Real-time view morphing for web applications

Abstract

In this paper, real-time view morphing that is an extension of view morphing is proposed for web applications such as on-line shopping and remote instruction. Real-time view morphing is an image-based rendering method that generates an image of an intermediate view from two or more photographs in real-time without 3D models. The method is combined with conventional view morphing and 2D polygon rendering with texture mapping for real-time processing. Techniques to avoid discontinuity of texture and artifacts at contours without generating holes are proposed to keep the quality of original images. The advantages of the method are small data size, high image quality and real-time rendering that are important for web applications. Users can change object-centered viewpoints interactively in a web browser on a local machine that is connected to the narrow band Internet. The real-time view morphing program also runs in banner advertisements and desktop accessories. An editor is developed for preparing the data such as corresponding points, faces, and face order manually or semi-automatically using the epipolar constraint.