# An Active Contour Model for Silhouette Vectorization using B'ezier Curves

arXiv: https://arxiv.org/abs/2505.05132 · HTML: https://mlsanity.com/paper/2505.05132/

## Key facts

- No citing papers in the map yet (data through 14 Oct 2026).
- Builds on 7 of its 84 references that are in the map.
- First posted on arXiv 8 May 2025.

## Builds on (most cited first, 7 of 7)

- [Im2Vec: Synthesizing Vector Graphics without Vector Supervision](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2102.02798/) (2021)
- [A Learned Representation for Scalable Vector Graphics](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1904.02632/) (2019)
- [Towards Layer-wise Image Vectorization](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2206.04655/) (2022)
- [CLIPasso: Semantically-Aware Object Sketching](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2202.05822/) (2022)
- [Effective Clipart Image Vectorization Through Direct Optimization of Bezigons](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1602.01913/) (2016)
- [Image Vectorization: a Review](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2306.06441/) (2023)
- [Silhouette Vectorization by Affine Scale-space](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2007.12117/) (2020)

## Abstract (arXiv)

In this paper, we propose an active contour model for silhouette vectorization using cubic B'ezier curves. Among the end points of the B'ezier curves, we distinguish between corner and regular points where the orientation of the tangent vector is prescribed. By minimizing the distance of the B'ezier curves to the silhouette boundary, the active contour model optimizes the location of the B'ezier curves end points, the orientation of the tangent vectors in the regular points, and the estimation of the B'ezier curve parameters. This active contour model can use the silhouette vectorization obtained by any method as an initial guess. The proposed method significantly reduces the average distance between the silhouette boundary and its vectorization obtained by the world-class graphic software Inkscape, Adobe Illustrator, and a curvature-based vectorization method, which we introduce for comparison. Our method also allows us to impose additional regularity on the B'ezier curves by reducing their lengths.