (V, F, X ∪ {r}) in the following way.

148

8. Generic Reconstructibility

First, we search for ﬂow augmentable paths from r to the sink t. If they
are found, we augment the ﬂow until the total amount of supply of the commodity at r reaches 4. Since the capacity at each arc is integral, at least one
unit of ﬂow can be augmented along each path; hence the ﬂow augmentation is accomplished by ﬁnding at most four ﬂow augmentable paths. If suchpaths do not exist, the substructure (V, F, X ∪ {r}) is not generically reconstructible. Otherwise, we obtain the ﬂow g such that ∂g |R = χX + 4χr . In
order to check statement (3) in the theorem, we need not augment the ﬂow
any more; instead we only need to check whether every node x in X suchthat |F ({x, r})| = 2 is a ﬂow augmentable node or not. If it is, statement(3) is true because at least one unit of ﬂow can be added to g along any
ﬂow augmentable path (recall that the capacities are integral); we conclude
that (V, F, X ∪ {r}) is generically reconstructible. Otherwise, it is not.
From this observation, we can construct the following method, in which
an initially empty set X is augmented one by one while preserving genericreconstructibleness of (V, F, X).
Method 8.1 (Maximal generically reconstructible substructure).
Input: Incidence structure I = (V, F, R).
Output: A maximal generically reconstructible substructure of I.
Procedure:
Step 1. Let X = ∅, and let Y = R and g be a null ﬂow on Q(I).
Step 2. While Y is not empty, choose and delete an element r from Y anddo the following.
2.1. Find a ﬂow h such that h = g + g and ∂g |R = 4χr . If such an hdoes not exist, go to Step 2.
2.2. On the network Q(I) with the ﬂow h, ﬁnd the set Z of ﬂow augmentable nodes.
2.3. If {x | x ∈ X and |F ({x, r})| = 2} ⊆ Z, then add r to X andaugment the ﬂow g so that ∂g |R = χX∪{r} .
Step 3. Return (V, F, X).
The number of arcs in the network Q(I) is of O(|R|), because each element of R is connected to exactly one element of V and to exactly one
element of F . Hence, the search for a ﬂow augmentable path p from a givennode, the augmentation of the ﬂow by Δgp along the path p, and the construction of the set of ﬂow augmentable nodes all require O(|R|) time. It
is therefore obvious that Steps 2.2 and 2.3 require O(|R|) time. Step 2.1
can also be done in O(|R|) time, because it consists of at most four timesof repeatitions of ﬁnding a ﬂow augmentable path and augmenting the ﬂow
along this path. Since Steps 2.1, 2.2. and 2.3 are repeated |R| times, the8.2 Generically Reconstructible Substructures149

total amount of time required by Step 2 is of O(|R|2 ). Steps 1 and 3 canbe done in, respectively, O(|R|) and O(1) time. Thus, Method 8.1 runs in
O(|R|2 ) time.

(a)

(b)

(c)

Figure 8.1. Three diﬀerent types of incidence structures used for checking
the performance of Method 8.1: (a) is a top view of an n-gonal
pyramid, (b) is a side view of a 2n-gonal prism, and (c) is a top
view of a truncated pyramid with an n-gonal base; the pictures
are regarded as hidden-part-eliminated pictures.

Example 8.1. The eﬃciency of Method 8.1 was examined using various
sizes of incidence structures. Fig. 8.1 shows the incidence structures used as
input, and Fig. 8.2 plots the times required for ﬁnding maximal genericallyreconstructible substructures. Fig. 8.1(a) is a top view of a pyramid with an
n-gonal base, whose incidence structure has 4n incidence pairs (recall that
we also count the background face, which has n incidence pairs; see Chapter3), (b) is a picture of a prism with a 2n-gonal base and n visible side faces,
whose incidence structure has 8n + 2 incidence pairs, and (c) is a top view ofa truncated pyramid with an n-gonal base, whose incidence structure has 6n
incidence pairs. The incidence structures associated with pictures (a) and(b) are generically reconstructible, whereas that associated with picture (c)is not. These three types of the incidence structures with various valuesof n were used as the input to Method 8.1, and the times required were
measured. The results are plotted in Fig. 8.2, where the horizontal axis
represents the size of the incidence pair set, |R|, in a linear scale, and thevertical axis represents the time required in an algorithmic scale. The broken
line shows the slope for O(|R|2 ). We can see that for large values of |R| (i.e.,
for |R| greater than 250), Method 8.1 runs in O(|R|2 ). The computer used150

8. Generic Reconstructibility

in the experiment was M-382 of Fujitsu Ltd., and the computer program
was written in Fortran77.

Figure 8.2. Times required for ﬁnding maximal generically reconstructible
substructures for various sizes of the incidence structures shownin Fig. 8.1.

Method 8.1 has freedom in the order in which elements of Y are chosen in
Step 2. Indeed diﬀerent orders create diﬀerent substructures as the output.
Even the size of the incidence pair set in the output substructure depends
on this order. To check all such substructures is not practical because wecome up against the problem of the combinatorial explosion. In practicalimplementation, therefore, we must deﬁne some appropriate order in whichelements of Y are chosen.
One natural order is the following. Recall that our purpose in ﬁnding
a maximal generically reconstructible substructure R∗ is the correction ofvertex position errors in the picture; the correction is made by displacing
vertices in V (R−R∗ ). As was shown in Section 7.1, the correction is possible
only when each vertex to be corrected is on at most three faces in F0 , where8.2 Generically Reconstructible Substructures

151

F0 is the set of faces having four or more vertices in the original incidence
structure. Thus our ﬁrst criterion is that incidence pairs containing thevertices that are on more than three faces in F0 should be chosen ﬁrst.
Next, as we pointed out in the discussion of Heuristic 7.1, it seems thatvertices incident to shorter edges are more likely to have greater errors intheir positions; they should be displaced ﬁrst in the correction. Thus, oursecond criterion is that incidence pairs containing vertices that are on longer
edges should be chosen as early as possible. On the basis of these two criteria,
we can deﬁne the order of the incidence pairs in the following way.
First, R is partitioned into R0 and R1 in such a way that R consists ofincidence pairs containing the vertices that are on four or more faces in F0(i.e., R0 = {(v, f ) | (v, f ) ∈ R, |F (v) ∩ F0 | ≥ 4}) and R1 = R − R0 . In otherwords, vertices appearing in R1 can be used for the correction whereas thosein R0 cannot. Next, with each element (v, f ) of R is associated the maximum
length of the line segments connected to the vertex v as its weight. Then,the order is deﬁned by arranging elements of R0 in the decreasing orderof the weights and next elements of R1 also in the decreasing order of theweights. When the incidence pairs are chosen in this order in Step 2, theresultant maximal generically reconstructible substructure, say (V, F, R∗ ), ismore likely to have the property that vertices in V (R − R∗ ) are on at mostthree faces in F0 and that they are on only shorter edges . This is what we
want.
Example 8.2. The line drawing shown in Fig. 8.3 represents a planarpanel object consisting of ﬁve panels, four of them forming a ring and theother in the diagonal. The line drawing has the incidence structure I =(V, F, R) whereV = {1, 2, . . . , 8},
F = {1, 2, . . . , 5},
R = {(1, 1), (1, 2), (1, 5), (2, 2), (2.3), (3, 1), (3, 3), (3, 4), (4, 4), (4, 5),(5, 1), (5, 2), (5, 5), (6, 2), (6, 3), (7, 1), (7, 3), (7, 4), (8, 4), (8, 5)},in which the vertex vα (α = 1, . . . , 8) and the face fj (j = 1, . . . , 5) are
abbreviated as α and j, respectively. It can be shown by primitive countingthat both R1∗ = R − {(1, 1)} and R2∗ = {(2, 2), (4, 4)} give maximal generically reconstructible substructures. Thus, the size of a maximal genericallyreconstructible substructure is not necessarily unique. Imai (1985) presented
another example of an incidence structure that has maximal generically reconstructible substructures of diﬀerent sizes.

152

8. Generic Reconstructibility

Figure 8.3. Planar-panel object whose incidence structure has two diﬀerent
sizes of maximal generically reconstructible substructures.

Chapter 9

Speciﬁcation of Unique
Shape
The three modules established so far have enabled a machine to extract
three-dimensional structures of objects from line drawings. However, what
can be extracted are qualitative structures only; for example, the machine
can tell which faces share an edge but cannot tell at what angle. From ourmathematical point of view, a correct line drawing can represent inﬁnitely
many diﬀerent objects. In the present and the next chapters, we consider
methods for selecting from the set of all possible objects the one that is mostconsistent with additional information such as lengths of edges given by adesigner or surface texture given in an image. Thus we shall construct the
fourth module of our mechanism. This chapter considers the case where theadditional data are accurate, whereas the next chapter treats the case where
the additional data may contain noises.

9.1

Object Speciﬁcation Using Precisely Drawn
PicturesFirst let us assume that a line drawing is a precise description of an object,that is, it is not a rough sketch, and hence the vertices are in correct position
up to digitization errors. Then, the set of all objects the line drawing canrepresent is identical with the set of all solutions to the system consistingof (7.1) and (5.2). Therefore, to specify a unique shape is nothing but toremove the degrees of freedom in the choice of the solution to (7.1) and (5.2).
As we have seen, the distribution of the degrees of freedom is characterized
by the matroid (H, ρH ) deﬁned by (5.4). In other words, an appropriate
153

154

9. Specification of Unique Shapeassignment of values to the unknowns in a certain subset of the unknown
set H  = {z1 , . . . , zn , a1 , b1 , c1 , . . . , am , bm , cm } determines the unique shape
if and only if the subset forms a base, where “appropriate” means that theassignment of values does not violate the inequality (5.2).
Using the structure of the matroid (H, ρH ), a machine can check the
insuﬃciency or the redundancy of additional information. Suppose that adesigner gives some values to unknowns in a subset, say X, of H in order toselect one of the solution to (7.1). If X is a dependent set of the matroid,
the given values are in general inconsistent with (7.1); there is no solution to(7.1) that has the given values for the unknowns in X. If X is an independent
set, on the other hand, the given values are always consistent with (7.1), but
the solution to (7.1) having the given values for the unknowns in X is notnecessarily unique. It is unique if and only if X is a maximal independent
set, that is, a base.
On the basis of this observation, we can construct the following two
strategies for a machine to guide a designer in specifying the unique shapeof the object.
In the ﬁrst strategy, the machine shows to the user a set of unknowns
that should be speciﬁed simultaneously for the unique reconstruction of
the object. That is, after constructing (7.1) and (5.2) and correcting the
input line drawing, the machine ﬁnds a base of the matroid (H, ρH ) andshows it to the user. Then, the user gives values to the unknowns in thebase, by which he can specify the polyhedral object uniquely. In order toﬁnd a base, we can use Theorem 6.3. Let I = (V, F, R) be the maximal
generically reconstructible substructure of the original incidence structurethat is used in the picture correction. Then, the size of a base must be
equal to |V | + 3|F | − |R|. Since a base can be obtained by the greedy type ofsearch, we can ﬁnd one by scanning the elements of V and adding them to an
initially empty set Y if the resultant set satisﬁes the condition in Theorem
6.3 until the size of Y reaches |V | + 3|F | − |R|. Once a base is chosen andthe user gives values to the unknowns in the base, the associated uniquesolution can be obtained by (7.2) where ξ is the vector consisting of thegiven values of the unknowns in the base; thus the machine can construct
the object shape quantitatively.
In the second strategy, on the other hand, a user selects the unknowns
whose values should be given, and the machine guides the user not to selectan inconsistent set of unknowns. At each step the machine shows to the user
the set of unknowns any one of which can still be speciﬁed independently, andthe user selects one of them. For simplicity, let us consider the case where
the user speciﬁes z values of some vertices. As before, let I = (V, F, R) be9.2 Roughly Drawn Pictures155

the maximal generically reconstructible substructure used for the picture
correction. For any subset Y of V , let us deﬁne T (Y ) by
T (Y ) = {v | v ∈ V − Y, ρV (Y ) < ρV (Y ∪ {v})}.
That is, v is an element of T (Y ) if and only if Y ∪ {v} has greater degrees
of freedom than Y has. Hence, if the user has given z coordinates to thevertices in Y , the z coordinate of the vertex v can still be given independently
if and only if v belongs to T (Y ). Note that the set T (Y ) can be constructedfrom Corollary 6.3.1. Therefore, the user and the machine can communicate
in the following manner. After the machine corrects an input line drawing,
the machine shows T (∅) to the user. The user ﬁrst chooses from T (∅) any
one vertex, say v1 , and gives a value to its z coordinate. Then, the machine
constructs T ({v1 }) and shows it to the user. The user next chooses one ofits elements, say v2 , and gives its z coordinate. Then, the machine shows
T ({v1 , v2 }) to the user, and so on. They repeat the communication until
the object shape is speciﬁed uniquely.

9.2

Object Speciﬁcation Using Roughly Drawn Pictures

It has been assumed in Section 9.1 that the line drawings are drawn precisely
within digitization errors; hence the x and y coordinates of vertices wereregarded as given constants, and the problem was to determine only thez coordinates. In human communication, on the other hand, pictures areoften drawn only roughly; they represent only qualitative aspects of theobjects. In that case vertex positions in the picture plane are not reliable,
and consequently the exact shape of the object to be recovered does notnecessarily belong to the set of solutions to (7.1) and (5.2). Hence, themathematical structures as to the degrees of freedom in the choice of theobjects will be quite diﬀerent from that for the case of precisely drawn
pictures.
Here we consider roughly drawn axonometric line drawings. This classincludes usual line drawings in the sense that the usual line drawings canbe regarded as axonometric line drawings in which no edges are parallel tothe axonometric axes.
As is seen in Section 5.4, an axonometric line drawing is an orthographic
projection of an object in which the axonometric axes are also drawn. The
axonometric axes are three mutually orthogonal unit vectors, say eX , eY , eZ ,which are usually chosen in such a way that many edges and faces of the156

9. Specification of Unique Shapeobject become parallel to them. Since the axonometric axes eX , eY , eZ areof unit length, their projections, say lX , lY , and lZ , respectively, represent
the ratios of compression of the lengths of edges that are parallel to the axonometric axes. In the axonometric projection the object posture is usuallychosen so that no edge that is not parallel to an axonometric axis becomes
accidentally parallel on the picture plane. Therefore, if a line segment in
the picture is parallel to lX , lY , or lZ , the orientation and the exact lengthof the corresponding three-dimensional edge is determined uniquely (recall
Heuristic 5.1).
In practical situations of engineering, we often use “axonometriclike” line
drawings (instead of precise ones) to represent rough shapes of objects, where
the line drawings are read with the following convention. Like axonometricline drawings, line segments that are nearly parallel to lX , lY , or lZ are
regarded as the projections of edges that are precisely parallel to the X, Y , orZ axis. However, unlike axonometric line drawings, lengths of line segments
drawn in the pictures are regarded as merely rough approximations to thetrue lengths of the projections of the edges. With this convention, the line
drawing in Fig. 5.9 is thought of as a picture of a triangular prism whose side
faces are perpendicular to the base triangle, but neither the precise shapeof the base triangle nor the height is known. Thus, this convention allows
us much greater degrees of freedom in the choice of the shape of the object
than when the line drawings are drawn precisely. In the present section we
consider line drawings with this convention.
Here, the algebraic approach taken in Section 5.4 seems useless. Indeed
a position of a vertex vα on the picture plane, (xα , yα ), may contain errors
so that we must treat xα and yα as unknown variables instead of given
constants. Consequently, (3.1) becomes nonlinear, and hence the resulting
system of equations seems intractable.
However, if we restrict our objects to trihedral ones (i.e., the objects inwhich vertices lie on exactly three faces), we can reduce the problems topurely combinatorial problems.
One simple way to deﬁne the precise shape of an object represented by aline drawing D and its spatial structure S is to ﬁx face planes one by one tothe (X, Y, Z) coordinate system. That is, we ﬁrst choose an arbitrary face,
say f1 , and specify the plane on which f1 should lie, next choose anotherface, say f2 , and specify the associated plane, and so on. As we add newface planes, edges and vertices of the object are gradually generated asintersections of the planes.
This method is simple but does not always succeed in deﬁning the shape.
Recall that every face of a polyhedron must be planar. Hence, when we add

9.2 Roughly Drawn Pictures

157

a new face plane to the already constructed substructure, the plane must be
chosen so that it passes through every vertex the face should have. However,
if four or more vertices that a new face should have are already located in
the substructure and are not coplanar, then it is impossible to add the newface plane; thus the method fails in deﬁning the whole shape of the object.
The situation is quite diﬀerent when we restrict our objects to trihedral
ones. A trihedral vertex is shared by exactly three faces, and consequently
the position of the vertex is determined only when all of the three faceplanes are given. Therefore, at each step of adding a new face to the alreadyconstructed substructure, any vertex that should be on the new face has
not yet been located; we can always add a new face plane and augment thesubstructure. Thus, the method is always successful. This observation leads
us to the following solution to the problem.
Suppose that we are given an axonometriclike line drawing D. As in
Section 5.4, let EX , EY , and EZ denote the sets of edges that are parallel to
eX , eY , and eZ , respectively. Furthermore, let FXY , FY Z , and FZX denotethe sets of faces that are parallel to the X-Y plane, the Y -Z plane, and theZ-X plane, respectively, and let FX , FY , and FZ denote the sets of facesthat are parallel only to the X axis, the Y axis, or the Z axis, respectively.
These sets can be constructed from the labeled line drawing D; for example,
a face fi belongs to FX if and only if fi has an edge in EX but no edge in
EY ∪ EZ , and fi belongs to FXY if and only if fi has both an edge in EX
and one in EY . Let F0 be the set of faces that are parallel to neither the X
axis, the Y axis, nor the Z axis. Thus, {FXY , FY Z , FZX , FX , FY , FZ , F0 } isa partition of F .
A face in FXY is parallel to the X-Y plane, and hence it can be represented by the equation Z = a, which contains only one parameter: a.
Similarly, faces in FY Z and in FZX are represented by one-parameter equations. A face in FX , which is parallel to the X axis, can be represented by
the equation Z = aY +b. Faces in FY and in FZ are also represented by twoparameter equations. A face in F0 , on the contrary, is on a general plane,
and is represented by a three-parameter equation aX + bY + cZ = 1 (thisequation cannot represent a plane that passes through the origin of the(x, y, z) coordinate system; however, note that the line drawing does not
specify the absolute position of the object in the space, and consequently wecan assume without loss of generality that no face is on the plane passing
through the origin). Thus, the total number of parameters is|FXY ∪ FY Z ∪ FZX | + 2|FX ∪ FY ∪ FZ | + 3|F0 |,which is equal to the degrees of freedom in the choice of the object repre-

158

9. Specification of Unique Shapesented by D. Note, however, that the degrees of freedom include the freedom
in the choice of the position and the posture of the object. Therefore, thedegrees of freedom in the choice of the shape itself, which shall be denotedby τ (D), is obtained in the following equation:
τ (D) = |FXY ∪ FY Z ∪ FZX | + 2|FX ∪ FY ∪ FZ | + 3|F0 | − p(D),(9.1)

where p(D) is the degrees of freedom in the choice of the position and theposture of the object, that is,p(D) = 3
p(D) = 4
p(D) = 6

if at least two of EX , EY , EZ are nonempty,
if exactly one of EX , EY , EZ is nonempty,
if EX , EY , EZ are all empty.

