Improved Convex Hull Algorithm Applied to Body Size Measurements

Abstract

The Quickhull algorithm is a very efficient convex hull algorithm for many engineering application. Although it can be applied in the clothing industry, its conventional formulation requires massive computational resources when processing point clouds from concave parts of the human body. Thus, we improve the Quickhull algorithm and apply it to accurately estimate human body dimensions. Assuming body symmetry with respect to the sagittal plane, some concave points can be quickly deleted to reduce the number of recursions, enhancing the overall calculation efficiency. Compared with the traditional Quickhull algorithm, the efficiency of the improved algorithm increases by 15.1–24.4%. Additionally, the computation time of the improved Quickhull algorithm is about three-quarters that of Graham’s scan. We expect that this study provides insights on the application of body size measurement and estimation based on 3D scan data.