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CHAPTER 1. INTRODUCTION
together cover every angle. The previous situation leads to Multiview video (MVV)
applications.
If the goal is to have a full 3D representation of the scene, so that the viewer can move
freely around it and have a view of every spot, an excessive number of cameras should
be used, and consequently, two much memory and CPU would be required.
Hence, the creation of virtual views stands as a major challenge, as a way of reducing
the number of cameras by reconstructing a specific point of view from the information
of two nearby cameras. A clear example would be the scene in Figure 1.1. If the
purpose is to move around the kitchen with total freedom, it is necessary to have the
information from different cameras covering the area. For instance, the current view
makes it impossible to see whether there is something behind the table or not, while a
camera placed one meter on the right might provide more information. Then, if both
informations were combined, every spot could be reconstructed by one or the other
image.
1.2
Objectives
Sometimes, the available cameras cannot provide images of a certain position in a concrete scene, and then, instead of using more cameras, which may not be possible in some
cases, image processing techniques reconstruct the desired view, taking into account the
position and the rotation desired, and using images from the nearest cameras, as long
as other information. The idea, always, is to recreate the maximum space with a reduced number of cameras, which would be the first goal of the project: the creation
of virtual views.
Another example of this can be seen in Figure 1.2, where there is a circular room
surrounded by eight cameras. Each of them is placed in a different spot so they all
together cover a major part of the scene. Therefore, using the information of two of
them, considering the redundancy in their images, it is possible to create a virtual
camera in any position between the original ones.