Mosaic-based 3D scene representation and rendering

In this paper we address the problem of fusing images from many video cameras or a moving video camera. The captured images have obvious motion parallax, but they will be aligned and integrated into a few mosaics with a large field-of-view (FOV) that preserve 3D information. We have developed a compact geometric representation that can re-organize the original perspective images into a set of parallel projections with different oblique viewing angles. In addition to providing a wide field of view, mosaics with various oblique views well represent occlusion regions that cannot be seen in a usual nadir view. Stereo mosaic pairs can be formed from mosaics with different oblique viewing angles. This representation can be used as both an advanced interface for interactive 3D video and a pre-processing step for 3D reconstruction. A ray interpolation approach for generating the parallel-projection mosaics is presented, and efficient 3D scene/object rendering based on multiple parallel-projection mosaics is discussed. Several real-world examples are provided, with applications ranging from aerial video surveillance/environmental monitoring, ground mobile robot navigation, to under-vehicle inspection.