The value of p(D) can be interpreted in the following way. There are 6
degrees of freedom for us to ﬁx a rigid object to the coordinate system:
three for translation and three for rotation. Suppose ﬁrst that EX and EY
are nonempty. Then, the edges in EX and EY are constrained to be parallelto the associated axes; the object can admit translation, but not rotation.
Thus, p(D) = 3. Next suppose that only EX is nonempty. Then, the edges
in EX are constrained to be parallel to the X axis, and hence the object
admits translation in any direction and rotation about axes parallel to the
X axis. Thus, p(D) = 4. If EX , EY , EZ are all empty, the object can admit
any translation and any rotation, and hence p(D) = 6.
Note that in the case of an axonometriclike line drawing the degrees
of freedom in the choice of the shape, τ (D), depend only on the face sets
FXY , FY Z , FZX , FX , FY , FZ , F0 , and the edge sets EX , EY , EZ , whereas thedegrees of freedom for an axonometric line drawing, σH (H) − 1, deﬁned in
Section 5.4, depend also on the positions of the vertices in the picture D.
This is because, unlike an axonometric line drawing, the positions of vertices on the picture plane are regarded as rough estimates about the precise
positions, and consequently the degrees of freedom depend only on whichfaces contain which vertices and which edges are parallel to the coordinateaxes.
Now we have seen that τ (D) additional data are required for us to deﬁne
uniquely the shape of the object. The next question is which data are
required. This can be answered easily in the following way. Assign a linear
order to the faces such that the ﬁrst three faces share a common vertex and,for 4 ≤ i ≤ |F |, the ith face has two edges in common with the substructure
consisting of the ﬁrst i−1 faces (this is always possible for a trihedral object).
Give mutual angles between the ﬁrst three faces, if they have not yet been9.2 Roughly Drawn Pictures

159

given, and next for i = 4, 5, . . . , |F |, give appropriate data in order to ﬁx theith face with respect to the substructure consisting of the ﬁrst i − 1 faces.
Thus we can completely specify the shape of the object.

(a)

(b)

(c)

Figure 9.1. Axonometriclike line drawing of a trihedral object: (a) is a line
drawing, and (b) and (c) show two sets of additional data deﬁning the unique shape of the object.

Example 9.1. Consider the line drawing D shown in Fig. 9.1. The object
has eight faces, and they are numbered as shown in the ﬁgure. The face f1
is bounded by edges parallel to the X axis and edges parallel to the Z axis,
and consequently belongs to FZX . The face f7 has edges parallel to the Z
axis but no edges parallel to the X axis or the Y axis, and hence belongs to160

9. Specification of Unique Shape

FZ . The face f8 belongs to F0 because it has no edge that is parallel to thecoordinate axes. Other faces are classiﬁed similarly, and we get
FXY = {f3 , f4 },FX = FY = ∅,FY Z = {f2 , f5 },FZ = {f7 },FZX = {f1 , f6 }F0 = {f8 }.

Moreover, since the line drawing has edges parallel to the X axis and thoseparallel to the Y axis, rotation of the object is not allowed; p(D) = 3. Hence
we seeτ (D) = 6 + 2 × 1 + 3 × 1 − 3 = 8;
that is, eight additional data are necessary to deﬁne the shape of the object.
In order to ﬁnd a set of eight additional data, let us consider the linear
order of the faces (f1 , f2 , . . . , f8 ). Since the mutual angles of the ﬁrst three
faces are given (i.e., they meet at right angles), we need not add any data
for the speciﬁcation of the relative position of these three faces. Since f4 isparallel to f3 , f4 is ﬁxed to the substructure consisting of f1 , f2 , f3 by giving
the distance between f3 and f4 (the length d1 in (b)). Similarly, since f5
and f6 are parallel to f2 and f1 , respectively, they are ﬁxed by the distances
d2 and d3 in (b). The face f7 is parallel to the Z axis, and hence is ﬁxed
by giving two points through which the face should pass, which is done bylengths d4 and d5 . Finally, since f8 is not parallel to any coordinate axes,
its deﬁnition requires three additional data; for example, d6 , d7 , d8 in (b).
Thus, the eight additional data d1 , . . . , d8 in (b) all together deﬁne the shapeof the object uniquely.
Let us consider another linear order of the faces (f1 , f2 , f3 , f4 , f5 , f8 , f7 , f6 ).
The ﬁrst ﬁve faces are the same as in the previous order, so that the substructure consisting of these ﬁve faces is deﬁned by d1 and d2 . Next, inorder to deﬁne f8 , three new data are necessary, and an example of the setof the three data is {d3 , d4 , d5 } in (c), where d5 is the angle between f4 andf8 . The other faces, f7 and f6 , are deﬁned, for example, by d6 , d7 , d8 in (c),where d7 denotes the angle between f5 and f7 . Thus, (c) represents anotherset of eight additional data.
Example 9.2.
The method in this subsection is valid in the trihedral
object world; it is not necessarily valid for objects outside this world. A
counterexample is shown in Fig. 9.2. This line drawing represents an object
bounded by nine quadrilateral faces forming a shape that is topologicallyequivalent to a torus. Note that every vertex of this object is shared byfour faces. Therefore, when eight face planes are ﬁxed in the space, thepositions of all the vertices are determined, and in general the four vertices

9.2 Roughly Drawn Pictures

161

that should be on the ninth face are not coplanar. Thus, we cannot specify
the face planes in the one-by-one manner.

Figure 9.2. Non-trihedral object whose faces cannot be speciﬁed in the stepby-step manner.

Chapter 10

Recovery of Shape from
Surface Information
Visual information on the surfaces of objects, such as shading and texture,aﬀords us fruitful cues for recovering the three-dimensional structures ofthe objects. This chapter presents a method of using these cues as the additional information in order to determine the object structures quantitatively.
While in the previous chapter the additional data are assumed to be accurate, surface cues extracted from real images are not always very accurate.
Hence the shape recovery is considered as an optimization in the sense thatamong all the possible objects represented by a line drawing, the shape tobe recovered is the one that is most consistent with the additional surface
cues.

10.1

Shape Recovery as an Optimization

If line drawings are those extracted from photographic images of the outside world, surface information in the images is also available for the recovery of three-dimensional shape (Brady, 1982). There are exactly threedegrees of freedom in the choice of a planar surface or a small portion ofa curved surface that can be regarded as planar. These degrees of freedom
can be lessened by various kinds of visual information, such as light intensity under a priori known illumination conditions (Horn, 1975; Woodham,
1977, 1981; Ikeuchi, 1981; Coleman and Jain, 1982), apparent distortion of
known patterns (Kender, 1979; Kanade, 1981; Ikeuchi, 1984), surface contour (Stevens, 1981; Barrow and Tenenbaum, 1981; Marr, 1982), statisticalproperties of texture (Bajcsy and Lieberman, 1976; Witkin, 1981), vanishing
163

164

10. Shape from Surface Information

points (Nakatani and Kitahashi, 1984), and the distribution of small patternsizes (Ohta et al., 1981).
In general each of these cues alone is not enough to determine the surface
completely; they can remove the degrees of freedom only partially. However,
if we combine the surface information with the algebraic structure of line
drawings, we can determine the object shape uniquely from single-view images; that is, from all the scenes that the line drawing can represent we canchoose the one that is most consistent with the surface information. Thisis the basic idea of the shape recovery presented in this chapter (Sugihara,
1984a).
One general principle in computer vision is, “If surface information is
not enough to determine each surface locally, use global constraints that
constrain relative conﬁguration of the surfaces so that the total degrees
of freedom decrease” (Horn, 1975, 1977; Ikeuchi and Horn, 1981; Kanade,1981). The shape recovery method presented here is another example ofthis principle, where the algebraic structure of line drawings is used as theglobal constraint.
In the previous chapter the additional data were assumed to be precise,and consequently the problem was to ﬁnd a minimum set of additional datathat is suﬃcient to specify the object shape. In the case of surface information obtained from real images, on the other hand, we cannot expect thatthe data are always very accurate; they usually contain noises. Therefore,
instead of searching for a minimum set of additional data, we must search
for the shape that is most consistent with all of the additional information.
Keeping this in mind, we formulate the problem of shape recovery as a kindof an optimization problem.
Let D be a labeled line drawing extracted from a given image, and let
I ∗ = (V, F, R∗ ) be a maximal generically reconstructible substructure of
the incidence structure of D. Then, there is a one-to-one correspondence
between the set of all solutions to the system consisting of (7.1) and (5.2)
and the set of all scenes that the picture D can represent. Hence the problemof shape recovery can be regarded as the problem of selecting a solution to(7.1) and (5.2) that is most consistent with surface information.
We consider any cue that can lessen the degrees of freedom of the faces.
Let dk denote an observed value of the kth cue, and for any w satisfying (7.1)
and (5.2), let d∗k (w) denote a theoretical value of the kth cue that should
be observed if the exact scene is w. For example, if a face is covered witha grain texture of a known uniform density, we can adopt as dk and d∗k (w),respectively, the observed value and the theoretical one of the apparent
grain density on the surface; if the illumination condition and the surface

10.1 Shape Recovery as an Optimization165

reﬂectance are known, we can adopt as dk and d∗k (w) the observed value
and the theoretical one of light intensity on the face.
Let gk (w) be the diﬀerence of the two values:
gk (w) = dk − d∗k (w).

(10.1)

If there is no error in observation, the true scene w must satisfy gk (w) = 0;
this condition lessens the degrees of freedom of the face by 1. Since noises
are inevitable in real image data, we cannot expect gk (w) = 0 exactly.
However, if enough cues are available, we can seek a solution to the following
optimization problem:
Problem 10.1.
Minimize k sk (gk (w))2 , subject to (7.1) and (5.2),
where sk denotes a positive weight of the kth cue, and the summation is
to be taken over all available cues.
A solution w̄ to the optimization problem can be thought of as a scenethat is most consistent with the surface cues under the quadric error criterion. Thus, the fundamental scheme of our shape recovery is to adopt thesolution to the optimization problem as the shape to be recovered.
As we have seen in Section 7.2, the set of all solutions w to (7.1) and(5.2) coincides with the set of all vectors of the form w = h(ξ) satisfying(7.4). Hence, Problem 10.1 can be paraphrased by the next problem:
Problem 10.2

Minimize ϕ(ξ) =2
k sk (gk (h(ξ))) , subject to (7.4).

Note that the size of the vector ξ equals n + 3m − |R∗ | (where as before n
and m denote the number of vertices and the number of faces, respectively),
whereas the size of the vector w equals n + 3m. The size of w increases as
the scene becomes complicated, but the size of ξ usually does not increaseso rapidly as w; it often remains four or a little greater than four. Hence,
Problem 10.2 is much more tractable than Problem 10.1 in the sense thatthe number of variables is very small.
Thus our problem of shape recovery has been reduced to the constrained
optimization problem, where the constraints are expressed by the linear inequalities (7.4) and the objective function to be minimized is ϕ(ξ). However,in order to solve the problem we have to consider one more point.
In Problem 10.2 the constraint set, the set of solutions ξ to (7.4), is
not a closed set, because some of the inequalities in (7.4) do not allow
equalities (i.e., some inequalities are of the form > but not ≥). Generally aconstrained optimization problem does not necessarily have a solution when
its constraint set is not closed (Gill et al., 1981). In this sense Problem 10.2
seems unsound.

166

10. Shape from Surface Information

However, the unclosedness of the constraint set is a natural consequenceof the properties of pictures of polyhedral scenes. For example, some of theinequalities represent the condition that faces bend along edges. An edge
shared by two faces implies that the two faces meet at some angle otherthan π. This angle may be near to π, but is not equal to π because, if so,
the edge would disappear. Consequently, such inequalities do not include
equalities.
The unclosedness of the constraint set seems unsound only when we
consider Problem 10.2 as a “general” optimization problem. For our speciﬁc problem, the absence of equalities merely means that the shape to be
recovered does not lie on the boundary of such constraints.
Let(10.2)
B1 h(ξ) ≥ 0
be the set of all improper inequalities (i.e., inequalities including equalities)in (7.4), and let(10.3)
B2 h(ξ) > 0
be the set of all proper inequalities (inequalities excluding equalities). Then,the shape to be recovered may lie on the boundary of the constraints (10.2),
but never lies on the boundary of the constraints (10.3). That is, the inequalities in (10.3) are not “active” at the optimal point. In fact, this property
is not a diﬃculty, but makes the problem easier in the following manner.
An optimization problem is usually solved by an iterated process; starting with a certain initial point in a solution space, we repeatedly seek for abetter point until we reach the optimal point. One of the greatest diﬃculties
in solving a constrained optimization problem is to control each step in sucha way that the replaced point does not go out of the constraint set (Gill etal., 1981). This control is especially important when the optimal point lieson the boundary of the constraint set.
In our problem the optimal point does not lie on the boundary of theconstraints (10.3). Hence, if an initial point is chosen near enough to the
optimal point, we can ignore the inactive constraints (10.3). Thus we canlessen the number of constraints in the optimization.
Moreover, we can also ignore the other constraints (10.2) in the following sense. Note that our objective function to be minimized is the sum ofquadric diﬀerences between the observed values and the theoretical values of
the available cues. Hence the objective function is nonnegative, and if there
is no error in observation, it becomes zero at the optimal point. This meansthat the optimal point remains optimal even if we remove active constraints.

10.1 Shape Recovery as an Optimization

167

That is, the optimal point attains the local minimum of the objective function whether the constraints in (10.2) are considered or ignored. Hence if an
initial point is chosen suﬃciently near to the optimal point, we can reach the
optimal point by any local optimization method (such as a steepest descentmethod) even if we skip the control for preventing the point from going outof the constraint set. Therefore, instead of solving Problem 10.2 directly,
we search for the solution in the following manner. Starting with a certain
initial point ξ0 that satisﬁes (7.4), we search for the point ξ¯ which yields
the local minimum of the objective function of Problem 10.2. If ξ̄ satisﬁes(7.4), we adopt ξ̄ as a candidate of the shape to be recovered. Otherwise,
we choose a new initial point and repeat the process. Thus, we can establish
the next method for shape recovery.
Method 10.1 (Shape recovery).
Input: Image of a polyhedral scene and the corresponding labeled line drawing with an incidence structure I = (V, F, R).
Output: Three-dimensional shape represented in the image.
Procedure:
Step 1. Find a maximal generically reconstructible substructure I ∗ = (V, F, R∗ )of I, where R∗ ⊆ R.
Step 2. Construct Problem 10.2.
Step 3. Choose a vector ξ = ξ0 that satisﬁes (7.4).
Step 4. Find, starting with ξ0 , the locally minimum point ξ = ξ̄ of theobjective function ϕ(ξ).
Step 5. If ξ = ξ̄ satisﬁes (7.4) and ϕ(ξ̄) is smaller than a certain prespeciﬁed
threshold, go to Step 6. Otherwise, replace ξ0 with a new initialpoint satisfying (7.4) and go to Step 4.
Step 6. Construct a three-dimensional scene using vector w̄ = h(ξ̄) (whose
components represent the z coordinates of the vertices and thesurface equations of the faces).
Step 7. If R∗ = R end the processing. If R∗ = R (note that, in this case,the scene constructed in Step 6 does not necessarily satisfy the incidence constraints in R − R∗ because these constraints have been
removed), correct the positions of the vertices associated with elements in R − R∗ by ﬁnding intersections of the surfaces constructedin Step 6, and end the processing.
Step 1 can be done by Method 8.1. Step 2 consists of ﬁnding a set ofvertices whose z coordinates can be given independently (a method for thisis given in Theorem 6.3), calculating (7.2), and constructing an objectivefunction that depends on the cues available in the image. Since (7.4) is168

10. Shape from Surface Information

linear with respect to ξ, ξ0 in Step 3 can be found, for example, by linear
programming methods (Dantzig, 1963). Moreover, this step can be executedby Method 5.1 very quickly if there are exactly four degrees of freedom inthe solutions to (7.4). Step 4 is an unconstrained local optimization; it canbe done by any method (such as a steepest descent method). Steps 5 and 6
are obvious. Step 7 is the same as Step 3 in Method 7.1.

10.2

Some Examples

Here we shall show some examples in which Method 10.1 is applied to various
kinds of objects and surface cues.
Example 10.1 (Computer simulation for ideal images). In the ﬁrst
example Method 10.1 is applied to ideal light intensity data of a scene generated by a computer. This example is intended to illustrate basic behaviorof the method for a typical scene with typical surface information.
Fig. 10.1(a) shows a scene constructed in a computer, where a truncatedpyramid lies on a desk surface. Seen from above, it is projected orthographically on the x-y plane as shown in Fig. 10.1(b). Since this picture is also
generated by a computer, the vertex positions are correct up to digitization errors. It has ten visible vertices and ﬁve visible faces, and they are
numbered as in the ﬁgure.

(a)

(b)

Figure 10.1. Scene used in the computer simulation in Example 10.1: (a)shows an object on the ﬂoor that can be obtained by cutting
oﬀ the upper part of a pyramid with a slant cutting plane, and(b) is a top view of the scene.

