%0 Journal Article %J ACM Trans. Graph. %D 2003 %T A search engine for 3D models %A Funkhouser,Thomas %A Min,Patrick %A Kazhdan,Michael %A Chen,Joyce %A Halderman,Alex %A Dobkin,David %A Jacobs, David W. %K Search engine %K shape matching %K shape representation %K shape retrieval %X As the number of 3D models available on the Web grows, there is an increasing need for a search engine to help people find them. Unfortunately, traditional text-based search techniques are not always effective for 3D data. In this article, we investigate new shape-based search methods. The key challenges are to develop query methods simple enough for novice users and matching algorithms robust enough to work for arbitrary polygonal models. We present a Web-based search engine system that supports queries based on 3D sketches, 2D sketches, 3D models, and/or text keywords. For the shape-based queries, we have developed a new matching algorithm that uses spherical harmonics to compute discriminating similarity measures without requiring repair of model degeneracies or alignment of orientations. It provides 46 to 245% better performance than related shape-matching methods during precision--recall experiments, and it is fast enough to return query results from a repository of 20,000 models in under a second. The net result is a growing interactive index of 3D models available on the Web (i.e., a Google for 3D models). %B ACM Trans. Graph. %V 22 %P 83 - 105 %8 2003/01// %@ 0730-0301 %G eng %U http://doi.acm.org/10.1145/588272.588279 %N 1 %R 10.1145/588272.588279