Providing correct inputs for surface curvature calculation

Question

I want to calculate the mean and Gaussian curvatures of some points in a point cloud.

I have x,y,z, that are coordinates and are 1d arrays. I want to use the below code ^src but in the input parameters X, Y and Z are 2d arrays, I don't know what means that, and how I can calculate 2d arrays corresponding to them.

function [K,H,Pmax,Pmin] = surfature(X,Y,Z),
% SURFATURE -  COMPUTE GAUSSIAN AND MEAN CURVATURES OF A SURFACE
%   [K,H] = SURFATURE(X,Y,Z), WHERE X,Y,Z ARE 2D ARRAYS OF POINTS ON THE
%   SURFACE.  K AND H ARE THE GAUSSIAN AND MEAN CURVATURES, RESPECTIVELY.
%   SURFATURE RETURNS 2 ADDITIONAL ARGUMENTS,
%   [K,H,Pmax,Pmin] = SURFATURE(...), WHERE Pmax AND Pmin ARE THE MINIMUM
%   AND MAXIMUM CURVATURES AT EACH POINT, RESPECTIVELY.


% First Derivatives
[Xu,Xv] = gradient(X);
[Yu,Yv] = gradient(Y);
[Zu,Zv] = gradient(Z);

% Second Derivatives
[Xuu,Xuv] = gradient(Xu);
[Yuu,Yuv] = gradient(Yu);
[Zuu,Zuv] = gradient(Zu);

[Xuv,Xvv] = gradient(Xv);
[Yuv,Yvv] = gradient(Yv);
[Zuv,Zvv] = gradient(Zv);

% Reshape 2D Arrays into Vectors
Xu = Xu(:);   Yu = Yu(:);   Zu = Zu(:); 
Xv = Xv(:);   Yv = Yv(:);   Zv = Zv(:); 
Xuu = Xuu(:); Yuu = Yuu(:); Zuu = Zuu(:); 
Xuv = Xuv(:); Yuv = Yuv(:); Zuv = Zuv(:); 
Xvv = Xvv(:); Yvv = Yvv(:); Zvv = Zvv(:); 

Xu          =   [Xu Yu Zu];
Xv          =   [Xv Yv Zv];
Xuu         =   [Xuu Yuu Zuu];
Xuv         =   [Xuv Yuv Zuv];
Xvv         =   [Xvv Yvv Zvv];

% First fundamental Coeffecients of the surface (E,F,G)
E           =   dot(Xu,Xu,2);
F           =   dot(Xu,Xv,2);
G           =   dot(Xv,Xv,2);

m           =   cross(Xu,Xv,2);
p           =   sqrt(dot(m,m,2));
n           =   m./[p p p]; 

% Second fundamental Coeffecients of the surface (L,M,N)
L           =   dot(Xuu,n,2);
M           =   dot(Xuv,n,2);
N           =   dot(Xvv,n,2);

[s,t] = size(Z);

% Gaussian Curvature
K = (L.*N - M.^2)./(E.*G - F.^2);
K = reshape(K,s,t);

% Mean Curvature
H = (E.*N + G.*L - 2.*F.*M)./(2*(E.*G - F.^2));
H = reshape(H,s,t);

% Principal Curvatures
Pmax = H + sqrt(H.^2 - K);
Pmin = H - sqrt(H.^2 - K);

Answer 1

You have ways to convert your x,y,z data to surface matrices/ 2D arrays. Way depends on, how and what your data is.

1. Structured grid data:

   (i). If your x,y,z corresponds to a structured grid, then you can straight a way get unique values of x,y which gives number of points along (nx,ny) along x and y axes respectively. With this (nx,ny), you need to reshape x,y,z data into matrices X,Y,Z respectively and use your function.

   (ii). If you are not okay with reshaping, you can get min and max values of x,y make your own grid using meshgrid and do interpolation using griddata.

2. Unstructured grid data: If your data is unstructured/ scattered, get min and max, make your grid using meshgrid and do interpolation using griddata , scatteredInterpolant.

Also have a look in the following links:

https://in.mathworks.com/matlabcentral/fileexchange/56533-xyz2grd

https://in.mathworks.com/matlabcentral/fileexchange/56414-xyz-file-functions