10.2 Some Examples

169

Let I = (V, F, R) be the incidence structure of the picture. Then, weget
V = {1, 2, . . . , 10},F = {1, 2, . . . , 5},
R = {(1, 1), (2, 1), (3, 1), (3, 2), (3, 3), (4, 2), (4, 3), (4, 4), (5, 2), (5, 4), (5, 5),(6, 1), (6, 2), (6, 5), (7, 3), (7, 4), (7, 5), (8, 1), (8, 3), (8, 5), (9, 1), (10, 1)},
where vα and fj are abbreviated to α and j (α = 1, . . . , 10, j = 1, . . . , 5)because it is obvious from the context whether a number denotes the vertex
number or the face number. Since |V | + 3|F | = 25 < |R| + 4 = 26, I is not
generically reconstructible (see Theorem 6.2). If we delete from R any one incidence pair containing f2 , f3 , or f5 , then we get a generically reconstructible
substructure I ∗ = (V, F, R∗ ). Let us put R∗ = R − {(5, 5)}. From R∗ weconstruct the system of equations (7.1), consisting of 21 equations, withrespect to 25 unknowns w = t (z1 , · · · , z10 , a1 , b1 , c1 , · · · , a5 , b5 , c5 ). Corollary 6.2.1 assures us that the equations in (7.1) are linearly independent,
and hence the solutions to (7.1) can be expressed as a linear combinationof 4 free variables. According to the systematic way for ﬁnding a set offree variables (Theorem 6.3), we can, for example, put ξ = t (z1 , z2 , z3 , z4 ).
For the present example we easily see that when we specify ξ, the shape isdetermined uniquely. Thus we get the general form of solutions to (7.1) as
w = h(ξ), where ξ = t (z1 , z2 , z3 , z4 ).
Substituting this expression in (5.2), we get (7.4) and thus obtain theconstraint set of Problem 10.2 explicitly.
A light intensity image of the scene is also generated by a computer. The
scene is assumed to be illuminated by a parallel light. Let −l be a direction
vector along which the light is projected; that is, l is a vector from a pointon the surface toward the light source. Furthermore, it is assumed that thescene is covered with a Lambertian surface; light intensity at a point on thesurface is L cos θ where L is a constant depending on the light source andsurface reﬂectance, and θ is the incident angle, that is, the angle between
a surface normal n and the light source direction l. Then, when we haveﬁxed the light source direction l, the light intensity on the surface depends
only on its normal, and hence each planar face of the object has a constantintensity.
Let us deﬁne nk = (ak , bk , 1); that is, nk is a vector normal to the kth
surface ak x + bk y + z + ck = 0. Then, we obtain the light intensity dk on

170

10. Shape from Surface Information

this surface:dk = L · cos θ =L · l · nk
L · l · (ak , bk , 1).
= 
|l| · |nk ||l| (ak )2 + (bk )2 + 1

In the present experiment we put L = 1, l = (−1, 1, 3), and thus get theobserved value dk of the light intensity on the kth face (k = 1, . . . , 5):−ak + bk + 3,
dk = 
11((ak )2 + (bk )2 + 1)

k = 1, . . . , 5,

where ak and bk are ﬁxed real numbers given in the scene in Fig. 10.1(a).
Similarly, the theoretical value d∗k (w) of the light intensity on the kth face(k = 1, . . . , 5) in a scene w = t (z1 , · · · , z10 , a1 , b1 , c1 , · · · , a5 , b5 , c5 ) is given by
the right-hand side of the above equation in which ak and bk are regarded as
variables. Thus we obtain the objective function in Problem 10.2 explicitly:
ϕ(ξ) =
=

5

k=1
5


sk (dk − d∗k (w))2sk (dk − d∗k (h(ξ)))2 ,ξ = t (z1 , z2 , z3 , z4 ),k=1

where as the weight sk we adopt the area of the kth face on the picture
plane.
Because of our assumption concerning the illumination condition, thelight intensity data are invariant under the translation of the scene along
the z axis. Hence, without loss of generality we can ﬁx one of the freeparameters; we put z1 = 0. Then, our problem has only three unknowns(i.e., z2 , z3 , and z4 ), whereas the number of available cues is ﬁve, one foreach face. We have thus enough cues to recover the shape uniquely.
Now, we start solving the optimization problem. In order to illustrate thebehavior of the method, we have to display the recovered three-dimensional
shape. For this purpose we use, in what follows, the light stripe representation. Suppose that a virtual light source is set to the left of the viewpoint
and light is projected through a narrow vertical slit onto the scene, as isshown in Fig. 10.2. Then, an image of the slit on the surface of the scene
forms a piecewise linear polygonal line. Changing the direction of the slit
light and superimposing the resultant slit images upon each other, we get alight stripe image which reﬂects the shape of objects in the scene. While thelight stripe image was originally used for range ﬁnding (Shirai and Suwa,

10.2 Some Examples

171

Figure 10.2. Light stripe image.

(a)

(b)

Figure 10.3. Result of the recovery: (a) shows an initial shape, and (b) shows
the recovered shape that corresponds to the optimal point.

1971 ; Oshima and Shirai, 1979), it is also suitable for shape display in that
we can illustrate a three-dimensional shape without changing eye position.
Fig. 10.3(a) shows an initial shape satisfying (7.4), with which we start
the optimization. The result of recovery is shown in Fig. 10.3(b). We can

172

10. Shape from Surface Information

see that the initial shape (a) is not very near to the optimal shape (b). In
our experience we ﬁnd that the correct shape can be recovered from almost
any initial shape provided that the initial shape satisﬁes (7.4). Hence, weneed not repeat Steps 4 and 5 in Method 10.1 more than once.
On the other hand, if we start with the initial shape shown in Fig. 10.4(a),which does not satisfy (7.4), then we reach a local minimum that corresponds
to the shape shown in Fig. 10.4(b), in which the edges forming ridges andthose forming valleys are all interchanged with each other when comparedwith Fig. 10.3(b). Even if we come across this shape as a local minimum of
the objective function, we can easily reject it in Step 5 because it does notsatisfy the constraint (7.4). The interesting point is that Fig. 10.4(b) is very
similar to what is called Necker’s reversal (Gregory, 1971) or a “negative”
object (Kanade, 1981), in which the relative depths are all reversed. It
should be noted, however, that Fig. 10.4(b) is not the same as Necker’s
reversal in the following sense. A primal shape and its Necker’s reversal areboth correct interpretations of a picture, whereas Fig. 10.4(b) is incorrect
because it does not make the objective function zero. Indeed, the value of theobjective function at the local minimum point corresponding to Fig. 10.4(b)is equal to ϕ(ξ) = 7.21.

(a)

(b)

Figure 10.4. Reversed shape associated with a locally optimal point: (a)shows an initial shape, and (b) shows the shape that corresponds to a locally optimal point.

The situation is revealed more clearly when we plot the values objectivefunction ϕ(ξ) for various ξ = t (z1 , z2 , z3 , z4 ). We put z1 = z2 = z3 = 0 andmove z4 (that is, we ﬁx the desk surface to the correct position and alter one

10.2 Some Examples

173

Figure 10.5. Proﬁle of the objective function.

of the top vertices of the truncated pyramid). Then, ϕ(0, 0, 0, z4 ) changes
its value as shown in Fig. 10.5. When z4 > 0, ξ = t (0, 0, 0, z4 ) satisﬁes(7.4), whereas all of the inequalities in (7.4) are reversed if z4 < 0 (notethat this fact corresponds to the property stated in Theorem 5.4). As iseasily seen, ϕ(0, 0, 0, z4 ) has two locally minimum points denoted by P and
Q. P corresponds to the correct shape (Fig. 10.3(b)), and Q corresponds
to a reversed shape like Fig. 10.4(b) (note that Q does not correspond to
Fig. 10.4(b) exactly; in Fig. 10.4(b), z2 and z3 also have nonzero values).
Fig. 10.5 seems to suggest that the correct optimal point can be attained byany local optimization method for a very large range of initial points in theconstraint set.
In the above observation it is not very easy for us to understand the effect of the extraction of the generically reconstructible substructure I ∗ from
I. This is because our data do not contain vertex-position errors. Now we
perturb the vertex position; we change the position on the picture planeof the vertex 7 from (6.6, 2.6) to (6.5, 2.5), and apply our method to thenew picture. The shape corresponding to the optimal point is shown in
Fig. 10.6(a). We can observe that the surface has gaps along the edges 5-6

174

10. Shape from Surface Information

(a)

(b)

Figure 10.6. Shape recovery from a picture containing vertex-position errors: (a) shows the shape corresponding to the optimal point,where the surface has discontinuity, and (b) shows the ﬁnally
recovered shape, where the discontinuity is repaired.

and 5-7 (where the edge connecting i and j is denoted by i − j). This isbecause we deleted the incidence pair (5, 5) when we constructed the generically reconstructible substructure I ∗ . The incidence pair (5, 5) represents
the constraint that the vertex 5 should be on the face 5. Since this constraint
has been deleted, it is not satisﬁed by the recovered shape in Fig. 10.6(a).
It should be noted that, if we did not delete this constraint, we could notreconstruct any shape. Indeed, the picture is incorrect and hence Problem
10.1 has no solutions due to the superstrictness of the system of equations(5.1) associated with I.
All we have to do in order to repair the gaps in Fig. 10.6(a) is to ﬁnd
the exact point of intersection of the three recovered faces, the faces 2, 4,
and 5. The result of the repair is shown in Fig. 10.6(b). This is the reason
why Step 7 in Method 10.1 is necessary.
Example 10.2 (Recovery of the shape from light intensity). The
second example is an application of Method 10.1 to real shading images ofplaster objects.
The scenes were set on a desk surface in an ordinary room. The desksurface was covered with light gray cloth, and objects made of plaster wereput on it. Photographs were taken by a camera with a 50-mm lens, which
was about 1.3m distant from the scenes. The scenes were illuminated bysix 40-watt ﬂuorescent lights on the ceiling together with a 300-watt bulb

10.2 Some Examples

(a)

175

(b)

Figure 10.7. Calibration of the illumination condition: (a) is a light intensity image of a sphere, and (b) shows the contours of the lightintensity plotted in the gradient space.

to the left of the camera.
In order to register the theoretical values, d∗k (w) in (10.1), of the lightintensity cue, we ﬁrst placed a sphere on the desk and took a photograph(Fig. 10.7(a)). In the real world, the light intensity of a point on the surface is
not determined only by the direct light from the sources toward the point;
it also depends on secondary light that reaches the point after reﬂectingfrom other surfaces, and hence depends on the shape around. As a roughapproximation, however, we assumed in this example that the light intensity
depends only on the surface normal. Since a sphere has a surface point for
any normal direction, we can read from Fig. 10.7(a) the light intensity value
on a surface of any given normal.
The surface equation ax + by + z + c = 0 represents a family of mutually
parallel planes when we regard a and b as constants and c as a variable. This
family is speciﬁed by the two parameters a and b. Thus the pair (a, b) canrepresent the orientation of the surface. Regarding a and b as the horizontal
and vertical coordinates, we can represent each orientation by a point in
a two-dimensional space. This space is called the gradient space. Since
we assume that the light intensity on the surface is determined only by its
orientation, the light intensity can be considered a two-variable function
deﬁned on the gradient space. Fig. 10.7(b) shows contours (i.e., the curves

176

10. Shape from Surface Information

on which the value does not change) of the light intensity plotted on thegradient space. The smallest closed curve denotes a contour of the highest
light intensity, and the light intensity descends as we go outward. The
intensity descends rather slowly in the left lower direction in Fig. 10.7(b).
This is mainly because secondary light reﬂected on the desk surface wasstronger in the left lower part of the sphere.
Then, a scene to be recovered was set under the same illumination condition. Fig. 10.8(a) is an image of a scene in which a dodecahedron lay on
the desk. Using an interactive system, we processed this image. The system extracted edges as in (b), and an operator chose important lines as in(c). Then, the system organized the lines and constructed a line drawing
as shown in (d), where the edge 7-8 was added according to an instruction
given by the operator.
The incidence structure of this line drawing is not generically reconstructible. In order to get a generically reconstructible substructure wedeleted the constraint that vertex 8 lies on face 5 (see (e) for the face numbers). We chose this constraint because the position of vertex 8 was determined as the intersection of only two lines, the lines 8-4 and 8-12, and hence
it seems less reliable (recall that a vertex associated with a deleted incidence
pair may be displaced in Step 7 of Method 10.1).
Since the distance from the scene to the camera was not large enough,we formulated the algebraic structure of the line drawing on the basis of theperspective projection model in Section 3.7, and obtained the constraint set(7.4).
From the line drawing in (d) the system also found face regions as shownin (e). For a face k (k = 1, . . . , 6), the system computed the average intensity
dk and the region area sk ; they are used in the objective function ϕ(ξ) of
Problem 10.2 as the observed value and the weight, respectively, of the kthcue.
The scene had four free parameters (we can, for example, choose ξ =t (z , z , z , z )). However, in a way similar to that in Example 10.1, the1 2 3 4
present cues are invariant under scaling: (x, y, z) → (px, py, pz) (recall thatthe eye was at the origin). Hence, one of the free parameters can be ﬁxed
arbitrarily, and consequently the number of unknowns is three whereas thenumber of cues is six. Thus, we have enough cues to recover the shapeuniquely.
Starting with an initial shape shown in (f), we got the optimal shape asshown in (g), where the surface has discontinuity along the edges 7-8 and
8-12. Discontinuity was repaired and the ﬁnal result was obtained, as shownin (h).

10.2 Some Examples

177

(a)

(b)

(c)

(d)

(e)

(f)

(g)

(h)

Figure 10.8. Recovery from light intensity data, I: (a) is an image, (b) extracted edges, (c) selected edges, (d) a line drawing, (e) faceregions, (f) an initial shape, (g) the shape corresponding to the
optimal point, and (h) the ﬁnally recovered shape.

178

10. Shape from Surface Information

(a)

(b)

(c)

(d)

Figure 10.9. Recovery from light intensity data, II: (a) is an image, (b) isa line drawing, (c) is the shape corresponding to the optimal
point, and (d) is the recovered shape.

Another example is shown in Fig. 10.9. The object is composed of a rectangular cone and a rectangular prism penetrating each other . Fig. 10.9(a)is a light intensity image, and (b) is a line drawing extracted from (a). If we
ignore the background, the line drawing has six faces (they were numbered
as shown in (b)), but the system was told that faces 3 and 4 and faces 5 and6 are, respectively, coplanar. Therefore, its incidence structure has 16 vertices, 4 distinct planar surfaces, and 28 incidence pairs, and, consequently,
four incidence pairs were deleted for the construction of a generically reconstructible substructure (note that |R| + 4 − |V | − 3|F | = 4). The optimal
shape is shown in (c). We can see surface gaps along several edges, which are
due to the deletion of some incidence pairs. Repairing the gaps, we obtained
the ﬁnal result, as shown in (d).

10.2 Some Examples

179

Example 10.3 (Recovery of the shape from texture density). In
the present example, Method 10.1 was applied to orthographic images ofscenes in which objects were covered with a grain texture of a known uniform
density.
Scenes were composed of polyhedral objects covered with a grain texture.
Sizes of the objects were about 180mm∼230mm in their maximum diameters. Photographs were taken by a camera with a 200-mm telephoto lensthat was about 5 m distant from the objects, which allows us to assume, asa rough approximation, that the photographs are orthographic projectionsof the scenes.
Fig. 10.10(a) shows an image of a textured object. The object chosen
here was what produces an “anomalous picture” (see Section 7.4). Fig. 10.10(b)is an image of the same object seen from another angle. This image is presented only to help readers to understand the shape of the object; it was not
used for shape recovery. A rectangular plate covered with the same texture
was also put in the scene. The normal to the plate faced toward the camera
so that an apparent density might coincide with the real density. From theimage of this plate we calculated the theoretical value of the grain densityof a planar surface with any given gradient.
A line drawing of the object is shown in (c). The incidence structureof this picture is not generically reconstructible. Starting with an initial
shape in (d), we got the optimal shape, as shown in (e), in which the surface
had discontinuity along some edges. Finding the correct intersections of therecovered faces, we got the ﬁnal result of the recovery, as shown in (f).

180

10. Shape from Surface Information

(a)

(b)

(c)

(d)

(e)

(f)

Figure 10.10. Recovery from texture density: (a) is an input image, (b)shows the same scene viewed from another angle, (c) is a line
drawing, (d) is an initial shape, (e) is the shape corresponding
to the optimal point, and (f) is the recovered shape.

Chapter 11

Polyhedrons and Rigidity
All the preceding chapters are devoted to one goal, machine extraction ofpolyhedral structures from plane pictures; we have studied only those aspects of line drawings that are necessary to attain this goal. However, line
drawings of polyhedrons have many other interesting characteristics. In particular, it has been known for more than a century that there is a beautiful
and useful correspondence between line drawings of polyhedrons and therigidity of plane skeletal structures. This aspect has a close relationship to
the notions of “dual pictures” and the “gradient space”, which are familiarin scene analysis. In this chapter we study this correspondence from our
combinatorial point of view, and establish generic versions of the correspondence between two objects.

11.1

Gradient Space and Reciprocal Diagrams

In our computational mechanism we took an algebraic approach to checking
the correctness of labeled line drawings; the problem of judging the correctness of a picture was reduced to the problem of judging the satisﬁability ofcertain linear constraints (recall Chapters 3 and 4). In previous works oninterpretation of line drawings, on the other hand, this approach was nottaken widely; instead , another approach , a gradient space approach, hasprevailed (Huﬀman, 1971 , 1977a, 1977b; Mackworth, 1973; Whiteley, 1979,
1982; Kanade, 1980, 1981; Draper, 1981). The algebraic approach is more
powerful than the gradient space approach in that the former can give anecessary and suﬃcient condition for correctness, whereas the latter gives ingeneral only a necessary condition (Sugihara, 1984b). However, the gradient space approach seems useful for understanding incorrectness of pictures
181

182

11. Polyhedrons and Rigidity“intuitively”. Here, we review the basic idea of the gradient space approach.
In addition to Assumptions 2.1 to 2.5, we put forth two more assumptions
for polyhedrons considered in this chapter. For a polyhedron P , let Int(P )denote the set of interior points of P ; that is, Int(P ) consists of those pointsof P that are not on the surface of P . Next, for a point p in R3 and apositive real number r, let Ball(p, r) denote the ball with the radius r andthe center at p, that is, Ball(p, r) = {q | q ∈ R3 , d(p, q) ≤ r} where d(p, q) is
the Euclidean distance between p and q.
Assumption 11.1.
For any point p on the surface of a polyhedron
P , there exists a positive real number r0 such that, for any 0 < r ≤ r0 ,Ball(p, r) ∩ Int(P ) is simply connected.
This assumption includes Assumption 2.2. Indeed, if a point p is on
the edge e in Fig. 2.1, Ball(p, r) ∩ Int(P ) consists of two mutually disconnected portions; thus, under Assumption 11.1 every edge is shared by exactly two faces. Moreover, this assumption enables us to exclude “pathological” vertices such as a vertex v in Fig. 11.1(a), because, for this vertex v,
Ball(v, r) ∩ Int(P ) consists of two mutually disconnected portions. Thus, if
Assumption 11.1 is valid, at every point on the surface of a polyhedron theneighboring space is partitioned into two connected portions, one occupied
with material and the other vacant. Hence in particular, one can visit alledges and faces incident to a vertex in a certain cyclic order when one moves
on the surface around the vertex.

(a)

(b)

Figure 11.1. A vertex and a face inhibited by the assumptions. The vertex
v in (a) does not satisfy Assumption 11.1, and the face f in (b)does not satisfy Assumption 11.2.

Assumption 11.2.

Every face of a polyhedron is simply connected.

