Patent ID: 6081269
Filing Date: 2000-06-27
Classification: G06T

Abstract:
A method for generating a model of a 3-D region of an object comprising image data representing a plurality of points in the 3-D region from at least three 2-D images of the appearance of the region from different positions, comprising the steps of:(a) calculating, for each point in the 3-D region, at least one first value representing a variation between image data at locations on the at least three different 2-D images of the 3-D region at which each point would appear if the point in the 3-D region were visible in the 2-D image;b) calculating, for each point, using a predetermined rule, a second value from said first value, said second value representing a probability that if each point lay on a visible surface in the 3-D region, the first value would result;(c) assigning a visibility attribute to each point in accordance with said second value and visible characteristics of said locations;(d) determining from the visibility attribute of each point from step (c), whether each point in the 3-D region is on the surface of the object; and(e) using those points from step (d) which have been identified to be on the surface of the object to build a model of the 3-D region for viewing images of the region from multiple positions.