Manipulating refractive and reflective binocular disparity

Presenting stereoscopic content on 3D displays is a challenging task, usually requiring manual adjustments. A number of techniques have been developed to aid this process, but they account for binocular disparity of surfaces that are diffuse and opaque only. However, combinations of transparent as well as specular materials are common in the real and virtual worlds, and pose a significant problem. For example, excessive disparities can be created which cannot be fused by the observer. Also, multiple stereo interpretations become possible, e. g., for glass, that both reflects and refracts, which may confuse the observer and result in poor 3D experience. In this work, we propose an efficient method for analyzing and controlling disparities in computer‐generated images of such scenes where surface positions and a layer decomposition are available. Instead of assuming a single per‐pixel disparity value, we estimate all possibly perceived disparities at each image location. Based on this representation, we define an optimization to find the best per‐pixel camera parameters, assuring that all disparities can be easily fused by a human. A preliminary perceptual study indicates, that our approach combines comfortable viewing with realistic depiction of typical specular scenes.     

Review Paper: Human factors of stereo displays: An update

Abstract— This updated review paper provides a selected review of a number of important perceptual and human‐factors issues that arise when stereo displays are designed and used. This review and analysis draws heavily from the basic vision literature in order to help provide insight for future design solutions for stereo displays. Issues discussed include: (1) the basics of human stereopsis (horopter, binocular disparity, binocular rivalry); (2) low‐level factors (interocular cross talk, interocular differences in luminance and contrast, accommodation‐vergence mismatch, stereoanomaly); (3) contextual factors (spatio‐temporal frequency effects, distance scaling of disparity); and (4) a high‐level cognitive factor (high‐level cue conflict). In this updated review, significant new material has been added: (1) interocular luminance and contrast differences and their effect on stereo viewing; (2) more insightful discussion of accommodative‐vergence mismatch; (3) high‐level cognitive factor. Two topics in the earlier review (visual pathways; dark focus and dark vergence) have been deleted. The paper concludes with the presentation of several recommendations for the design of stereo displays.     

Real-time joint disparity and disparity flow estimation on programmable graphics hardware

Disparity flow depicts the 3D motion of a scene in the disparity space of a given view and can be considered as view-dependent scene flow. A novel algorithm is presented to compute disparity maps and disparity flow maps in an integrated process. Consequently, the disparity flow maps obtained helps to enforce the temporal consistency between disparity maps of adjacent frames. The disparity maps found also provides the spatial correspondence information that can be used to cross-validate disparity flow maps of different views. Two different optimization approaches are integrated in the presented algorithm for searching optimal disparity values and disparity flows. The local winner-take-all approach runs faster, whereas the global dynamic programming based approach produces better results. All major computations are performed in the image space of the given view, leading to an efficient implementation on programmable graphics hardware. Experimental results on captured stereo sequences demonstrate the algorithm’s capability of estimating both 3D depth and 3D motion in real-time. Quantitative performance evaluation using synthetic data with ground truth is also provided.     

Gradient‐Guided Local Disparity Editing

Stereoscopic 3D technology gives visual content creators a new dimension of design when creating images and movies. While useful for conveying emotion, laying emphasis on certain parts of the scene, or guiding the viewer's attention, editing stereo content is a challenging task. Not respecting comfort zones or adding incorrect depth cues, for example depth inversion, leads to a poor viewing experience. In this paper, we present a solution for editing stereoscopic content that allows an artist to impose disparity constraints and removes resulting depth conflicts using an optimization scheme. Using our approach, an artist only needs to focus on important high‐level indications that are automatically made consistent with the entire scene while avoiding contradictory depth cues and respecting viewer comfort.     

一种基于3DTV编解码技术的视频流传输方法*

3DTV编解码技术及其立体视频流的优化传输方法是构建实时立体多视角3DTV系统的关键所在。通过对立体视频压缩编码和优化技术、立体视频解码技术,以及运动补偿预测与视差补偿预测技术的分析,在基于DSP平台TMS320DM642上进行AVS标清立体视频编解码及视频流优化传输,得出将互补的流媒体内容分发技术加以融合的立体视频流传输方法。     

Distortion conspicuity on stereoscopically viewed 3D images may correlate to scene content and distortion type

We describe two studies that were aimed towards increasing our understanding of how the visibility of distortions on stereoscopically viewed 3D images is affected by scene content and distortion types. By assuming that subjects' performance would be highly correlated with the visibility of local distorted patches, we analyzed subjects' performance in locating distortion patches when viewing stereoscopic 3D images. Subjects' performances are measured by whether they successfully locate a local distorted patch, the times they spent to finish the task, and subjective quality ratings given by subjects. The visual data used in this work are co‐registered stereo images with co‐registered “ground truth” range (depth) data. Varied statistical analysis methods were used to discuss the significance of our observations. Three observations are drawn from our analyses. First, blur, JPEG, and JP2K distortions in stereo 3D images may be suppressed if one of the left or right views is undistorted. Second, contrast masking ^a does not occur, or is reduced, while viewing white noise distorted stereo 3D images. Third, there is no depth/disparity masking effect when viewing stereo 3D images, but there may be (conversely) depth‐related facilitation ^b effects for blur, JPEG, and JP2K distorted stereo 3D images.     