11.1 Gradient Space183

This assumption implies that every face is a polygon and has no holes.
Hence, the polyhedron shown in Fig. 11.1(b), for example, is excluded, because the face f has a hole. This assumption assures us that the boundaryof a face is connected in a graph theoretical sense, and hence one can visit
all the edges and vertices on the boundary of a face in a certain cyclic orderwhen one travels on the boundary.
Suppose that a viewer at an inﬁnite distance in the positive direction of
the z axis sees a planar surface represented by an equation ax+by+z+c = 0.
We can consider that the surface equation deﬁnes −z as a function of thetwo variables x and y: −z = ax + by + c. Partially diﬀerentiating it by x
and y, respectively, we get
−

∂z
= a,
∂x

−

∂z
= b.
∂y

(11.1)

Hence, a and b represent the distances by which a point on the surface
goes away from the viewer when it moves by unit length in the x or they direction without departing from the surface. The ordered pair (a, b) iscalled the gradient of the surface. The gradient represents how the surface
tilts and slants. If a = b = 0, the surface faces precisely toward the viewer.
A surface with a = 0 slants in the x direction; if a > 0, the surface faces
toward the right of the viewer, whereas if a < 0, it faces toward the left
(note that this is true only for a right hand coordinate system; in the caseof a left hand coordinate system, the surface faces toward the left of theviewer if a > 0, and toward the right if a < 0). Similarly, a surface withb = 0 slants in the y direction; if b > 0, the surface slants upward, whereas
if b < 0, it slants downward.
The gradient (a, b) can be considered as a point on a plane whose ﬁrst
and second coordinates are represented by a and b, respectively. The planewith the (a, b) coordinate system deﬁned as above is called the gradientspace. Each point in the gradient space corresponds to some orientationof the surface, and hence it corresponds to a family of mutually parallel
surfaces.
The use of the gradient space for line drawing interpretation is basedon the following observation. Let aj x + bj y + z + cj = 0 (j = 1, 2) beequations of two surfaces. If they are not parallel, they intersect at a line
and the orthographic projection of the line of intersection onto the x-y planeis represented by(a1 − a2 )x + (b1 − b2 )y = −(c1 − c2 ),(11.2)

184

11. Polyhedrons and Rigidity

which is obtained if we eliminate the variable z from the two surface equations. Eq. (11.2) shows that the image of the line of intersection is perpendicular to the vector (a1 − a2 , b1 − b2 ). In other words, if the gradient spaceis superposed on the picture plane in such a way that the a axis and the baxis are parallel to the x axis and the y axis, respectively, then the imageof the line of intersection is perpendicular to the line connecting the two
associated gradients (a1 , b1 ) and (a2 , b2 ).
Let (V, E) denote an undirected graph having the node set V and thearc set E without self-loops. A triple (V, E, h) is called a diagram if h is amapping from the node set V to the two-dimensional plane R2 . Intuitively,
the diagram (V, E, h) can be considered as a picture of the underlying graph(V, E); the nodes are plotted at the positions speciﬁed by the mapping h,
and the arcs are represented by straight line segments connecting the twoterminal nodes. For the diagram (V, E, h), elements of V are called points
and elements of E line segments. Note that in the diagram two line segments
may cross each other, and moreover two distinct nodes may occupy the same
position.
Let P be a polyhedron ﬁxed to an (x, y, z) Cartesian coordinate system,
and let V, E, and F be the sets of vertices, edges, and faces, respectively,of P . Furthermore, let (xα , yα , zα ) denote the coordinates of the αth vertex
vα ∈ V , and let hV be the mapping from V to R2 such that hV (vα ) =(xα , yα ). Then, V D(P ) = (V, E, hV ) is a diagram obtained by projecting P
orthographically onto the x-y plane; that is, V D(P ) is a diagram composedof |V | points and |E| solid line segments where the points are the imagesof the vertices and the line segments are the images of the edges. V D(P )is called the vertex-edge diagram of P . The vertex-edge diagram V D(P ) isslightly diﬀerent from a hidden-part-drawn line drawing, considered in theprevious chapters, in that in V D(P ) visible edges and hidden edges are notdistinguished and accidental crossings of line segments are not counted in thenode set. Intuitively, the introduction of the diagram V D(P ) corresponds
to considering P as an object made of transparent material.
For the polyhedron P ﬁxed in the space, let aj x + bj y + z + cj = 0 denotethe surface containing the jth face fj ∈ F , and let hF be the mapping fromF to R2 such that hF (fj ) = (aj , bj ); that is, hF (fj ) denotes the gradient of
the surface fj . The ordered pair (F, E) can be considered as an undirected
graph if an element e of E is regarded as a pair of the side faces of theassociated edge e of the polyhedron P . Hence, we get another diagram
F D(P ) = (F, E, hF ); it is obtained from P by ﬁrst plotting the gradientsof the faces on the gradient space and next connecting two gradients by aline segment if and only if the two associated faces share a common edge11.1 Gradient Space185

in P . F D(P ) is called the face-edge diagram of P . Note that F D(P ) canalways be deﬁned because the object P is assumed to be in general position(Assumption 2.4). The diagram F D(P ) has |F | points and |E| line segments,
and there is a natural one-to-one correspondence between the line segments
in V D(P ) and those in F D(P ). Recall that the gradient represents theorientation of the surface; accordingly, if P has mutually parallel faces, thecorresponding points occupy the same position in the diagram.
Two diagrams are said to be reciprocal if there is a one-to-one correspondence between their line segments, so that one diagram can be superimposedon the other in such a way that corresponding line segments are perpendicular, and corresponding line segments that converge to a point in one diagram
form a closed path in the other.
Now we get the next theorem, which has been known for a long time
(Maxwell, 1864, 1870; see also Mackworth, 1973).
Theorem 11.1. For any polyhedron P , the vertex-edge diagram V D(P ) =(V, E, hV ) and the face-edge diagram F D(P ) = (F, E, hF ) are reciprocal.
Proof.
The line segments in both of the diagrams come from the sameedge set E, and hence there is a natural one-to-one correspondence between
the two line segment sets. As has been observed in (11.2), the corresponding
line segments become perpendicular if the two diagrams are superimposed insuch a way that the a and b axes are parallel to the x and y axes, respectively.
For any vertex v (∈ V ), let (e0 , f1 , e1 , f2 , e2 , . . . , fk , ek ) (where ei ∈ E,
fj ∈ F, e0 = ek ) be an alternating sequence of edges and faces that are
incident to the vertex v and are found in this order when one moves on
the surface counterclockwise around the vertex v. Note that because ofAssumption 11.1 this alternating sequence is unique up to the choice of thestarting edge e0 . Then, the edge set {e1 , e2 , . . . , ek } forms the line segments
converging to the point hV (v) in the diagram V D(P ), and simultaneously
it forms a closed path connecting k points hF (f1 ), hF (f2 ), . . . , hF (fk ) in thisorder in the other diagram, F D(P ). Conversely, for any face f (∈ F ), let(e0 , v1 , e1 , v2 , e2 , . . . , vk , ek ) (where ei ∈ E, vα ∈ V, e0 = ek ) be an alternating
sequence of edges and vertices surrounding the face f counterclockwise inthis order. This sequence is also unique up to the choice of the initial edgee0 (recall Assumption 11.2). Then, the edge set {e1 , e2 , . . . , ek } results inthe line segments converging to the point hF (f ) in F D(P ) on one hand, andit results in a closed path connecting the points hV (v1 ), hV (v2 ), . . . , hV (vk )in this order in V D(P ) on the other hand. Therefore, the two diagrams arereciprocal.

186

11. Polyhedrons and Rigidity

(a)

(a’)

(b)

(b’)

(c)

(c’)

Figure 11.2. Reciprocal pairs of diagrams.

11.1 Gradient Space

187

Example 11.1. Three pairs of mutually reciprocal diagrams are shown in
Fig. 11.2. The diagrams (a), (b), and (c) are the projection of a tetrahedron,a tapered prism, and a hexahedron, respectively, and the diagrams (a’), (b’),
and (c’) are reciprocal to them. The same numbers are assigned to mutuallycorresponding line segments.
Since the incidence structure of a tetrahedron is generically reconstructible,
diagram (a) continues to represent a tetrahedron correctly even if the four
points are moved arbitrarily, provided that they are in generic position, andhence from Theorem 11.1 it always has a reciprocal ﬁgure. This observation
leads to the following theorem: “Let pi (i = 1, . . . , 4) and qi (i = 1, . . . , 4)
be two groups of points in generic position on a plane. If ﬁve out of six
conditions pi pj ⊥qi qj (1 ≤ i < j ≤ 4; ⊥ represents that the two lines areperpendicular to each other) are fulﬁlled, then the other one is also fulﬁlled.” This theorem is called Reidemeister’s theorem (Gurevich, 1960; seealso Maxwell, 1864).
On the other hand, the incidence structure of a tapered prism and thatof a hexahedron are not generically reconstructible; if the points of diagramsin (b) and (c) are displaced so that they are in generic position, they will
not represent any polyhedrons. Indeed, in diagram (b) the three lines 1,
2, 3 are concurrent (this implies that the three side faces have a common
point of intersection in the space), and in diagram (c) these four pairs oflines——1, 9; 2, 10; 3, 11; 4, 12——intersect at a common line (this implies
that the top face and the bottom face intersect at a line). If these conditions
are disturbed, they do not have reciprocal diagrams.
Theorem 11.1 implies that a diagram obtained as a projection of a polyhedron has a reciprocal diagram; in other words, a diagram having no reciprocal diagram cannot be a projection of any polyhedron. Moreover, as wehave seen in Theorem 3.4, whether a diagram is a projection of a polyhedron
does not depend on whether the projection is orthographic or perspective.
Thus we get the following corollary.
Corollary 11.1.1.
A diagram having no reciprocal diagram cannot be
an orthographic or perspective projection of any polyhedron.
This corollary provides a graphical method for checking inconsistency inline drawings of polyhedrons. Given a hidden-part-drawn line drawing, we
try to ﬁnd its reciprocal diagram, and if it does not exist, we can conclude
that the line drawing is not correct. This is the basic scheme adopted in thegradient space approach to checking inconsistency in interpretation of line
drawings.

188

11. Polyhedrons and Rigidity

Note that the reciprocity stated in Theorem 11.1 holds only when all
the edges of an object are drawn in the diagrams. If a line drawing represents only the visible part of a polyhedron P , it is in general a subdiagramof V D(P ) and consequently the last condition for the reciprocity (i.e., thecondition that corresponding line segments that converge to a point in one
diagram form a closed path in the other) cannot be expected. Thus, Corollary 11.1.1 cannot be applied directly to hidden-part-eliminated line drawings. However, a weaker condition, that is, the condition that correspondinglines are perpendicular, is still valid; it was widely used for checking inconsistency in line drawings (Huﬀman, 1971, 1977a, 1977b; Mackworth, 1973;
Kanade, 1980, 1981).
It should be noted that even if the hidden part is drawn in the line
drawing, Corollary 11.1.1 is not perfect for recognizing inconsistency. To
have a reciprocal diagram is a necessary, but not suﬃcient, condition fora line drawing to represent a polyhedral scene. Indeed, diagram (c’) in
Fig. 11.2 has a reciprocal diagram, that is, (c), but obviously it does not
represent any polyhedron. This is one of reasons why we have not taken thegradient space approach but have taken the algebraic approach, which gives
us a necessary and suﬃcient condition for correctness, as shown in Theorems
3.3 and 4.1.

11.2

Rigidity of Plane Skeletal Structures

We have considered two-dimensional diagrams as projections of three-dimensional polyhedral objects. Here we introduce quite another way of interpreting the diagrams, namely, as two-dimensional frameworks composed of rigid
rods and rotatable joints.
Let D = (V, E, h) be a diagram whose underlying graph (V, E) has nnodes and l arcs (n = |V | and l = |E|). The diagram D is called a planeskeletal structure (or a skeletal structure in short) when the line segments(the elements of E) are considered as rigid rods and the points (the elementsof V ) as rotatable joints. A joint connects end points of two or more rods insuch a way that the mutual angles of the rods can change freely if the otherends are not constrained. This kind of a joint can be realized physically bya pin joint at which the rods are connected by a pin that is perpendicular
to the plane on which the structure lies. The graph (V, E) is called theunderlying graph of the skeletal structure D.
Now let us consider how a skeletal structure can move and deform. Let
D = (V, E, h) be a plane skeletal structure, and let h(vα ) = (xα , yα ) for a11.2 Rigidity

189

joint vα ∈ V . A rod connecting vα and vβ constrains the movement of D insuch a way that the distance between the joints is constant:(xα − xβ )2 + (yα − yβ )2 = const.
Diﬀerentiating it by time parameter t, we get(xα − xβ )(ẋα − ẋβ ) + (yα − yβ )(ẏα − ẏβ ) = 0,

(11.3)

where the dot denotes the diﬀerentiation by t. This equation implies thatthe relative velocity of the two terminal joints should be perpendicular to
the rod; that is, the rod should not be stretched or compressed. Gathering
all such equations, we get a system of linear equations
Hd = 0,(11.4)

where d is the unknown vector d = t (ẋ1 , ẏ1 , . . . , ẋn , ẏn ), and H is an (l×2n)dimensional matrix whose entities, say hij , are deﬁned by hi,2α−1 = xα − xβand hi,2α = yα − yβ if one of the terminal joint of the ith rod is vα where vβ
denotes the other joint, and hi,2α−1 = hi,2α = 0 otherwise (i = 1, 2, . . . , l and
α = 1, 2, . . . , n). A vector d that satisﬁes (11.4) is called an inﬁnitesimal
displacement of the skeletal structure D. The inﬁnitesimal displacements of
D form a linear subspace of R2n , and its dimension is equal to 2n−rank(H).
The rigid motions in a plane yield a three-dimensional subspace of this linear
space. The skeletal structure D is called inﬁnitesimally rigid (or rigid inshort) if 2n−rank(H) = 3, that is, if the dimension of the linear space formedby the inﬁnitesimal displacements equals the dimension of the linear spaceyielded by the rigid motions (this deﬁnition of rigidity is due to Laman, 1970;
there are several other deﬁnitions of rigidity, such as “continuous rigidity”
by Asimow and Roth, 1978, and “second order rigidity” by Connelly, 1980).
The rigidity of a structure depends on the positions of joints. The structure shown in Fig. 11.3(a) is rigid while the one in (b), which has the sameunderlying graph, is not rigid; the assignment of velocities indicated by thearrows (the vertices without arrows are assumed to have zero velocities)
forms an inﬁnitesimal displacement because the relative velocity of two terminal points of any rod is perpendicular to the rod. Similarly, though thestructures in (c) and (d) have the same underlying graph, (c) is rigid and(d) is not. An inﬁnitesimal displacement does not always correspond to an
actual movement of a structure; the structure in (b) deforms mechanically,
whereas the structure in (d) does not. The structure in (d) is categorized
as nonrigid only because our deﬁnition of rigidity requires the absence ofinﬁnitesimal deformations.

190

11. Polyhedrons and Rigidity

(a)

(b)

(c)

(d)

Figure 11.3. Rigid and nonrigid structures.

For each rod ei (∈ E), let us consider a real-valued quantity, say ui , thatsatisﬁes the next two equations for any joint vα (∈ V ):
(xα − xβ )ui = 0,

(11.5a)(yα − yβ )ui = 0,

(11.5b)ei ∈{vα ,vβ }ei ∈{vα ,vβ }where the summations are taken over all rods that are incident to the joint
vα . If the two-dimensional vector ((xα − xβ )ui , (yα − yβ )ui ) (where ei ={vα , vβ } ∈ E) is regarded as force which the joint vα receives from therod ei , then the equations (11.5a) and (11.5b) together represent that theforces acting on vα are in the state of equilibrium; (11.5a) represents theequilibrium in the x components of the forces, and (11.5b) represents thatin the y components.
Gathering all the equations of the forms (11.5a) and (11.5b), we get 2nequations which can be written as
uH = 0,(11.6)

where H is the same coeﬃcient matrix as in (11.4), and u is the row vectoru = (u1 , u2 , . . . , ul ). A vector u that satisﬁes (11.6) shall be called anequilibrium vector. For an equilibrium vector u, if ui > 0, the force acts
in such a way that the two terminal joints of the rod ei are pushed awayfrom each other, and at its reaction the rod suﬀers compression. If ui < 0,on the other hand, the force acts so that the two terminal joints are pulled
together, and the rod suﬀers tension. The equilibrium vectors form a linear
subspace of Rl and its dimension is l − rank(H).

11.2 Rigidity

191

From the deﬁnition of the matrix H, each row of H corresponds to arod. For any subset X of E, let H(X) be the submatrix of H formed by therows that correspond to the rods in X, and let us deﬁne a function τE by
τE (X) = rank(H(X)).

(11.7)

Then, (E, τE ) forms a matroid deﬁned by the ground set E and the rankfunction τE (Welsh, 1976). If E is an independent set of this matroid, there
is no redundancy in the rods and deletion of any rod from the structure
results in an increase in the dimension of the linear space formed by theinﬁnitesimal displacements. Moreover, E being independent implies thatthe matrix H is of row full rank and hence the only equilibrium vector
is u = 0; the structure admits nonzero equilibrium vectors only when E
is dependent in the matroid (E, τE ). The matroid (E, τE ) was studied by
Crapo (1979), Rosenberg (1980), Lovász (1980), Lovász and Yemini (1982),
Sugihara (1983), Whiteley (1984a), Recski (1984a, 1984b, 1984c), and Tay
and Whiteley (1984).
The joints of the skeletal structure D = (V, E, h) are said to be in generic
position if x1 , y1 , . . . , xn , yn are algebraically independent over the rational
ﬁeld (where h(vα ) = (xα , yα ), vα ∈ V, |V | = n). In the case that the joints
are in generic position, any polynomial of x1 , y1 , . . . , xn , yn with rational coeﬃcients, and hence in particular the determinant of any submatrix of H,
is 0 if and only if it is identically 0 when we consider x1 , y1 , . . . , xn , yn as
indeterminate symbols. Therefore, if the joints are in generic position, thelinear independence of the rows of H depends only on the underlying graph(V, E), and consequently the rigidity also depends only on the graph. For
any subset X of the edge set E of the graph (V, E), X is called genericallyindependent if τE (X) = |X| for a skeletal structure D = (V, E, h) whose
joints are in generic position, and generically dependent otherwise. The
graph (V, E) is called generically independent if E is generically independent. Furthermore, the graph (V, E) is called generically rigid if a skeletal
structure D = (V, E, h) with the joints in generic position is rigid. The
generic independence is characterized by the next theorem, which was ﬁrst
proved by Laman (1970) (other proofs are also given by Asimow and Roth,
1979, and Lovász and Yemini, 1982).
Theorem 11.2 (Laman’s theorem).
independent if and only if

A graph (V, E) is generically2|V (X)| − 3 ≥ |X|(11.8)

holds for any nonempty subset X of E, where V (X) (⊆ V ) denotes the setof nodes that are terminals of arcs in X.

