A 3D model retrieval system for cellular phones

About a decade ago, extremely expensive computers were needed to render and visualized 3D models. However, today's economical personal computers including PDAs (personal digital assistants) and even cellular phones with a fast CPU are powerful enough to visualize 3D models interactively. Based on these kinds of hardware developments, the use of 3D models is gaining wide popularity on the Internet, and the number of 3D model databases is increasing rapidly. We have developed an experimental similarity retrieval system for 3D models for cellular phones. The system helps users find similar shaped models from databases, and the system allows users to visualize 3D models from various viewpoints by rotating the 3D models interactively. Since the use of 3D models is becoming more common on various cellular phone Web sites, these kinds of similarity retrieval algorithms and systems will play an important role in the development of such Web sites.