Digital Representation of the Real World: How to Capture, Model, and Render Visual Reality

As much as we need computer graphics to generate artificial images (e.g., alien weapons, talking hamsters), we also need digital models of real-world objects for a variety of applications (e.g., digitized cities for online maps, food for commercials, planes for film stunts, cars for virtual reality). This book presents the state-of-the-art research into how complex, real-world scenes are digitized to create realistic virtual worlds. It covers the entire pipeline from acquisition, data processing, and modeling to content editing, photorealistic rendering, and user interaction.

Table of Contents

Part I: Acquiring the Real World
Chapter 1: Camera Sensor Pipeline
Chapter 2: Stereo and Multi-View Video
Chapter 3: Omni-Directional Video
Chapter 4: Range Imaging
Chapter 5: Plenoptic Cameras
Chapter 6: Illumination and Light Transport

Part II: Reconstruction—Data Processing Techniques
Chapter 7: Camera Registration from Images and Video
Chapter 8: Reconstruction of Dense Correspondences
Chapter 9: Sensor Fusion
Chapter 10: Mesh Reconstruction from a Point Cloud
Chapter 11: Reconstruction of Human Motion
Chapter 12: Dynamic Geometry Reconstruction

Part III: Modeling Reality
Chapter 13: Rigging Captured Meshes
Chapter 14: Statistical Human Body Modeling
Chapter 15: Cloth Modeling
Chapter 16: Video-Based Character Animation

Part IV: Authentic Rendering, Display, and Perception
Chapter 17: Image- and Video-Based Rendering
Chapter 18: Stereo 3D and Viewing Experience
Chapter 19: Visual Quality Assessment

Part V: Applications
Chapter 20: Facial Capture and Animation in Visual E ects
Chapter 21: Television and Live Broadcasting
Chapter 22: Web-Based Delivery of 3D Mesh Data
Chapter 23: Virtual Production