Physically-based combinations of views: representing rigid and nonrigid motion

Nonrigid motion can be described as morphing or blending between extremal shapes, e.g. heart motion can be described as transitioning between the systole and diastole states. Using physically-based modeling techniques, shape similarity can be measured in terms of forces and strain. This provides a physically-based coordinate system in which motion is characterized in terms of physical similarity to a set of extremal shapes. Having such a low-dimensional characterization of nonrigid motion allows for the recognition and the comparison of different types of nonrigid motion.<>