192

11. Polyhedrons and Rigidity

Since the motions on a plane have three degrees of freedom, the dimension of the linear space formed by the inﬁnitesimal displacements is at least
three. Consequently, the size of a generically independent subset of E cannot be greater than 2n − 3, where n = |V |. Thus, the condition stated in
Theorem 11.2 is obviously necessary for E to be generically independent.
The theorem says that the condition is also suﬃcient.
Remark 11.1. Characterization of the rigidity as stated in Theorem 11.2
was considered by Laman (1970), Asimow and Roth (1979), and Lovász andYemini (1982). There are, however, diﬀerences not only in their approaches
but also in their results. What Laman proved is that there exists at least
one skeletal structure (V, E, h) such that rank(H) = |E| if and only if theunderlying graph (V, E) satisﬁes the condition in Theorem 11.2. Asimow andRoth said that the joints of the skeletal structure (V, E, h) are in general
position if every submatrix of H has the possible maximum rank over all
skeletal structures with the same underlying graph, and proved that, for any
skeletal structure (V, E, h) with the joints in general position, rank(H) = |E|
is equivalent to the condition stated in Theorem 11.2. Thus, they statedmore clearly the case when the condition implies independence of the rowsof H. Lovász and Yemini proved what is just stated in Theorem 11.2 as acorollary of a certain more general result. If the joints are in generic position,
no polynomial of x1 , y1 , . . . , xn , yn vanishes unless it is identically equal to0, and hence in particular the determinant of any submatrix of H is not 0
unless it is identically 0. Thus, being in generic position implies being in
general position; Asimow and Roth proved the strongest case.
From an engineering point of view, however, their results are almost
equivalent, because they all imply that, for a point (x1 , y1 , . . . , xn , yn ) almost
anywhere in R2n , the condition stated in Theorem 11.2 is equivalent torank(H) = |E|.
Here we follow the Lovász-Yemini generic version simply because we haveconsidered realizability of polyhedrons also in the generic sense.
A generically rigid graph with n nodes should have 2n − 3 genericallyindependent arcs, and hence the next corollary results directly from Theorem
11.2.
Corollary 11.2.1.
A graph (V, E) having n nodes and 2n − 3 arcs(|V | = n, |E| = 2n − 3) is generically rigid if and only if (11.8) holds forany nonempty subset X of E.
For a skeletal structure D = (V, E, h), if E is independent in the matroid(E, τE ), that is, if τE (E) = |E|, then the only solution to (11.6) is a zero

11.2 Rigidity

193

vector. Thus, the structure admits nonzero equilibrium vectors only when
the rod set E is dependent. In particular, if the arc set E is genericallydependent in the underlying graph (V, E), the associated skeletal structurewith the joints in generic position admits nonzero equilibrium vectors. However, whether components of an equilibrium vector are positive or negative(i.e., whether the forces are compression or tension) cannot be determinedby the underlying graph only; it depends on the positions of the joints.
Example 11.2. For the diagram in Fig. 11.4(a), the condition in Theorem
11.2 is not fulﬁlled, and hence the arc set is generically dependent. One of
the sign patterns of the equilibrium vectors is shown by the labels + and −,where + implies that the force along the edge is compression and − implies
tension. If u is an equilibrium vector, −u is also an equilibrium vector; thus
the pattern obtained by exchanging all the + and − labels in (a) is also asign pattern of an equilibrium vector. The structure satisﬁes rank(H) = 5,
because the deletion of any one rod from the structure results in a structurethat satisﬁes the condition in Theorem 11.2. Hence the dimension of thelinear space formed by the equilibrium vectors equals l−rank(H) = 6−5 = 1,
and therefore the sign pattern of an equilibrium vector is unique up to theexchange of all the signs simultaneously.
The structure in Fig. 11.4(b) has the same underlying graph as that in (a)but joint positions are diﬀerent. As a result, it has a diﬀerent sign pattern ofan equilibrium vector, as shown in (b). Since the equilibrium vectors of thisstructure form a one-dimensional linear space, the sign pattern is unique up
to the simultaneous exchange of all the signs. Thus, even if structures havethe same underlying graph, in general they give diﬀerent sign patterns ofequilibrium vectors.
A structure with a nonzero equilibrium vector has the remarkable property that the structure remains rigid when the tensed rods are replaced withcables and the compressed rods are replaced with struts, where a cable is a
structure element that provides an upper bound for the distance between
the two terminal points and a strut gives a lower bound for the distance between the two terminal points. A structure composed of rigid rods, cables,and struts is called a tensegrity structure. From the sign patterns shownin (a) and (b) in Fig. 11.4 we get the rigid tensegrity structures shown in(a’) and (b’), where the broken lines represent cables and the double lines
represent struts. The tensegrity structures are studied by Connelly (1980)
and Roth and Whiteley (1981).

194

11. Polyhedrons and Rigidity

(a)

(a’)

(b)

(b’)

Figure 11.4. Sign patterns of equilibrium vectors and tensegrity structures.
In (a) and (b) the label + represents force of compression andthe label − represents force of tension, and the structures in(a’) and (b’) are the tensegrity structures obtained from thesign patterns in (a) and (b).

11.3

Graphical Correspondence

We have considered the two ways of interpreting plane diagrams: the interpretation as line drawings of polyhedrons and the interpretation as planeskeletal structures . Here we establish a correspondence between the two
ways of interpretation, which has been known for more than a century(Maxwell, 1864, 1870; Cremona, 1890; Whiteley, 1982).
For a polyhedron P , we deﬁne two graphs. First let V G(P ) = (V, E) be
the graph having the vertex set V as the node set and the edge set E as thearc set; an arc in E connects the two terminal vertices of the corresponding

11.3 Graphical Correspondence

195edge. The graph V G(P ) is called the vertex-edge graph of P . Next, let
F G(P ) = (F, E) be the graph having the face set F as the node set andthe edge set E as the arc set; an arc connects the two side faces of thecorresponding edge of P . The graph F G(P ) is called the face-edge graph of
P . Obviously, the underlying graph of the vertex-edge diagram V D(P ) andthat of the face-edge diagram F D(P ) of a polyhedron P are identical to thevertex-edge graph V G(P ) and the face-edge graph F G(P ), respectively, ofthe polyhedron P .
The vertex-edge graph V G(P ) comes from vertices and edges of thepolyhedron P . Hence, the original vertices and edges can be regarded as thegraph embedded on the surface of the object P , that is, as the graph drawn
on the surface of P in such a way that the arcs do not cross except at nodes.
The face-edge graph F G(P ) can also be drawn on the same surface.
Indeed, we can choose an arbitrary point on each face and connect it with the
midpoint of each edge on the boundary of the face by a (if necessary curved)
line, where the lines do not cross each other, as shown in Fig. 11.5. All
together, these lines give an embedding of the face-edge graph F G(P ). Notethat the above embedding in general is not equivalent to the embedding on aplane, because the polyhedron P is not necessarily topologically equivalent
to a sphere. If P is topologically equivalent to, for example, a torus, thenthe vertex-edge graph or the face-edge graph cannot necessarily be drawn
on a plane unless arcs cross each other.

Figure 11.5. Part of arcs of the face-edge graph F G(P ) drawn on a face ofthe polyhedron P .

For a vertex v (∈ V ), let C(v) = (e0 , f1 , e1 , . . . , fk , ek ) be the alternating
sequence of arcs (= edges) and nodes (= faces) in the embedding of F G(P )that surrounds the vertex v counterclockwise in this order when seen from

196

11. Polyhedrons and Rigidity

the outside of the polyhedron P , where e0 = ek . From Assumption 11.1,
C(v) is unique up to the choice of the starting arc e0 .
In the embedding of F G(P ) each arc ei (∈ E) forms the common boundary of the two side regions that contain the terminal vertices of the corresponding edge ei of V G(P ). Therefore, every edge e (∈ E) appears exactly
twice in some C(v), and the two appearances are in the opposite direction.
This observation can be summarized in the next lemmma.
Lemma 11.1.
Let e be an edge of a polyhedron P , v α and vβ be thetwo terminal vertices of e, and fj and fk be the two side faces of e. Then,the edge e appears in C(v α ) and C(v β ), and in them only, once in the order. . . , fj , e, fk , . . . and the other time in the opposite order, . . . , fk , e, fj , . . ..
Now we are ready to prove the next theorem, which is a slightly generalized version of what was proved by Maxwell (1864, 1870).
Theorem 11.3.
If a diagram D is obtained as an orthographic or perspective projection of a polyhedron, the corresponding skeletal structure D
admits an equilibrium vector whose components are all nonzero.
Proof. It follows from Theorem 3.4 that if D is a perspective projectionof a polyhedron, then D is an orthographic projection of some other polyhedron. Therefore, without loss of generality we assume that D is given as
an orthographic projection of a polyhedron P ; that is, D is the vertex-edge
diagram V D(P ) = (V, E, hV ). Then, from Theorem 11.1, the face-edge diagram F D(P ) = (F, E, hF ) of the same polyhedron P is a reciprocal diagramof D. Turning the reciprocal diagram F D(P ) round by the amount of π/2
in the picture plane, we get the diagram, say F D ∗ (P ), whose line segments
are parallel to the corresponding line segments in V D(P ).
Now, we can interpret line segments in F D ∗ (P ) as force in equilibriumin the following way. First, from the deﬁnition of reciprocity, line segments
converging to a vertex v in V D(P ) form a closed path in F D ∗ (P ). Indeed,
the closed path is given by C(v). Next, since the corresponding line segments in V D(P ) and F D ∗ (P ) are parallel to each other, the line segments inF D ∗ (P ) can be regarded as forces that the vertex v receives from the corresponding rods in D; the force acts in the direction in which the line segment
is traversed when one travels along the closed path C(v). Since the path isclosed, all the forces that the vertex v receives are in a state of equilibrium.
Finally, from Lemma 11.1 an edge e appears in exactly two closed paths,
and moreover it is contained in mutually opposite directions; consequently
the force along the rod e is either the “pushing” at both the terminal joints
or the “pulling” at both the terminal joints. Thus, the collection of all the11.3 Graphical Correspondence

197

forces represented by F D ∗ (P ) is in a state of equilibrium.
Let us consider signed lengths of line segments in F D ∗ (P ) where the sign
is deﬁned as + if the corresponding force pushes the two terminal vertices
away and as − if the force pulls them together. Dividing the signed lengths ofline segments in F D ∗ (P ) by the lengths of the corresponding line segments
in D, we get an equilibrium vector. Adjacent faces on P have diﬀerent
orientations, and hence they are plotted in diﬀerent positions on the gradientspace. Consequently, every line segment in F D(P ) has a nonzero length, sothat every component of the equilibrium vector is nonzero.

(a)

(b)

Figure 11.6. Interpretation of a reciprocal diagram as force in equilibriumin the original diagram.

Example 11.3.
Fig. 11.6(a) shows one interpretation of the diagram in
Fig. 11.2(a) as a line drawing of a polyhedron P . Indeed the polyhedron P
is a tetrahedron, and the broken line represents a hidden edge. Fig. 11.6(b)is the corresponding F D ∗ (P ), which is obtained if we rotate the diagramin Fig. 11.2(a’) by π/2 counterclockwise. For the line segments 1 to 6 in(a), the corresponding line segments in F D ∗ (P ) are assigned the numbers
1∗ to 6∗ , respectively. Let v be one vertex on P as shown in (a). If one
moves on the surface of P around the vertex v counterclockwise, one crosses
the three edges 1, 3, 2 cyclically in this order. The corresponding threeline segments in F D ∗ (P ) form a closed path on which they appear in theorder 1∗ , 3∗ , 2∗ , as shown in (b). Copying the direction of the closed pathto the corresponding line segments in (a), we see that on the line segment
1 or 3 it goes away from v whereas on the line segment 2 it comes toward198

11. Polyhedrons and Rigidity

v. Therefore, the designated force is tension on the rods 1 and 3 and iscompression on the rod 2. In this way, the rotated reciprocal diagram in (b)gives the sign pattern of force shown in Fig. 11.4(a).
The converse of Theorem 11.3 does not hold. A counterexample is given
in Fig. 11.2(c’). Diagram (c’) has a reciprocal diagram, (c), and indeed thereciprocal diagram gives an equilibrium vector whose components are allnonzero; obviously, however, the diagram in (c’) cannot be a projection of
any polyhedron. (Whiteley, 1982, introduced a new concept, named “oriented polyhedrons”, so that the converse of the theorem may hold. However,
the oriented polyhedrons include physically unrealizable objects, because
the surface is allowed to penetrate itself and consequently we cannot packmaterial inside the surface while preserving its orientation.)
A quite diﬀerent type of a correspondence between line drawings of polyhedrons and rigidity of structures is also studied by Whiteley (1984b) (seealso Crapo and Whiteley, 1982).

11.4

Generic Correspondence

The correspondence established in the previous section is metrical, or inother words graphical, in the sense that the correspondence was establishedthrough diagrams whose nodes are deﬁnitely given on the picture plane.
In this section, on the other hand, we see that a similar but nonmetricalcorrespondence also holds. We establish a correspondence between a classof line drawings whose vertices are in generic position and a class of skeletal
structures whose joints are in generic position.
Let I = (V, F, R) be an incidence structure, that is, V and F are mutually
disjoint ﬁnite sets and R is a subset of V ×F ; elements of V and F are calledvertices and faces, respectively. If (v, f ) ∈ R for v ∈ V and f ∈ F , then we
say that v is on f and f has v. As in the previous chapters, we assume thatany element of V is on at least one element of F , and any element of F has
at least three elements of V . Here, we concentrate our attention upon theclass of incidence structures that satisfy the next condition.
Condition 11.1.
(a) |V | + 3|F | = |R| + 4 and (b) |V (X)| + 3|X| ≥|R(X)| + 4 for any X ⊆ F such that |X| ≥ 2.
The condition implies the following. From Theorems 6.1 and 6.2, an
incidence structure that satisﬁes Condition 11.1(b) is generically reconstructible and the associated coeﬃcient matrix A in (5.1) is of row fullrank. Therefore, Condition 11.1(a) together with (b) implies that there are11.4 Generic Correspondence

199

ρV (V ) = |V | + 3|F | − rank(A) = 4 degrees of freedom in the choice of asolution to (5.1) when the projected vertices are in generic position. That
is, Condition 11.1 is fulﬁlled if and only if the incidence structure I is generically reconstructible and admits exactly four generic degrees of freedom.
As we have seen in Corollary 5.3.1, a picture with an incidence structure
having exactly 4 degrees of freedom has the remarkable property that theimages of intersections of faces do not depend on the choice of a solution to(5.1).
Next consider a graph G = (V, E) satisfying the following condition
where, for any X ⊆ V , E(X) denotes the set of arcs connecting nodes in X.
Condition 11.2.
(a) 2|V | = |E| + 2 and (b) 2|X| ≥ |E(X)| + 3 for any
proper subset X of V such that |X| ≥ 2.
From Condition 11.2(a), the graph G is generically dependent (recall
Theorem 11.2). For any arc e (∈ E), however, the graph (V, E−{e}) satisﬁes
the condition in Theorem 11.2, and hence is generically independent. Thus,
among all the subsets of E, E only is generically dependent. Moreover,
it follows from Corollary 11.2.1 that (V, E − {e}) is generically rigid andconsequently G is also generically rigid.
Let D = (V, E, h) be a plane skeletal structure whose underlying graphis G and whose joints are in generic position. Then, Condition 11.2 implies
the following.
First, the structure D has one more rod than is necessary to make thestructure rigid (recall Corollary 11.2.1, which states that n points in generic
position can be connected rigidly by 2n − 3 rods), and the redundancy isused most eﬀectively in the sense that the structure D remains rigid even if
any one rod is broken. Second, since D is rigid, rank(H) = 2|V |−3 = |E|−1(where H is the coeﬃcient matrix in (11.6)) and hence the equilibrium
vectors form a one-dimensional linear space. Moreover, all components ofthe vectors are nonzero, because E is the only dependent set (note that theequilibrium vector represents the coeﬃcients of a linear combination of row
vectors in H that results in a zero vector). Thus, the structure D admits aninternal force in equilibrium that is unique up to scalar multiplication andthat is nonzero on every rod.
For a polyhedron P , let V G(P ) = (V, E) be the vertex-edge graph of P ,and let I(P ) = (V, F, R) be the incidence structure associated with P . Our
purpose here is to show that, under some condition, I(P ) satisﬁes Condition
11.1 if and only if V G(P ) satisﬁes Condition 11.2. For this purpose we needsome preparation.
For convenience let μI be the integer-valued function on 2F deﬁned, for200

11. Polyhedrons and Rigidity

any X ⊆ F , byμI (X) = |V (X)| + 3|X| − |R(X)| − 4.

(11.9)

Similarly let μG be the integer-valued function on 2E such that, for any
X ⊆V,(11.10)μG (X) = 2|X| − |E(X)| − 3.
A graph G is said to be 2-connected if it remains connected when any
one node and the incident arcs are deleted from G.

Figure 11.7. Polyhedron whose vertex-edge graph is not 2-connected.

Lemma 11.2.
Let P be a polyhedron. If Condition 11.1 is fulﬁlled by
the incidence structure I(P ) = (V, F, R), the vertex-edge graph V G(P ) is
2-connected.
Proof. From Assumption 11.2 it follows that V G(P ) is connected. Let us
assume, contrary to the lemma, that V G(P ) is not 2-connected. Then there
exists a vertex, say v, such that deletion of v makes the graph disconnected.
Moreover, from Assumption 11.1 it follows that there is a face, say f , whoseboundary touches the vertex v twice or more, as shown in Fig. 11.7. Hence,
the face f divides the other part of the surface of P into at least two connected regions. Let F1 be the set of faces that belong to any one connected
region, and let F2 = F − F1 ∪ {f }. Then, F1 , F2 , and {f } form a partitionof F ; hence in particular we get|F | = |F1 | + |F2 | + 1.

(11.11a)

Let V1 [resp. V2 ] be the set of vertices that are on some faces in F1 [resp. F2 ].
Since v is the only vertex that is common to V1 and V2 , we get|V | = |V1 | + |V2 | + 1.

(11.11b)11.4 Generic Correspondence

201

Let R1 [resp. R2 ] be the set of incidence pairs whose second entities are in
F1 [resp. F2 ]. Let, furthermore, k1 [resp. k2 ] be the number of vertices in
V1 − {v} [resp. V2 − {v}] that are on the face f . Then, we get|R| = |R1 | + |R2 | + k1 + k2 + 1.

