Method and system for light field rendering
First Claim
1. A method for creating a new image of a scene, comprising the steps of:
- acquiring light field radiance data by collecting an array of planar images of the scene as observed from a first planar (u,v) surface, said planar array of planar images having inter-element coherence;
storing and compressing said acquired light field radiance data;
computing line parameters for image rays originating from the scene which pass through said first planar (u,v) surface and which intercept a second planar (x,y) pixel surface using projective mapping; and
calculating the radiance of said image rays intercepting said (x,y) pixel surface by using a subset of said acquired light-field radiance data.
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Abstract
Described is a simple and robust method and system for generating new views from arbitrary camera positions without depth information or feature matching, simply by combining and resampling the available images. This technique interprets input images as two-dimensional slices of a four dimensional function--the light field. This function completely characterizes the flow of light through unobstructed space in a static scene with fixed illumination. A sampled representation for light fields allows for both efficient creation and display of inward and outward looking views. Light fields may be created from large arrays of both rendered and digitized image. The latter are acquired with a video camera mounted on a computer-controlled gantry. Once a light field has been created, new views may be constructed in real time by extracting slices in appropriate directions. Also described is a compression system that is able to compress generated light fields by more than a factor of 100:1 with very little loss of fidelity. Issues of antialiasing during creation and resampling during slice extraction are also addressed.
489 Citations
27 Claims
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1. A method for creating a new image of a scene, comprising the steps of:
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acquiring light field radiance data by collecting an array of planar images of the scene as observed from a first planar (u,v) surface, said planar array of planar images having inter-element coherence; storing and compressing said acquired light field radiance data; computing line parameters for image rays originating from the scene which pass through said first planar (u,v) surface and which intercept a second planar (x,y) pixel surface using projective mapping; and calculating the radiance of said image rays intercepting said (x,y) pixel surface by using a subset of said acquired light-field radiance data. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9)
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10. A method for creating a new image of a scene at a new viewpoint comprising the steps of:
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acquiring light-field radiance data along at least one planar (u,v) surface by collecting an array of planar images directed towards the center of the scene, said array of planar images having inter-element coherence; storing and compressing said acquired light field radiance data; selecting a planar pixel element along a new viewpoint plane; computing line parameters for image rays originating from the scene which pass through said at least one planar (u,v) surface and which intercept said selected pixel element; and calculating the radiance for said image rays intersecting said pixel element by using a subset of said acquired light-field radiance data. - View Dependent Claims (11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18)
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19. A system for creating and displaying new images of a scene comprising:
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means for acquiring light field data composed of an array of planar images of the scene along at least one plan a surface, said array of planar images having inter-element coherence; means for storing and compressing said light-field data; means for computing image rays intercepting pixels at a new location; and resampling means for calculating the radiance of said image rays using said compressed light field data. - View Dependent Claims (20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27)
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Specification