A Single Image Representation Model for Efficient Stereoscopic Image Creation

Computer graphics is one of the most efficient ways to create a stereoscopic image. The process of stereoscopic CG generation is, however, still very inefficient compared to that of monoscopic CG generation. Despite that stereo images are very similar to each other, they are rendered and manipulated independently. Additional requirements for disparity control specific to stereo images lead to even greater inefficiency. This paper proposes a method to reduce the inefficiency accompanied in the creation of a stereoscopic image. The system automatically generates an optimized single image representation of the entire visible area from both cameras. The single image can be easily manipulated with conventional techniques, as it is spatially smooth and maintains the original shapes of scene objects. In addition, a stereo image pair can be easily generated with an arbitrary disparity setting. These convenient and efficient features are achieved by the automatic generation of a stereo camera pair, robust occlusion detection with a pair of Z‐buffers, an optimization method for spatial smoothness, and stereo image pair generation with a non‐linear disparity adjustment. Experiments show that our technique dramatically improves the efficiency of stereoscopic image creation while preserving the quality of the results.     

时空联合视差优化的立体视频重定向

目的智能适配显示的图像/视频重定向技术近年受到广泛关注。与图像重定向以及2D视频重定向相比,3D视频重定向需要同时考虑视差保持和时域保持。现有的3D视频重定向方法虽然考虑了视差保持却忽略了对视差舒适度的调整,针对因视差过大和视差突变造成视觉不舒适度这一问题,提出了一种基于时空联合视差优化的立体视频重定向方法,将视频视差范围控制在舒适区间。方法在原始视频上建立均匀网格,并提取显著信息和视差,进而得到每个网格的平均显著值;根据相似性变化原理构建形状保持能量项,利用目标轨迹以及原始视频的视差变化构建时域保持能量项,并结合人眼辐辏调节原理构建视差舒适度调整能量项;结合各个网格的显著性,联合求解所有能量项得到优化后的网格顶点坐标,将其用于确定网格形变,从而生成指定宽高比的视频。结果实验结果表明,与基于细缝裁剪的立体视频重定向方法对比,本文方法在形状保持、时域保持及视差舒适度方面均具有更好的性能。另外,使用现有的客观质量评价方法对重定向结果进行评价,本文方法客观质量评价指标性能优于均匀缩放和细缝裁剪的视频重定向方法,时间复杂度较低,每帧的时间复杂度至少比细缝裁剪方法降低了98%。结论提出的时空联合...     

立体视频编码中运动和视差联合估计算法的研究

立体视频编码不仅要在同一个视点间进行运动估计,还要在相邻视点间进行视差估计,计算复杂度非常高.如何有效地结合运动估计和视差估计,降低运算复杂度是当前亟待解决的问题.本文详细分析了立体视频左右通道视频流之间的相关性,提出一种运动和视差联合估计快速算法.根据运动—视差模型,结合时空域的多参考帧来进行联合的运动和视差估计,实现对数据的有效编码压缩.实验证明,该算法与传统的全搜索算法相比,能在保证率失真性能基本不变的前提下,降低96.45%的运算复杂度,大大提高编码速度.     

A fast stereoscopic video coding algorithm based on JMVM

In order to exploit the intra-view and inter-view dependencies in stereo video coding, a fast joint motion and disparity estimation algorithm is proposed in this paper. An efficient search strategy based on the motion-disparity constraint is developed, in which both the motion and disparity vectors can be obtained simultaneously with low complexity. Moreover, a credible initial predictive vector set is designed with the aid of the temporal and spatial neighboring blocks so that the coding efficiency can be ...     

