Object virtual viewing using adaptive tri‐view morphing

Abstract

This study proposes a new technique for generating an arbitrary virtual view of an object of interest given a set of images taken from around that object. The algorithm extends Xiao and Shah's tri-view morphing scheme to work with wide-baseline imagery. The authors’ method performs feature detection and feature matching across three views, then blends the real views into a virtual view. Tri-view morphing by itself is realistic when occlusion across the three views is minimal, but when it is applied to cases of more complex objects and wide baselines, occlusions lead to significant artefacts. The authors propose a new adaptive algorithm to solve these problems by (i) segmenting the views into object and background, (ii) obtaining fine-grained correspondences across the three views, (iii) constructing, when a border point in one view is occluded in one or two of the other views, a virtual correspondence for that point and (iv) synthesising novel views using barycentric interpolation and automatic elimination of occluded polygons. The result is a system allowing smooth and realistic animation of the virtual object over arbitrary viewing paths.