(11.11c)

Now we get|V | + 3|F | − |R| − 4= |V1 | + k1 + 3(|F1 | + 1) − (|R1 | + k1 + k2 + 1) − 4+|V2 | + k2 + 3(|F2 | + 1) − (|R2 | + k1 + k2 + 1) − 4 − 1 − 3 × 1 + 1 + 4= μI (F1 ∪ {f }) + μI (F2 ∪ {f }) + 1 ≥ 1,
where the ﬁrst equality comes from (11.11a), (11.11b), and (11.11c), and theinequality comes from Condition 11.1(b). The above inequality contradicts
Condition 11.1(a), and consequently V G(P ) is 2-connected.
Now we can state the next theorem.
Theorem 11.4.
Let P be a polyhedron that is topologically equivalent
to a sphere. Then, the incidence structure I(P ) satisﬁes Condition 11.1 if
and only if the vertex-edge graph V G(P ) satisﬁes Condition 11.2.
Proof.
First, Condition 11.1(a) is equivalent to Condition 11.2(a), because μI (F ) = −μG (V ) − 1 follows directly from |R| = 2|E| and Euler’s
formula |V | + |F | − |E| = 2.
Suppose that I(P ) satisﬁes Condition 11.1. Let X be any proper subsetof V such that |X| ≥ 2.
Case 1: Suppose that the graph (X, E(X)) is connected. Let F1 (⊆ F )be the set of faces whose vertices are all in X, and let F2 = F − F1 . Let
V0 be the set of vertices in X that belong to the boundaries of the faces in
F2 , and let V1 = X − V0 and V2 = V − X. Furthermore, let E0 be the setof edges in E(X) that belong to the boundaries of the faces in F2 , and let
E1 = E(X) − E0 and E2 = E − E(X). Then, {F1 , F2 }, {V0 , V1 , V2 }, and{E0 , E1 , E2 } are partitions of F, V , and E, respectively.
Suppose that the polyhedral surface P is topologically deformed to asphere, say K, and that the vertex-edge graph V G(P ) is drawn on K as thevestiges of vertices, edges, and faces of P . Regions on K bounded by theedges correspond to the faces in F . If we delete the vertices in V2 and theedges incident to them, the faces in F2 are merged into connected regions,
say Ai (i = 1, . . . , k), on K. Note that k ≥ 1 because X = V .

202

11. Polyhedrons and Rigidity

Let F2i (⊆ F2 ) be the set of the faces constituting Ai , and let us deﬁneiE2 = E(F2i ) ∩ E2 , E0i = E(F2i ) ∩ E0 (i = 1, . . . , k), where, for any face set Y ,E(Y ) denotes the set of edges belonging to the boundaries of the faces in
Y . Similarly, let us deﬁne V2i = V (F2i ) ∩ V2 , V0i = V (F2i ) ∩ V0 (i = 1, . . . , k).
Note that |F2i | ≥ 2 for any i (1 ≤ i ≤ k), and F2i ∩ F2j = ∅, E2i ∩ E2j = ∅,V2i ∩ V2j = ∅, for any i and j (1 ≤ i < j ≤ k).
A connected region Ai (1 ≤ i ≤ k) is bounded by edges in E0i ; the edges
in E0i form a closed path surrounding Ai . If one travels along the closed patharound Ai , one passes through each vertex in V0i at least once. Hence we
get |V0i | ≤ |E0i |, where the equality holds when every vertex in V0i appears
exactly once in the closed path.
Let Ri be the set of incidence pairs concerned with faces in F2i . Eachface fj ∈ F2i had |V ({fj })| vertices, and |Ri | equals the sum of such numbersof vertices over all faces in F2i : |Ri | = |V ({fj })| where the summation istaken over all faces fj in F2i . From Lemma 11.2, no vertex appears twice ormore on the boundary of any face in F2i . Consequently, |V ({fj })| equals also
the number of edges on the boundary of fj . Thus, we get |Ri | = 2|E2i |+|E0i |,because in the summation elements of E2i are counted twice and those in E0i
are counted once.
Then, we getμG (X) = 2(|V0 | + |V1 |) − (|E0 | + |E1 |) − 3= 3(|V0 ∪ V1 | − |E0 ∪ E1 | + |F1 | + k) − |V0 ∪ V1 | + 2|E0 ∪ E1 |−3|F1 | − 3k − 3= −(|V | + 3|F | − |R| − 4) + |V2 | + 3|F2 | − 3k − 2|E2 | − 1
=
≥

k

i=1
k


(|V2i | + 3|F2i | − 2|E2i | − 3) − 1(|V2i ∪ V0i | + 3|F2i | − 2|E2i | − |E0i | − 3) − 1

i=1

≥

k


(|V2i ∪ V0i | + 3|F2i | − 2|E2i | − |E0i | − 4)

i=1

=

k


μI (F2i ) ≥ 0,

i=1

where the ﬁrst equality is the deﬁnition of μG , the second one comes from
simple counting, the third one follows from Euler’s formula |V0 ∪ V1 | − |E0 ∪E1 | + |F1 | + k = 2 for the subgraph (V0 ∪ V1 , E0 ∪ E1 ) and |R| = 2|E| =11.4 Generic Correspondence203

2(|E0 | + |E1 | + |E2 |), the fourth one comes from Condition 11.1(a), the next
inequality follows from |V0i | ≤ |E0i | for 1 ≤ i ≤ k, and the last equality comesfrom |Ri | = 2|E2i | + |E0i |.
Case 2: Suppose that the graph (X, E(X)) is not connected. Then,
Condition 11.2(b) can be derived easily from the fact that every connectedcomponent of (X, E(X)) satisﬁes μG (Xj ) ≥ 0, where Xj represents the setof vertices belonging to the jth connected component of (X, E(X)).
Therefore, Condition 11.2(b) is satisﬁed in both the cases.
Conversely, suppose that V G(P ) satisﬁes Condition 11.2. Let X be
any subset of F such that |X| ≥ 2. Let us deﬁne F1 = X, F2 = F − F1 ,V0 = V (F1 )∩V (F2 ), V1 = V (F1 )−V0 , V2 = V (F2 )−V0 , E0 = E(F1 )∩E(F2 ),E1 = E(F1 ) − E0 , E2 = E(F2 ) − E0 . Let GX = (V0 ∪ V1 , E0 ∪ E1 ) denote thesubgraph of V G(P ) having the vertex set V0 ∪ V1 and the edge set E0 ∪ E1 .
Case 1: Suppose that GX is connected. Suppose that the graph V G(P )is drawn on the sphere K. If we delete the edges in E2 from the graph,the faces in F2 are merged into connected regions, say A1 , . . . , Ak , on K.
Let F2i (⊆ F2 ) be the set of the faces belonging to Ai , and let us deﬁne
V0i = V (F2i ) ∩ V0 , V2i = V (F2i ) ∩ V2 , E0i = E(F2i ) ∩ E0 , E2i = E(F2i ) ∩ E2 (i =1, . . . , k). Note that V2i ∩ V2j = ∅ and E2i ∩ E2j = ∅ for 1 ≤ i < j ≤ k.
Moreover, note that for every edge in E0 , one side face belongs to F1 andthe other belongs to F0 , so that ﬁrst we have E0i ∩ E0j = ∅ for 1 ≤ i < j ≤ k,and second we have |V0i | = |E0i | for 1 ≤ i ≤ k. If k = 0, then X = F andhence μI (X) = 0. If k ≥ 1, then |V (F2i )| ≥ 3 for any i (1 ≤ I ≤ k) andhence we get
μI (X) = |V0 | + |V1 | + 3|F1 | − (2|E1 | + |E0 |) − 4= 3(|V0 ∪ V1 | + |F1 | + k − |E0 ∪ E1 |) + |E1 | + 2|E0 | − 2|V0 ∪ V1 |−3k − 4
= |E| − 2|V | + 2 − |E2 | + |E0 | + 2|V2 | − 3k=k

(2|V2i ∪ V0i | − |E2i ∪ E0i | − 3)

i=1

=

k


μG (V (F2i )) ≥ 0.

i=1

In the above equations, the third equality follows from Euler’s formula forthe graph (V0 ∪ V1 , E0 ∪ E1 ), and the fourth equality from Condition 11.2(a)and |V0i | = |E0i |.
Case 2: Suppose that the graph GX is not connected. Then Condition
11.1(b) can be derived from the fact that each connected component of GX

204

11. Polyhedrons and Rigidity

satisﬁes μI (Xj ) ≥ 0, where Xj denotes the subset of X bounded by edges
belonging to the jth connected component of GX .
Therefore, Condition 11.1(b) is fulﬁlled in both the cases.
The next corollary follows directly from Theorem 11.4 and the physicalmeanings of Conditions 11.1 and 11.2.
Corollary 11.4.1. Let P be a polyhedron that is topologically equivalent
to a sphere. Then, the following three statements are equivalent.
(1) The incidence structure I(P ) is generically reconstructible and admits
exactly four degrees of freedom.
(2) The vertex-edge graph V G(P ) is generically rigid, and remains generically rigid if any one arc is deleted, but deletion of any two arcs yields
a graph that is not generically rigid.
(3) For any plane skeletal structure whose underlying graph is V G(P ) andwhose joints are in generic position, the equilibrium vector is unique up
to scalar multiplication and its component is nonzero at every rod.
A graph G is called planar if G can be drawn on a plane in such a waythat the nodes correspond to distinct points and the arcs correspond to(curved, if necessary) line segments and no line segments intersect except
at nodes. A graph G is called 3-connected if it remains connected when any
two nodes and the incident arcs are deleted from G.
If a polyhedron P is topologically equivalent to a sphere, the vertex-edgegraph V G(P ) is planar. Conversely, Steinitz’s theorem says that if a graphG having at least four nodes is planar and 3-connected, then there exists a
convex polyhedron whose vertex-edge graph is isomorphic to G (Grünbaum
1967; Barnette and Grünbaum, 1969). Hence, from Theorem 11.4, we get
the following corollary.
Corollary 11.4.2.
Let G be a planar 3-connected graph with four ormore nodes. Then, the following three statements are equivalent.
(1) There is a line drawing with the underlying graph G such that(1a) it represents a convex polyhedron, and there are exactly 4 degrees
of freedom in the choice of the heights of the vertices,(1b) the property (1a) remains true even if the vertex positions arechanged slightly in any direction.
(2) There is a plane skeletal structure with the underlying graph G suchthat(2a) it is rigid, and remains rigid if any one rod is removed, but becomes
ﬂexible if any two rods are removed,

11.4 Generic Correspondence

205(2b) the property (2a) remains true even if the joint positions are changedslightly in any direction.
(3) There is a plane skeletal structure with the underlying graph G suchthat(3a) it admits a nonzero equilibrium vector, and the vector is unique up
to scalar multiplication and nonzero at every rod,(3b) the property (3a) remains true even if the joint positions are changedslightly in any direction.
It is also known that, for any planar 3-connected graph G, there are exactly two “diﬀerent” ways of embedding G in the surface of a sphere, where“diﬀerent” means that one embedding cannot be deformed to the other while
the arcs are kept uncrossed (Whitney, 1933). Moreover , the two ways of
embedding are mirror images of each other. Therefore, any convex polyhedron that can be represented by any line drawing speciﬁed by statement (1)in Corollary 11.4.2 yields one and the same incidence structure.
It may be interesting to note that, if a polyhedron P is topologicallyequivalent to a sphere and its incidence structure I(P ) satisﬁes Condition
11.1(a), then the number of the faces is equivalent to the number of thevertices. Indeed |V | − |F | follows immediately from |V | + 3|F | = |R| +4, |V | − |E| + |F | = 2, and |R| = 2|E|.
Example 11.4. In Fig. 11.8, the line drawing in (a) represents a polyhedron (a cone with a quadrilateral base) and there are exactly 4 degrees of
freedom in the choice of the polyhedron. Moreover, the property is preserved
if one changes the positions of vertices slightly on the picture plane. Thus,
statement (1) in Corollary 11.4.2 is fulﬁlled. The corresponding skeletal
structure shown in (a’) is rigid, and remains rigid if any one rod is removed,
but becomes ﬂexible if two or more rods are removed. The property is preserved if the joint positions are perturbed. Thus, statement (2) in Corollary
11.4.2 is fulﬁlled.
In contrast, the line drawing in (b) does not represent any polyhedron,and the corresponding skeletal structure shown in (b’) becomes ﬂexible when
only one rod, the rod e for instance, is deleted. Next, the line drawing
in (c) represents a polyhedron, but there are 5 degrees of freedom in the
choice of the object; indeed all the faces are triangular so that we have to
specify the z coordinates of all the vertices in order to ﬁx the object inthe space. The corresponding skeletal structure shown in (c’) remains rigid
even if we delete two edges, the edges e and e for example. Finally, the line
drawing in (d) represents a polyhedron and there are exactly 4 degrees of
freedom in the choice of the object, but the property is not preserved when206

11. Polyhedrons and Rigidity

(a)

(a’)

(b)

(b’)

(c)

(c’)

(d)

(d’)

Figure 11.8. Generic correspondence between interpretation as polyhedrons
and interpretation as skeletal structures.

some vertices are displaced on the picture plane; it represents a polyhedroncorrectly only when the two edges e and e are collinear. The corresponding
skeletal structure shown in (d’) becomes ﬂexible if only one rod, the rod e
for instance, is removed.

11.5

Principal Partitions and Submodular Decompositions

In addition to the correspondences stated in the previous sections, line drawings of polyhedrons and plane skeletal structures admit several other common mathematical properties. These common properties enable us to treat
the two objects in a unifying manner; in particular, some internal structuresof the objects can be recognized in terms of principal partitions of matroids
and decompositions of submodular systems, which we summarize in thissection.
Let us reconsider the system of equations (5.1). Each row of the coeﬃ-

11.5 Principal Partitions

207

cient matrix A represents the constraint that a vertex should be on a face.
Hence, there is a natural one-to-one correspondence between the set of rowsof A and the incidence pair set R. For any subset X of R, let A(X) be thesubmatrix formed by the rows corresponding to elements in X, and let us
deﬁne a function τR by
τR (X) = rank(A(X)).

(11.12)

Then, (R, τR ) forms a matroid (Welsh, 1976).
This matroid and the matroid (E, τE ) associated with a plane skeletal
structure deﬁned by (11.7) are analogous in the following sense. First, theyboth come from linear dependence of row vectors in matrices, A in (5.1)
and H in (11.4). Second, the ground sets, R and E, both correspond toconstraints about geometrical conﬁgurations: an element of E represents
the constraint that a vertex should be on a face, and an element of E represents the constraint that the distance between two points should be kept
unchanged. Hence, for either matroid, if the ground set is dependent, theconstraints are redundant and consequently deletion of some constraints
does not change the linear space formed by the solutions to the system of(5.1) or (11.4).
The redundancy is in general distributed nonuniformly in the structure;
the redundancy is dense in one part but sparse in another part. Let (M, τ )be a matroid. For any X ⊆ M , the density of redundant constraints canbe deﬁned by (|X| − τ (X))/|X|. We shall concentrate our attention on the
numerator and consider a parametric form deﬁned byf (X) = τ (X) − α|X|,(11.13)where α ∈ [0, 1]. If the redundancy is dense in the substructure associatedwith X, τ (X) is relatively small and |X| is relatively large. Therefore, thesubset X that minimizes f (X) can be expected to give some information
about the distribution of the redundancy.
The family of subsets that minimize (11.13) generates a partially orderedstructure of M , which is called the principal partition of the matroid. The
theory of principal partitions of matroids was developed by Iri (1979a) as aunifying generalization of apparently diﬀerent results found in several ﬁelds
of mathematics and engineering, such as Dulmage-Mendelsohn decompositions of bipartite graphs (Dulmage and Mendelsohn, 1958, 1959), maximallydistant tree-pairs of a graph (Kishi and Kajitani, 1967; Baron and Imrich,1968), the minimum-rank maximum-term-rank theorem on matrices (Iri,208

11. Polyhedrons and Rigidity

1969b), and strong irreducibility of matroids (Tomizawa, 1976). This theory provides a decomposition of a matroid based on nonuniform distributionof dependence, and has been applied to system analysis in various ﬁelds ofengineering (Iri, 1979b; Iri and Fujishige, 1981). It is also applicable to oursystems, as the following outline indicates.
Let (M, τ ) be a matroid and let D(α) be the family of subsets X of
M such that X minimizes f (X) in (11.13) for α ∈ [0, 1]. Furthermore, let
D = D(α), where the union is taken over all α such that 0 ≤ α ≤ 1. Then
D is closed under union and intersection and D contains ∅ and M . Therefore,
any longest chain X0 = ∅ ⊆ X1 ⊆ · · · ⊆ Xn = M (Xi ∈ D) deﬁnes the samefamily of diﬀerence sets F(D) = {X1 − X0 , X2 − X1 , . . . , Xn − Xn−1 }, which
is a partition of M (Iri and Han, 1977). Partial order  is deﬁned on F(D)in such a way that Mi  Mj (Mi , Mj ∈ F(D)) if and only if Mj ⊆ X implies
Mi ⊆ X for any X ∈ D. Matroid (M, τ ) itself is partitioned into “principal
minors” (Mi , τi ), where Mi ∈ F(D) andτi (X) = τ (X ∪ {Y | Y ∈ F(D), Y  X, X = Y })−τ ({Y | Y ∈ F(D), Y  X, X = Y })(11.14)for any X ⊆ Mi .
Applying the above principal partition to the matroids (R, τR ) and (E, τE ),we can partition the structures according to nonuniform distribution of redundant constraints and obtain partial orders among the partitioned substructures.
Example 11.5. Let (R, τR ) be the matroid deﬁned by (11.12) associatedwith the line drawing of a polyhedron shown in Fig. 11.9(a). The incidence
structure of this picture is not generically reconstructible, and R is dependent in the matroid. We getD(α) = {∅}D(α) = {R5 }D(α) = {R2 ∪ R5 }D(α) = {R1 ∪ R2 ∪ R5 }D(α) = {R1 ∪ R2 ∪ R3 ∪ R5 }D(α) = {R}if α ∈ [0, 29/32),
if α ∈ (29/32, 12/13),
if α ∈ (12/13, 29/31),
if α ∈ (29/31, 19/20),
if α ∈ (19/20, 29/30),
if α ∈ (29/32, 1],

and D(α) for a “critical” value of α is a simple union of D(α)’s in both sidesof the critical value (for example, D(29/32) = {∅, R5 }), where R1 , . . . , R5
are sets of incidence pairs, shown in Fig. 11.9(a). Family D and the principal partition are shown in (b) and (c), respectively. In this accidental case,11.5 Principal Partitions(a) line drawing

209

(b) D

(c) partition

Figure 11.9. Principal partition of a line drawing of a polyhedron.

the result of the principal partition coincides with the partition of the matroid into “nonseparable” components (see Welsh, 1976, for “nonseparable”
components). Hence, the order among components represents nothing but
the diﬀerence of ratios of the ranks to the sizes of the support sets; redundant incidence pairs are denser in upper components in (c) than in lower
components.
Example 11.6.
Fig. 11.10 shows an example of the principal partition
for the plane skeletal structure. Let (E, τE ) be the matroid deﬁned by (11.7)
associated with a plane skeletal structure shown in (a). For this matroid wegetD(α) = {∅}D(α) = {∅, E3 , E5 , E3 ∪ E5 }D(α) = {E3 ∪ E5 }D(α) = {E3 ∪ E5 , E2 ∪ E3 ∪ E5 , E2 ∪ E3 ∪ E4 ∪ E5 }D(α) = {E2 ∪ E3 ∪ E4 ∪ E5 }D(α) = {E2 ∪ E3 ∪ E4 ∪ E5 , E}
D(α) = {E}if α ∈ [0, 3/5),
if α = 3/5,
if α ∈ (3/5, 3/4),
if α = 3/4,
if α ∈ (3/4, 4/5),
if α = 4/5,
if α ∈ (4/5, 1],

where E1 , . . . , E5 are the sets of rods shown in (a). Family D and the prin-

210

11. Polyhedrons and Rigidity(a) plane structure(b) D(c) partition

Figure 11.10. Principal partition of a plane skeletal structure.

cipal partition are shown in (b) and (c), where hatches represent additional
rigid objects to which skeletal structures are ﬁxed (this is the physical meaning of the principal minors deﬁned in (11.14)). Redundant rods are more
crowded in upper elements in (c) than in lower elements, and hence upper
substructures are stronger than lower ones. For instance, the lowest component in (c) remains rigid when any one rod is deleted, and becomes ﬂexible
when any two rods are deleted. On the other hand, the second lowest component remains rigid even if some two rods are deleted (for example, thetwo slant rods), and so on.
Now let us turn our attention to another analogy between line drawings
and skeletal structures. The analogy we concentrate on here is the combinatorial characterization of generic properties stated in Theorems 6.2 and11.2. The conditions stated in those theorems are very similar to each other.
The similarity can be represented clearly in terms of the functions μI andμG deﬁned by (11.9) and (11.10), respectively.
For a ﬁnite set M and a function μ on 2M , consider a condition of thenext form.
Condition 11.3.
μ(X) ≥ 0 holds.

