A survey of methods to detect and represent the human symmetry line from 3D scanned human back

Abstract This paper proposes a review of the methods to detect and represent the human symmetry line. In the last years, the development of 3D scanners has allowed to replace the traditional techniques (marking based methods) with modern methodologies that, starting from a 3D valid discrete geometric model of the back, perform the posture and vertebral column detection based on a complex processing of the acquired data. The purpose of the paper is a critical d iscussion of the state of the art in order to highlight the real potentialit ies and the limitations still present of the most important methodologies proposed for human symmetry line detection.