Direct recovery of three-dimensional scene geometry from binocularstereo disparity

An analysis of disparity is presented. It makes explicit the geometric relations between a stereo disparity field and a differentially project scene. These results show how it is possible to recover three-dimensional surface geometry through first-order (i.e., distance and orientation of a surface relative to an observer) and binocular viewing parameters in a direct fashion from stereo disparity. As applications of the analysis, algorithms have been developed for recovering three-dimensional surface orientation and discontinuities from stereo disparity. The results of applying these algorithms to natural image binocular stereo disparity information are presented     

基于视差优化的立体匹配网络

现有的立体匹配算法通常采用深层卷积神经网络提取特征,对前景物体的检测更加精细,但对背景中的小物体及边缘区域匹配效果较差。为提高视差估计质量,构建一个基于视差优化的立体匹配网络CTFNet。分别提取浅层与深层特征,并基于深层特征构建全局稀疏代价卷,从而预测初始视差图。在预测的初始视差图和浅层特征的基础上构建局部稠密代价卷并进行视差优化,以细化预测视差值邻域的概率分布,提高特征不明显区域的匹配精度。此外,引入新的概率分布损失函数,监督softmax函数计算的视差值概率分布在真实视差值附近成单峰分布,提高算法的鲁棒性。实验结果表明,该网络在SceneFlow和KITTI数据集上的误匹配率分别为0.768%和1.485%,在KITTI测评网站上的误差率仅为2.20%,与PSMNet网络相比,精度和速度均得到一定提升。     

Non-Rigid Stereo Factorization

In this paper we address the problem of recovering 3D non-rigid structure from a sequence of images taken with a stereo pair. We have extended existing non-rigid factorization algorithms to the stereo camera case and presented an algorithm to decompose the measurement matrix into the motion of the left and right cameras and the 3D shape, represented as a linear combination of basis-shapes. The added constraints in the stereo camera case are that both cameras are viewing the same structure and that the relative orientation between both cameras is fixed. Our focus in this paper is on the recovery of flexible 3D shape rather than on the correspondence problem. We propose a method to compute reliable 3D models of deformable structure from stereo images. Our experiments with real data show that improved reconstructions can be achieved using this method. The algorithm includes a non-linear optimization step that minimizes image reprojection error and imposes the correct structure to the motion matrix by choosing an appropriate parameterization. We show that 3D shape and motion estimates can be successfully disambiguated after bundle adjustment and demonstrate this on synthetic and real image sequences. While this optimization step is proposed for the stereo camera case, it can be readily applied to the case of non-rigid structure recovery using a monocular video sequence. Electronic supplementary material Electronic supplementary material is available for this article at and accessible for authorised users.     

Decoupled Space and Time Sampling of Motion and Defocus Blur for Unified Rendering of Transparent and Opaque Objects

We propose a unified rendering approach that jointly handles motion and defocus blur for transparent and opaque objects at interactive frame rates. Our key idea is to create a sampled representation of all parts of the scene geometry that are potentially visible at any point in time for the duration of a frame in an initial rasterization step. We store the resulting temporally‐varying fragments (t‐fragments) in a bounding volume hierarchy which is rebuild every frame using a fast spatial median construction algorithm. This makes our approach suitable for interactive applications with dynamic scenes and animations. Next, we perform spatial sampling to determine all t‐fragments that intersect with a specific viewing ray at any point in time. Viewing rays are sampled according to the lens uv‐sampling for depth‐of‐field effects. In a final temporal sampling step, we evaluate the predetermined viewing ray/t‐fragment intersections for one or multiple points in time. This allows us to incorporate all standard shading effects including transparency. We describe the overall framework, present our GPU implementation, and evaluate our rendering approach with respect to scalability, quality, and performance.     

Selective rendering for efficient ray traced stereoscopic images

Depth-related visual effects are a key feature of many virtual environments. In stereo-based systems, the depth effect can be produced by delivering frames of disparate image pairs, while in monocular environments, the viewer has to extract this depth information from a single image by examining details such as perspective and shadows. This paper investigates via a number of psychophysical experiments, whether we can reduce computational effort and still achieve perceptually high-quality rendering for stereo imagery. We examined selectively rendering the image pairs by exploiting the fusing capability and depth perception underlying human stereo vision. In ray-tracing-based global illumination systems, a higher image resolution introduces more computation to the rendering process since many more rays need to be traced. We first investigated whether we could utilise the human binocular fusing ability and significantly reduce the resolution of one of the image pairs and yet retain a high perceptual quality under stereo viewing condition. Secondly, we evaluated subjects’ performance on a specific visual task that required accurate depth perception. We found that subjects required far fewer rendered depth cues in the stereo viewing environment to perform the task well. Avoiding rendering these detailed cues saved significant computational time. In fact it was possible to achieve a better task performance in the stereo viewing condition at a combined rendering time for the image pairs less than that required for the single monocular image. The outcome of this study suggests that we can produce more efficient stereo images for depth-related visual tasks by selective rendering and exploiting inherent features of human stereo vision.     