For any subset X of M such that |X| ≥ p, the inequality

11.5 Principal Partitions

211

The equivalence of statements (1) and (2) in Theorem 6.2 can be paraphrased as follows: “An incidence structure I = (V, F, R) is genericallyreconstructible if and only if Condition 11.3 is fulﬁlled, where M = R,μ = μI , and p = 2”. Theorem 11.2 can be paraphrased in this way: “Agraph G = (V, E) is generically independent if and only if Condition 11.3
is fulﬁlled, where M = R, μ = μG , and p = 1”. Thus, both the genericreconstructibility of an incidence structure and the generic independence ofa graph are characterized by a combinatorial, condition of the same “form”.
Moreover, the two functions μI and μG are analogous in the following
way. A function μ on 2M is said to be submodular if, for any subsets X and
Y of M , the inequalityμ(X ∪ Y ) + μ(X ∩ Y ) ≤ μ(X) + μ(Y )(11.15)holds. The functions μI and μG are not exactly submodular, but are almost
submodular in the sense that (11.15) is satisﬁed for any subset X and Y
such that |X ∩ Y | ≤ p, where p = 2 for μ = μI , and p = 1 for μ = μG .
The inequality (11.15) is of the same form as (5.7c), the third condition
that should be satisﬁed by a rank function of a matroid. A submodular function generates a certain decomposition of the ground set (Fujishige, 1980).
Although rank functions of matroids should be submodular, a certain subclass of almost submodular functions also deﬁnes matroids (Imai, 1983; seealso Edmonds, 1970; Sugihara, 1985). Moreover, Fujishige’s decomposition
based on submodular functions can be modiﬁed so that almost submodular
functions also deﬁne decompositions. The modiﬁed decomposition is usefulfor the analysis of our present systems.
Let M be a ﬁnite set, and let μ be a function on 2M that is almost
submodular in the sense that (11.15) is fulﬁlled by any X, Y ⊆ M such that|X ∩ Y | ≥ p, where p is a positive constant. Let q be another constant suchthat q ≥ p, and let us deﬁne β ∗ byβ ∗ = min{μ(Y ) | Y ⊆ M, |Y | ≥ q}.
We deﬁne, for each x ∈ M ,K(x) =

{X | x ∈ X ⊆ M, |X| ≥ q, μ(X) = β ∗ }(11.16)

with the convention that K(x) = {x} if there is no X that satisﬁes theconditions stated on the right of (11.16).
Let G = (M, A) be a directed graph having M as the node set andA = {(x, y) | y ∈ K(x), x, y ∈ M } as the arc set. Decomposing G into

212

11. Polyhedrons and Rigidity

strongly connected components, we get the partition of M and the partial
order in it. Fujishige’s decomposition corresponds to the case where p = q =0. If we choose q appropriately, the above partition and partial order help
us to understand internal structures of generically reconstructible incidence
structures and generically independent skeletal structures, as in the following
examples.

(a) line drawing(b) partition

Figure 11.11. Partition based on the almost submodular function μI associated with a line drawing of a polyhedron.

Example 11.7.
Let us consider the incidence structure I = (V, F, R)
associated with the line drawing of a polyhedron shown in Fig. 11.11(a).
I is generically reconstructible, and hence the constraints represented byincidence pairs are not redundant. Let us consider the almost submodular
function μI deﬁned by (11.9). Putting M = R, μ = μI , and q = 3, we get
β ∗ = 0 andK(1) = K(3) = {1, 3},

K(2) = {1, 2, 3},

K(5) = {5},K(6) = {6, 7, 10},

K(9) = {9},K(10) = {10},K(4) = {1, 3, 4},

K(7) = {7, 10},

K(8) = {8, 10},

K(11) = {6, 7, 8, 10, 11, 12},K(12) = {8, 10, 12},and consequently obtain the partition and the partial order as shown in(b). This partition represents the distribution of subsets X of F such that
μI (X) = 0. Therefore, for any component of this partition, the union of
all upper components together with this component constitutes a minimal
substructure with exactly 4 degrees of freedom that includes this component.

11.5 Principal Partitions

213

Example 11.8.
Another example is shown in Fig. 11.12. Let (V, E)
be the underlying graph of the plane structure illustrated in (a), which is
generically independent and generically rigid. Putting M = E and μ = μG
and q = 3, we get β ∗ = 0 andK(1) = {1},K(2) = K(3) = {1, 2, 3},

K(6) = {1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7},
K(9) = {9},K(7) = {7},K(4) = K(5) = {1, 4, 5},
K(8) = {7, 8, . . . , 21},

K(10) = K(11) = {9, 10, 11},

K(12) = K(13) = {9, 12, 13},

K(14) = K(15) = · · · = K(21) = {9, 10, . . . , 21},and hence obtain the partition and the partial order as shown in (b). The
partition and the partial order represent the distribution of rigid and generically independent substructures, and also represent which part of the structure supports the rigidity of which part. If a rod in a certain component isremoved from the structure, all the rods belonging to the same component
or the lower components become ﬂexible, while the substructure composedof rods in the upper components remains rigid. The chosen value of q (i.e.,
3) is equal to the minimum number of rods that form a nontrivial rigid
structure.

(a) plane structure(b) partition

Figure 11.12. Partition based on the almost submodular function μG associated with a plane skeletal structure.

References
Aho, A. V., Hopcroft, J. E., and Ullman, J. D., 1974. The Design and Analysis of Computer Algorithms, Addison-Wesley, Reading,
Massachusetts.
Aldefeld, B., 1983. Automatic 3D reconstruction from 2D geometric partdescriptions, Proceedings of IEEE Conference on Computer Vision and
Pattern Recognition ’83, pp. 66–72.
Asada, M., Yachida, M., and Tsuji, S., 1984. Analysis of threedimensional motions in blocks world, Pattern Recognition, vol. 17, pp. 57–
71.
Asimow. L., and Roth. B., 1978. The rigidity of graphs, Transactionsof the American Mathematical Society, vol. 245, pp. 279–289.
Asimow, L., and Roth, B., 1979. The rigidity of graphs II, Journal of
Mathematical Analysis and Applications, vol. 68, pp. 171–190.
Bajcsy, R., and Lieberman, L., 1976. Texture gradient as a depth cue,
Computer Graphics and Image Processing, vol. 5, pp. 52–67.
Ballard, D. H., and Brown, C. M., 1982. Computer Vision, PrenticeHall, Englewood Criﬀs, New Jersey.
Barnette, D., and Grünbaum, B., 1969. On Steinitz’s theorem concerning convex 3-polytopes and on some properties of planar graphs,
The Many Facets of Graph Theory, Lecture Notes on Mathematics,
no. 110, Springer, Berlin, pp. 27–40.
Baron, G., and Imrich, W., 1968. On the maximal distance of spanning
trees, Journal of Combinatorial Theory, vol. 5, pp. 378–385.
Barrow, H. G., and Tenenbaum, J. M., 1981. Interpreting line
drawings as three-dimensional surfaces, Artiﬁcial Intelligence, vol. 17,
pp. 75–116.
Brady, M., 1982. Computational approaches to image understanding,Computing Surveys, vol. 14, pp. 3–71.
215

216

References

Chien, R. T., and Chang, Y. H., 1974. Recognition of curved objects
and object assemblies, Proceedings of the 2nd International Conference
on Pattern Recognition, pp. 496–510.
Clowes, M. B., 1971. On seeing things, Artiﬁcial Intelligence, vol. 2,
pp. 79-116.
Cohen, P. R., and Feigenbaum, E. A., 1982. The Handbook of Artiﬁcial Intelligence, Volume III, Pitman, London.
Coleman, Jr., E. N., and Jain, R., 1982. Obtaining 3-dimensional
shape of textured and specular surfaces using four-source photometry,
Computer Graphics and Image Processing, vol. 18, pp. 309–328.
Connelly, R., 1980. The rigidity of certain cabled frameworks and thesecond-order rigidity of arbitrarily triangulated convex surfaces, Advances in Mathematics, vol. 37, pp. 272–299.
Cowan, T. M., 1974. The theory of braids and the analysis of impossible
ﬁgures, Journal of Mathematical Psychology, vol. 11, pp. 190–212.
Cowan, T. M., 1977. Organizing the properties of impossible ﬁgures,
Perception, vol. 6, pp. 41–56.
Crapo, H., 1979. Structural rigidity, Structural Topology, vol. 1, pp. 26–
45.
Crapo, H., 1981. The combinatorial theory of structures, Lecture Noteat the Colloquium on Matroid Theory, Szeged, Hungary, 30 August–3
September.
Crapo, H., and Whiteley, W., 1982. Statics of frameworks and motionsof panel structures — A projective geometric introduction, Structural
Topology, vol. 6, pp. 43–82.
Cremona, L., 1890. Graphical Statics (Beare, T. H., trans.), Clarendon
Press, London.
Dantzig, G. B., 1963. Linear Programming and Extensions, Princeton
Univ. Press, Princeton.
Draper, S. W., 1978. The Penrose triangle and a family of related ﬁgures,
Perception, vol. 7, pp. 283–296.
Draper, S. W., 1981. The use of gradient and dual space in line-drawing
interpretation, Artiﬁcial Intelligence, vol. 17, pp. 461–508.
Duda, R. O., and Hart, P. E., 1973. Pattern Classiﬁcation and Scene
Analysis, Wiley, New York.
Dulmage, A. L., and Mendelsohn, N. S., 1958. Coverings of bipartite
graphs, Canadian Journal of Mathematics, vol. 10, pp. 517–534.
Dulmage, A. L., and Mendelsohn, N. S., 1959. A structure theory of
bipartite graphs of ﬁnite exterior dimension, Transactions of the Royal
Society of Canada, Ser. 3, Sect. III, vol. 53, pp. 1–13.

References217

Edmonds, J., 1967. Systems of distinct representatives and linear algebra, Journal of Research of National Bureau of Standards, vol. 71-B,
pp. 241–245.
Edmonds, J., 1970. Submodular functions, matroids, and certain polyhedra, in Guy, R., et al. (eds.), Combinatorial Structures and Their
Applications, Gordon and Breach, New York, pp. 69–87.
Edmonds, J., 1971. Matroids and the greedy algorithm, Mgenericallyrigidathematical Programming, vol. 1, pp. 127–136.
Falk, G., 1972. Interpretation of imperfect line data as a three-dimensional
scene, Artiﬁcial Intelligence, vol. 3, pp. 101–144.
Ford, L. R., Jr., and Fulkerson, D. R., 1962. Flows in Networks,
Princeton University Press; Princeton, New Jersey.
Fujishige, S., 1980. Principal structures of submodular systems, Discrete
Applied Mathematics, vol. 2, pp. 77–79.
Fukui, Y., Hirotani, T, Ohira, T., and Kishi, Y, 1983. An input
method for solid models by drawing, preprint, Industrial Products Research Institute, Ministry of International Trade and Industry of Japan.
Gill, P. E., Murray, W., and Wright, M. H., 1981. Practical Optimization, Academic Press, London.
Grape, C. R., 1973. Model based (intermediate-level) computer vision,
Stanford Artiﬁcial intelligence Memo, AIM-201 (STAN-CS-73-366).
Gregory, R. L., 1971. The Intelligent Eye (3rd edition), Weidenfeld andNicolson, London.
Grünbaum, B., 1967. Convex Polytopes, Interscience Publishers, London.
Gurevich, G. B., 1960. Proektivnaya Geometriya, Gosudarstvennoe lzdatel’stvo, Fiziko-Matematicheskoi Literatury, Moskva.
Guzman, A., 1968a. Computer recognition of three-dimensional objects
in a visual scene, Technical Report NAC-TR-59, Artiﬁcial Intelligence
Laboratory, MIT.
Guzman, A., 1968b. Decomposition of a visual scene into three-dimensional
bodies, Proceedings of AFIPS Fall Joint Conference, pp. 291–304.
Hall, P., 1935. On representatives of subsets, Journal of London Mathematical Society, vol. 10, pp. 26–30.generically rigid
Haralick, R. M., and Queeney, D., 1982. Understanding engineeringdrawings, Computer Graphics and Image Processing, vol. 20, pp. 244–
258.
Haralick, R. M., and Shapiro, L. G., 1979. The consistent labelingproblem, Part I, IEEE Transactions on Pattern Analysis and MachineIntelligence, vol. PAMI-1, pp. 173–184.

218

References

Haralick, R. M., and Shapiro, L. G., 1980. The consistent labelingproblem, Part II, IEEE Transactions on Pattern Analysis and MachineIntelligence, vol. PAMI-2, pp. 193–203.
Hohenberg, F., 1966. Konstruktive Geometrie in der Technik, Springer,
Berlin.
Horn, B. K. P., 1975. Obtaining shape from shading information, in
Winston, P. H. (ed.), The Psychology of Computer Vision, McGrawHill, New York, pp. 115–155.
Horn, B. K. P., 1977. Understanding image intensities, Artiﬁcial Intelligence, vol. 8, pp. 201–231.
Huﬀman, D. A., 1971. Impossible objects as nonsense sentences, inMeltzer, B., and Michie, D. (eds.), Machine Intelligence 6, Edinburgh
Univ. Press., pp. 295–323.
Huﬀman, D. A., 1976. Curvature and creases: A primer on paper, IEEE
Transactions on Computer, vol. C-25, pp. 1010–1019.
Huﬀman, D. A., 1977a. A duality concept for the analysis of polyhedral
scenes, in Elcock, E. W., and Michie, D. (eds.), Machine Intelligence 8,
Ellis Horwood, England, pp. 475–492.
Huﬀman, D. A., 1977b. Realizable conﬁgurations of lines in pictures ofpolyhedra, in Elcock, E. W., and Michie, D. (eds.), Machine Intelligence
8, Ellis Horwood, England, pp. 493–509.
Huﬀman, D. A., 1978. Surface curvature and applications of thegenerically rigid dual representation, in Hanson, A. R., and Riseman, E. M.
(eds.), Computer Vision Systems, Academic Press, New York, pp. 213–
222.
Idesawa, M., Soma, T., Goto, E., and Shibata, S., 1975. Automatic
input of line drawing and generation of solid ﬁgure from three-view
data, Proceedings of International Computer Symposium 1975, vol. II,
pp. 304–311.
Ikeuchi, K., 1981. Determining surface orientation of specular surfaces byusing the photometric stereo method, IEEE Transactions on PatternAnalysis and Machine Intelligence, vol. PAMI-3, pp. 661–669.
Ikeuchi, K., 1984. Shape from regular patterns, Artiﬁcial Intelligence,
vol. 22, pp. 49–75.
Ikeuchi, K., and Horn, B. K. P., 1981. Numerical shape from shading
and occluding boundaries, Artiﬁcial Intelligence, vol. 17, pp. 141–184.
Imai, H., 1983. Network-ﬂow algorithms for lower-truncated transversal
polymatroids, Journal of the Operations Research Society of Japan,
vol. 26, pp. 186–211.

References

219

Imai, H., 1985. On combinatorial structures of line drawings of polyhedra,
Discrete Applied Mathematics, vol. 10, pp. 79–92.
Iri, M., 1969a. Network Flow, Transportation and Scheduling: Theory andAlgorithms, Academic Press, New York.
Iri, M., 1969b. The maximum-rank minimum-term-rank theorem for thepivotal transforms of a matrix, Linear Algebra and Its Applications,vol. 2, pp. 427–446. generically rigid Iri, M., 1979a. A review of recent
work in Japan on principal partitions of matroids and their applications,Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, vol. 319, pp. 306–319.
Iri, M., 1979b. Applications of matroid theory to engineering system problems, Proceedings of the 6th Conference on Probability Theory, Brasov,Romania, pp. 107–127.
Iri, M., and Fujishige, S., 1981. Use of matroid theory in operations
research, circuits and system theory, International Journal of Systems
Science, vol. 12, pp. 27–54.
Iri, M., and Han. T.-S., 1977. Linear Algebra — Standard Forms of
Matrices (in Japanese), Kyoiku-Shuppan, Tokyo.
Ishii, M., and Nagata, T., 1976. Feature extraction of three-dimensional
objects and visual processing in a hand-eye system using laser tracker,
Pattern Recognition, vol. 8, pp. 229–237.
Kanade, T., 1980. A theory of Origami world, Artiﬁcial Intelligence,
vol. 13, pp. 279–311.
Kanade, T., 1981. Recovery of the three-dimensional shape of an object
from a single view. Artiﬁcial Intelligence, vol. 17, pp. 409–460.
Kanatani, K., 1986. The constraints on images of rectangular polyhedra, IEEE Transactions on Pattern Analysis and Machine Intelligence,
vol. PAMI-8, pp. 456–463.
Kender, J. R., 1979. Shape from texture: A computational paradigm,
Proceedings of ARPA Image Understanding Workshop, Science Application, Inc., pp. 134–138.
Kishi, G., and Kajitani, Y., 1967. On maximally distant trees, Proceedings of the 5th Annual Allerton Conference on Circuit and System
Theory, pp. 635–643.
Kupla, Z., 1983. Are impossible ﬁgures possible?, Signal Processing, vol. 5,
pp. 201–220.
Lafue, G., 1978. A theorem prover for recognizing 2-D representations of
3-D objects, in Latombe, J.-C. (ed.). Artiﬁcial Intelligence and Pattern
Recognition in Computer Aided Design, North-Holland, Amsterdam,
pp. 391–401.

