Sketch classification and classification-driven analysis using Fisher vectors

We introduce an approach for sketch classification based on Fisher vectors that significantly outperforms existing techniques. For the TU-Berlin sketch benchmark Eitz et al. 2012a, our recognition rate is close to human performance on the same task. Motivated by these results, we propose a different benchmark for the evaluation of sketch classification algorithms. Our key idea is that the relevant aspect when recognizing a sketch is not the intention of the person who made the drawing, but the information that was effectively expressed. We modify the original benchmark to capture this concept more precisely and, as such, to provide a more adequate tool for the evaluation of sketch classification techniques. Finally, we perform a classification-driven analysis which is able to recover semantic aspects of the individual sketches, such as the quality of the drawing and the importance of each part of the sketch for the recognition.