Generating skeletons and centerlines from the medial axis transform

An algorithm for generating connected skeletons of objects in binary images is described. Three main properties of the algorithm are that: (1) it is noniterative, taking a fixed number of passes through the image to produce the skeleton regardless of the width of the objects; (2) it is based on a distance transform that uses a good approximation to the Euclidean distance, giving skeletons that are well centered and robust with respect to rotation; and (3) the skeletons it produces are connected. In addition, the skeletons are thin and allow the objects to be nearly reconstructed. The algorithm can also be run in a mode to produce centerlines, a connected approximation to the skeleton that is less sensitive to border noise and that is useful in image analysis applications.<>