220

References

Laman, G., 1970. On graphs and rigidity of plane skeletal structures,
Journal of Engineering Mathematics, vol. 4, pp. 331–340.
Lee, S. J., Haralick, R. M., and Zhang, M. C., 1985. Understanding
objects with curved surfaces from a single perspective view of boundaries, Artiﬁcial Intelligence, vol. 26, pp. 145–169.
Liardet, M., Holmes, C., and Rosenthal, D., 1978. Input to CAD
systems — Two practical examples, in Latombe, J.-C. (ed.), Artiﬁcial
Intelligence and Pattern Recognition in Computer Aided Design, NorthHolland, Amsterdam, pp. 403–427.
Lovász, L., 1980. Matroid matching and some applications, Journal of
Combinatorial Theory, vol. B-28, pp. 208–236.
Lovász, L., and Yemini, Y., 1982. On generic rigidity in the plane,
SIAM Journal on Algebraic and Discrete Methods, vol. 3, pp. 91–98.
Mackworth, A. K., 1973. Interpreting pictures of polyhedral scenes,
Artiﬁcial Intelligence, vol. 4, pp. 121–137.
Mackworth, A. K., 1977a. Consistency in networks of relations, Artiﬁcial
Intelligence, vol. 8, pp. 99–118.
Mackworth, A. K., 1977b. How to see a simple world — An exegesis of some computer programs for scene analysis, in Elcock, E. W.,
and Michie, D. (eds.), Machine Intelligence 8, Ellis Horwood, England,
pp. 510–537.
Markowsky, G., and Wesley, M. A., 1980. Fleshing out wire frames,
IBM Journal of Research and Development, vol. 24, pp. 582–597.
Marr, D., 1982. Vision, Freeman and Company, San Francisco.
Maxwell, J. C., 1864. On reciprocal ﬁgures and diagrams of forces, Philosophical Magazine, ser. 4, vol. 27, pp. 250–261.
Maxwell, J. C., 1870. On reciprocal ﬁgures, frames, and diagrams offorces, Transactions of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, vol. 26, pp. 1–
40.
McGregor, J. J., 1979. Relational consistency algorithms and their applications in ﬁnding subgraph and graph isomorphisms, Information
Sciences, vol. 19, pp. 229–250.
Mirsky, L., 1971. Transversal Theory, Academic Press, London.
Mirsky, L., and Perfect, H., 1967. Applications of the notion of independence to problems of combinatorial analysis, Journal of Combinatorial
Theory B, vol. 2, pp. 327–335.
Montanari, U., 1974. Networks of constraints — Fundamental properties
and applications to picture processing, Information Sciences, vol. 7,
pp. 95–132.

References

221

Nakatani, H., and Kitahashi, T., 1984. Inferring 3-d shape from line
drawings using vanishing points, Proceedings of the 1st International
Conference on Computers and Applications, Peking, pp. 683–688.
Nevatia, R., 1982. Machine Perception, Prentice-Hall, Englewood Criﬀs,
New Jersey.
Nitzan, D., Brain, A. E., and Duda, R. O., 1977. The measurement and use of registered reﬂectance and range data in scene analysis,
Proceedings of IEEE, vol. 65, pp. 206–220.
Nudel, B., 1983. Consistent-labeling problems and their algorithms —Expected-complexities and theory-based heuristics, Artiﬁcial Intelligence, vol. 21, pp. 135–178.
Ohta, Y., Maenobu, K., and Sakai, T., 1981. Obtaining surface orientation from texels under perspective projection, Proceedings of the 7thInternational Joint Conference on Artiﬁcial Intelligence, pp. 748–751.
Oshima, M., and Shirai, Y., 1979. A scene description method using
three-dimensional information, Pattern Recognition, vol. 11, pp. 9–17.
Penrose, L. S., and Penrose, R., 1958. Impossible objects: a special
type of visual illusion, British Journal of Psychology, vol. 49, pp. 31–33.
Preiss, K., 1981. Algorithms for automatic conversion of a 3-view drawing
of a plane-faced part to the 3-D representation, Computers in Industry,
vol. 2, pp. 133–139.
Recski, A., 1984a. A network theory approach to the rigidity of skeletal
structures, Part I — Modelling and interconnection, Discrete Applied
Mathematics, vol. 7, pp. 313–324.
Recski, A., 1984b. A network theory approach to the rigidity of skeletal structures, Part II — Laman’s theorem and topological formulae,
Discrete Applied Mathematics, vol. 8, pp. 63–68.
Recski, A., 1984c. A network theory approach to the rigidity of skeletal structures, Part IIII — An electric model of planar frameworks,
Structural Topology, vol. 9, pp. 59–71.
Roberts, L., 1965. Machine perception of three-dimensional solids, inTippett, J. et al. (eds.), Optical and Electro-Optical Information Processing, MIT Press, Cambridge, Mass., pp. 159–197.
Robinson, J. O, 1972. The Psychology of Visual Illusion, Hutchinson,
London.
Rosenberg, I. G., 1980. Structural rigidity I — Foundations and rigidity criteria, Annals of Discrete Mathematics, vol. 8, North-Holland,
pp. 143–161.
Rosenfeld, A., Hummel, R. A., and Zucker, S. W., 1976. Scenelabeling by relaxation operations, IEEE Transactions on Systems, Man222

References

and Cybernetics, vol. SMC-6, pp. 420–433.
Roth, B., and Whiteley, W., 1981. Tensegrity frameworks, Transactions of the American Mathematical Society, vol. 265, pp. 419–446.
Sanker, P. V., 1977. A vertex coding scheme for interpreting ambiguous trihedral solids, Computer Graphics and Image Processing, vol. 6,
pp. 61–89.
Shafer, S. A., 1985. Shadows and Silhouettes in Computer Vision, Kluwer
Academic Publishers, Boston.
Shafer, S. A., and Kanade, T., 1983. Using shadows in ﬁnding surface orientations, Computer Vision, Graphics, and Image Processing,vol. 22, pp. 145–176.
Shapira, R., 1974. A technique for the reconstruction of a straightedge, wire-frame object from two or more central projections, Computer
Graphics and Image Processing, vol. 3, pp. 318–326.
Shapira, R., 1984. The use of objects’ faces in interpreting line drawings, IEEE Transactions on Pattern Analysis and Machine Intelligence,
vol. PAMI-6, pp. 789–794.
Shapira, R., 1985. More about polyhedra — Interpretation through constructions in the image plane, IEEE Transactions on Pattern Analysis
and Machine Intelligence, vol. PAMI-7, pp. 1–16.
Shapira, R., and Freeman, H., 1979. The cyclic order property ofvertices as an aid in scene analysis, Communications of ACM, vol. 22,
pp. 368–375.
Shirai, Y., and Suwa, M., 1971. Recognition of polyhedrons with arange ﬁnder, Proceechngs of the 2nd International Joint Conference on
Artiﬁcial Intelligence, pp. 80–87.
Stevens, K. A., 1981. The visual interpretation of surface contours, Artiﬁcial Intelligence, vol. 17, pp. 47–73.
Sugihara, K., 1978. Picture language for skeletal polyhedra, Computer
Graphics and Image Processing, vol. 8, pp. 382–405.
Sugihara, K., 1979a. Range-data analysis guided by a junction dictionary,Artiﬁcial Intelligence, vol. 12, pp. 41–69.
Sugihara, K., 1979b. Automatic construction of junction dictionaries andtheir exploitation for the analysis of range data, Proceedings of the 6thInternational Joint Conference on Artiﬁcial Intelligence, pp. 859–864.
Sugihara, K., 1979c. Studies on Mathematical Structures of Line Drawings of Polyhedra and Their Applications to Scene Analysis (in Japanese),
Dissertation for Dr. of Engineering submitted to University of Tokyo(also published as Researches Electrotechnical Laboratory, no. 800).

References

223

Sugihara, K., 1982a. Classiﬁcation of impossible objects, Perception,
vol. 11, pp. 65–74.
Sugihara, K., 1982b. Mathematical structures of line drawings of polyhedrons — Toward man-machine communication by means of line drawings. IEEE Transactions Pattern Analysis and Machine Intelligence,
vol. PAMI-4, pp. 458–469.
Sugihara, K., 1983. On some problems in the design of plane skeletal
structures, SIAM Journal on Algebraic and Discrete Methods, vol. 4,
pp. 355–362.
Sugihara, K., 1984a. An algebraic approach to shape-from-image problems, Artiﬁcial Intelligence, vol. 23, pp. 59–95.
Sugihara, K., 1984b. A necessary and suﬃcient condition for a picture to
represent a polyhedral scene, IEEE Transactions on Pattern Analysis
and Machine Intelligence, vol. PAMI-6, pp. 578–586.
Sugihara, K., 1984c. An algebraic and combinatorial approach to theanalysis of line drawings of polyhedrons, Discrete Applied Mathematics,
vol. 9, pp. 77-104.
Sugihara, K., 1985. Detection of structural inconsistency in systems ofequations with degrees of freedom and its applications, Discrete Applied
Mathematics, vol. 10, pp. 297–312.
Tay, T.-S., and Whiteley, W., 1984. Recent advances in the genericrigidity of structures, Structural Topology, vol. 9, pp. 31–38.
Térouanne, E., 1980. On a class of “impossible” ﬁgures: a new language
for a new analysis, Journal of Mathematical Psychology, vol. 22, pp. 24–
47.
Thro, E. B., 1983. Distinguishing two classes of impossible objects, Perception, vol. 12, pp. 733–751.
Tomizawa, N., 1976. Strongly irreducible matroids and principal partitions of a matroid into strongly irreducible minors (in Japanese), Transactions of the Institute of Electronics and Communication Engineers ofJapan, vol. 59-A, pp. 83–91.
Turner, K. J., 1974. Computer perception of curved objects using a television camera, Doctoral dissertation, School of Artiﬁcial Intelligence,
Edinburgh University.
Waltz, D., 1972. Generating semantic descriptions from drawings ofscenes with shadows, Technical Report AI-TR-271, MIT.
Waltz, D., 1975. Understanding line drawings of scenes with shadows, in
Winston, P. H. (ed.), The Psychology of Computer Vision, McGrawHill, New York, pp. 19–91.
Welsh, D. J. A., 1976. Matroid Theory, Academic Press, London.

224

References

Wesley, M. A., and Markowsky, G., 1981. Fleshing out projections,
IBM Journal of Research and Development, vol. 25, pp. 934–954.
Whiteley, W., 1979. Realizability of polyhedra, Structural Topology,
vol. 1, pp. 46–58.
Whiteley, W., 1982. Notions and stresses of projected polyhedra, Structural Topology, vol. 7, pp. 13–38.
Whiteley, W., 1984a. Inﬁnitesimal motions of a bipartite framework,
Paciﬁc Journal of Mathematics, vol. 110, pp. 233–255.
Whiteley, W., 1984b. A correspondence between scene analysis and motions of frameworks, Discrete Applied Mathematics, vol. 9, pp. 269–295.
Whiteley, W., 1988. Some matroids on hypergraphs with applicationsin scene analysis and geometry, Discrete and Combinatorial Geometry,vol. 4, pp. 75–95.
Whitney, H., 1933. A set of topological invariants for graphs, American
Journal of Mathematics, vol. 55, pp. 231–235.
Winston, P. H., 1977. Artiﬁcial Intelligence, McGraw-Hill, New York.
Witkin, A. P., 1981. Recovering surface shape and orientation from texture, Artiﬁcial Intelligence, vol. 17, pp. 17–45.
Woodham, R. J., 1977. A cooperative algorithm for determining surface orientation from a single view, Proceedings of the 5th International
Joint Conference on Artiﬁcial Intelligence, pp. 635–641.
Woodham, R. J., 1981. Analyzing images of curved surfaces, Artiﬁcial
Intelligence, vol. 17, pp. 117–140.

Indexcompression, 190
concave line, 43
consistent assignment of labels , 32
consistent face-layer structure, 69
constrained optimization problem,
165
constraint propagation method, 36
constraint set, 167
continuous rigidity, 189convenient base, 88
convex line, 43
correct, 139
correctable, 139
correction of vertex position error,
131
correctness of hidden-part-drawn picture, 78
crack, 34
curved object, 8
cyclic order property, 92-connected, 200
3-connected, 204
active inequality, 166
additional information, 62, 154aﬃne transformation, 94
algebraic structure, 81
almost submodular, 211
ambiguity in interpretation, 65
analogical, 2anomalous picture, 141, 179
apparent distortion, 163
arc (of a graph), 116
arc (of a network), 144
assumption, 13, 15, 66
auxiliary graph, 145
axonometric drawing, 103
axonometric line drawing, 155axonometriclike line drawing, 157base, 84, 91
bipartite graph, 116
boundary of shadow, 34

decomposition of submodular system, 206
degenerate, 113
degenerate case, 15
degree, 118
degree of freedom (in the choice ofobjects), 83
degree of freedom (of an axonometric line drawing), 106
degree of freedom (of an axonometriclike line drawing), 155

cable, 193
capacity, 144
characteristic vector, 144classiﬁcation of line drawings, 138
closure, 93
collinearity-coplanarity property, 95
combinatorial explosion, 134
combinatorial structure, 109
complete matching, 116
225

226
degree of freedom (of an unknownset), 84
demand-supply theorem, 146
dependent, 84, 91
diagram, 184
dodecahedron, 176
dual picture, 181
dual representation, 35
Dulmage-Mendelsohn decomposition,
207
edge (of a panel), 43
edge (of a polyhedron), 13
embedding, 195
equilibrium vector, 190
face, 13
face-edge diagram, 185
face-edge graph, 195
face-layer structure, 69
feasible solution, 60
ﬁgure-construction approach, 9ﬁgure-construction problem, 96
ﬂat, 93
ﬂow, 144
ﬂow augmentable, 145
force in equilibrium, 199
general position, 67, 192
generic correspondence, 198
generic degrees of freedom, 125
generic position, 113, 191
generically dependent, 191
generically independent, 191
generically reconstructible, 113, 139
generically rigid, 191
generically unreconstructible, 139
global constraint, 164
gradient, 183
gradient space, 9, 35, 175, 183
grain texture, 179

Indexgraphical calculus, 9
greedy algorithm, 93
heuristic, 104, 134
hexahedron, 187
hidden-part-drawn line drawing, 16
hidden-part-drawn picture, 66
hidden-part-eliminated line drawing, 16
Huﬀman-Clowes labeling scheme,
8
impossible object, 141
impossible truncated pyramid, 113
in-arrow, 48
incidence pair, 111
incidence structure, 111
incorrect, 139
independent, 84, 91
independent set, 191
indeterminate, 117
induced subgraph, 116
induced substructure, 112
inﬁnitesimal displacement, 189
inﬁnitesimally rigid, 189
initial junction, 44
integral vector, 144intermediate node, 144
joint, 188
junction, 14, 44
kernel, 117
L-type junction, 28
labeled, 20
labeled picture, 44
Laman’s theorem, 191
Lambertian surface, 169left node, 116
light intensity, 163, 169

Indexlight stripe image, 170
line, 14, 44
line drawing, 14line segment, 184
linear order, 158
linear programming problem, 60
locally consistent, 36
lower bound of the degrees of freedom, 94
matching, 116
matroid, 91, 191
maximal generically reconstructible
substructure, 148
maximally distant tree-pair, 207
minimum-rank maximum-term-ranktheorem, 207
minimum-weight base, 93
multi-view drawing, 7natural line drawing, 16
Necker’s reversal, 172
negative arc, 144
negative object, 172
network, 144
network ﬂow theory, 146node, 144
non-trihedral object, 32, 161
nonaccidentalness assumption, 16
nondegenerate, 113
nonnegative vector, 144
nonpolyhedral object, 34
nonseparable, 209
nullity, 117
objective function, 165
occluded part, 62
occluding line, 43
octant, 23
optimization, 163oriented polyhedron, 198

227
Origami world, 34
orthographic projection, 41
out-arrow, 48
panel, 43
paper-made object, 8partial order, 208
path, 144
pathological, 58
pathological object, 13
pathological panel, 43
pathological vertex, 182
pentagonal prism, 97
perspective projection, 60
picture (of a planar-panel scene),
43
picture of impossible object, 141
picture(of a polyhedral scene), 14
pin joint, 188
planar graph, 204
planar-panel object, 35
planar-panel scene, 43
plane skeletal structure, 188
point (of a diagram), 184
polygon, 69
polyhedral scene, 57
polyhedron, 13
positive arc, 144
precisely drawn picture, 153
principal minor, 208
principal partition of matroid, 206
prism, 149
prototype-based interpretation, 7
prototype-free interpretation, 7
pyramid, 149
quadrant, 18
quadric error criterion, 165
quadric surface, 8range ﬁnding, 170

228
rank function, 91, 191
reciprocal, 185
reciprocal ﬁgure, 9, 35
reciprocal-ﬁgure approach, 10
Reidemeister’s theorem, 187
relative distance, 42, 78
relaxation method, 36
right node, 116
right-angled object, 8
rigid, 189rod, 188
roughly drawn axonometric line drawing, 155
rule, 21, 22, 24, 27, 29, 35
scene, 14second order rigidity, 189
shadow, 63
shape recovery, 163, 164side, 48sidedness reasoning, 9, 35
sign pattern, 193
signed length, 197
sink, 144
skeletal structure, 188
slit light, 170
source, 144
span, 117
spanning angle, 9, 35
spatial structure, 46
special position, 90
spot range ﬁnder, 93
statistical property of texture, 163
Steinitz’s theorem, 204
strong irreducibility, 208
strut, 193
subgraph, 116
submodular, 211
substructure, 112
superstrictness, 110

Index
support, 91
surface contour, 163
surface information, 164
symbolic aspect, 3T-type junction, 27
tapered prism, 187
telephoto lens, 179tensegrity structure, 193
tension, 190
terminal junction, 44
tetrahedron, 113, 187, 197
texture density, 179
theory of braid, 35
thickness, 35
time of ﬂight, 93
torus, 160
triangular panel, 58
triangulation, 34, 93
trihedral, 22
truncated pyramid, 113
uncorrectable, 139
underlying graph, 188
unique shape, 153
unique solvability, 96
unusual interpretation, 3
vanishing point, 164
vector, 144vertex (of a polyhedron), 13
vertex (of a spatial structure), 46
vertex-edge diagram, 184vertex-edge graph, 195
visual psychology, 141
W-type junction, 23
weight, 93
weld, 58
X-type junction, 22

IndexY-type junction, 23229