A 3D modeling and free‐view generation system using environmental stereo cameras

We propose a 3D video system that uses environmental stereo cameras to display a target object from an arbitrary viewpoint. This system is composed of the following stages: image acquisition, foreground segmentation, depth field estimation, 3D modeling from depth and shape information, and arbitrary view rendering. To create 3D models from captured 2D image pairs, a real‐time segmentation algorithm, a fast depth reconstruction algorithm, and a simple and efficient shape reconstruction method were developed. For viewpoint generation, the 3D surface model is rotated toward the desired place and orientation, and the texture data extracted from the original camera is projected onto this surface. Finally, a real‐time system that demonstrates the use of the aforementioned algorithms was implemented. The generated 3D object can easily be manipulated, e.g., rotated or translated, to render images from different viewpoints. This provides stable scenes of a minimal area that made it possible to understand the target space, and also made it easier for viewers to understand in near real‐time. © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Int J Imaging Syst Technol, 17, 367–378, 2007