An overview of how the contours are split into separate cells based on outline curvature and separation.

<b>A</b> shows an example with <i>S.aureus</i>. A spline is fitted to the outline of the cells (shown in red), and its curvature is computed at each point. Positive curvature maps to where the surface curves outwards. Discarding all negative curvatures, the maximum curvature locations are found. If more than 10 points separate their position along the curve, and they are closer than the max width of the contour times the split factor, the split is performed. Using these points of maximum curvature as seed points, a local search is conducted around these points to find the pair of points that are closest to each other. <b>B</b> shows an example with <i>E.coli</i> where the recursive nature of the algorithm is highlighted. (PDF)