Shape Semantics from Shape Context

3D models play an important role in many industrial applications. Therefore semantic processing for the purposes of comparing, cataloging and archiving shapes is a major concern. Most previous work considers comparisons based on the object’s overall geometry or in a reference frame which is computed from the object’s geometry alone, disregarding its context. There are also approaches which propose to match feature points to perform context alignment to better analyze a single element. In complex assemblies created in a CAD system, however, the parts (components and layers) are often explicitly marked and named and therefore the geometric context is evident. In this paper we show how this can be exploited with the aid of Knowledge Management tools to establish accurate frames of reference where the individual shapes can be better analyzed.