Markov-Gibbs random field modeling of 3D skin surface textures for haptic applications

The 3D surface textures of skin are important for both visual and tactile inspection. The information of surface textures can aid the inclusion of haptic technology in tele-dermatology as well as enhance the effectiveness of current 2D based applications. This work aims to analyse and model surface textures of skin including diseased skin. For this purpose the multiple pairwise pixel interaction model of Markov-Gibbs Random Field (MGRF) has been used. Surface textures are in the form of 3D mesh which are converted to 2D height maps and modeled as grayscale textures. The results demonstrate that homogenous stochastic textures of skin can be modeled successfully. The successfully modeled textures represent the surface irregularities on scale of 0.1 mm which can create the tactile perception of roughness for skin in haptic applications. © Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2007.