  We propose using the Dirichlet-to-Neumann operator as an extrinsic
alternative to the Laplacian for spectral geometry processing and shape
analysis. Intrinsic approaches, usually based on the Laplace-Beltrami operator,
cannot capture the spatial embedding of a shape up to rigid motion, and many
previous extrinsic methods lack theoretical justification. Instead, we consider
the Steklov eigenvalue problem, computing the spectrum of the
Dirichlet-to-Neumann operator of a surface bounding a volume. A remarkable
property of this operator is that it completely encodes volumetric geometry. We
use the boundary element method (BEM) to discretize the operator, accelerated
by hierarchical numerical schemes and preconditioning; this pipeline allows us
to solve eigenvalue and linear problems on large-scale meshes despite the
density of the Dirichlet-to-Neumann discretization. We further demonstrate that
our operators naturally fit into existing frameworks for geometry processing,
making a shift from intrinsic to extrinsic geometry as simple as substituting
the Laplace-Beltrami operator with the Dirichlet-to-Neumann operator.
