Matching and recognition using deformable intensity surfaces

We describe a novel approach for matching and recognition, based on deformable intensity surfaces. In this approach, the intensity surface of the image is modeled as a deformable thin plate, and its strain energy while deforming to a new image is measured for recognition. Each surface point has 3 degrees of freedom, thus capturing fine surface changes. The method is validated for recognition and interactive search in a large-scale face database.