Li, Ming

Towards Real-Time Novel View Synthesis Using Visual Hulls

This thesis discusses fast novel view synthesis from multiple images taken
from different viewpoints. We propose several new algorithms that take advantage
of modern graphics hardware to create novel views. Although different approaches
are explored, one geometry representation, the visual hull, is employed
throughout our work.
First the visual hull plays an auxiliary role and assists in reconstruction of
depth maps that are utilized for novel view synthesis. Then we treat the visual
hull as the principal geometry representation of scene objects. A hardwareaccelerated
approach is presented to reconstruct and render visual hulls directly
from a set of silhouette images. The reconstruction is embedded in the rendering
process and accomplished with an alpha map trimming technique. We go on by
combining this technique with hardware-accelerated CSG reconstruction to improve
the rendering quality of visual hulls. Finally, photometric information is
exploited to overcome an inherent limitation of the visual hull. All algorithms
are implemented on a distributed system. Novel views are generated at interactive
or real-time frame rates.

•  Mythesis.pdf