A Performance Study on Different Cost Aggregation Approaches Used in Real-Time Stereo Matching

Many vision applications require high-accuracy dense disparity maps in real-time and online. Due to time constraint, most real-time stereo applications rely on local winner-takes-all optimization in the disparity computation process. These local approaches are generally outperformed by offline global optimization based algorithms. However, recent research shows that, through carefully selecting and aggregating the matching costs of neighboring pixels, the disparity maps produced by a local approach can be more accurate than those generated by many global optimization techniques. We are therefore motivated to investigate whether these cost aggregation approaches can be adopted in real-time stereo applications and, if so, how well they perform under the real-time constraint. The evaluation is conducted on a real-time stereo platform, which utilizes the processing power of programmable graphics hardware. Six recent cost aggregation approaches are implemented and optimized for graphics hardware so that real-time speed can be achieved. The performances of these aggregation approaches in terms of both processing speed and result quality are reported.     

基于分割导向滤波的亚像素精度立体匹配视差优化算法*

针对局部立体匹配中存在的弱纹理区域匹配精度较低、斜面等区域容易产生视差阶梯效应等问题,文中提出基于分割导向滤波的视差优化算法,以获得亚像素级高精度匹配视差.首先依据左右一致性准则对立体匹配的初始视差进行误匹配检验及均值滤波修正.然后在修正视差图上确定区域分割导向图,对修正视差进行区域导向滤波优化,获得亚像素级高精度的视差结果.实验表明,文中算法能有效改善斜面等区域的视差不平滑现象,降低初始视差的误匹配率,获得较高精度的稠密视差结果.     

Characterization of crosstalk in stereoscopic display devices

Many different types of stereoscopic display devices are used for commercial and research applications. Stereoscopic displays offer the potential to improve performance in detection tasks for medical imaging diagnostic systems. Due to the variety of stereoscopic display technologies, it remains unclear how these compare with each other for detection and estimation tasks. Different stereo devices have different performance trade‐offs due to their display characteristics. Among them, crosstalk is known to affect observer perception of 3D content and might affect detection performance. We measured and report the detailed luminance output and crosstalk characteristics for three different types of stereoscopic display devices. We recorded the effect of other issues on recorded luminance profiles such as viewing angle, use of different eye wear, and screen location. Our results show that the crosstalk signature for viewing 3D content can vary considerably when using different types of 3D glasses for active stereo displays. We also show that significant differences are present in crosstalk signatures when varying the viewing angle from 0 degrees to 20 degrees for a stereo mirror 3D display device. Our detailed characterization can help emulate the effect of crosstalk in conducting computational observer image quality assessment evaluations that minimize costly and time‐consuming human reader studies.     

3D visual comfort assessment by measuring the vertical disparity tolerance

Misalignment in stereo images leads to 3D discomfort, but the visual tolerance for disparities varies with viewing environment and stimulus. The aim of the study was twofold: first, to assess if vertical disparity tolerance (VDT) could be a reliable indicator of 3D visual comfort under certain restrained condition when vertical disparity is induced; second, to be able to predict how viewing conditions can affect visual comfort using an analytical model. Two viewing condition parameters were considered: luminance and stimulus angular size. The study was carried out in two experiments involving 17 subjects. In Experiment 1, visual comfort and vertical disparity tolerance were measured by a series of psychophysical tests for different stimulus angular sizes and luminance. Based on a regression analysis of this data, a model was proposed to estimate VDT as a function of luminance and stimulus angular size. In Experiment 2, a validation test was carried out to assess the quality of the model. Results confirm that for given viewing conditions (luminance, angular size, induced vertical disparity), the visual comfort measured is in agreement with the one predicted (ρ = 1.0008, p = 0.0026). VDT is a recognized reliable indicator of visual comfort due to vertical disparity and the model can be used to predict visual comfort for given viewing conditions.     

Attention-Aware Disparity Control in interactive environments

Our paper introduces a novel approach for controlling stereo camera parameters in interactive 3D environments in a way that specifically addresses the interplay of binocular depth perception and saliency of scene contents. Our proposed Dynamic Attention-Aware Disparity Control (DADC) method produces depth-rich stereo rendering that improves viewer comfort through joint optimization of stereo parameters. While constructing the optimization model, we consider the importance of scene elements, as well as their distance to the camera and the locus of attention on the display. Our method also optimizes the depth effect of a given scene by considering the individual user’s stereoscopic disparity range and comfortable viewing experience by controlling accommodation/convergence conflict. We validate our method in a formal user study that also reveals the advantages, such as superior quality and practical relevance, of considering our method.