Patent ID: 8406509

Claim:
A three-dimensional surface generation method for directly generating a three-dimensional surface of a target object from multiple images that are obtained by capturing said target object from different viewpoint positions using a calibrated cameras in known viewpoint positions, said method comprising: a first step that sets one image of said multiple images as a basis image, sets remaining images of said multiple images as reference images, then generates two-dimensional meshes formed by multiple triangles on said basis image; and a second step that sets a distance between a vector whose elements are pixel values of an image obtained by deforming said reference image by a homography of each triangle determined by an all-vertices depth parameter representing depths of all vertices of said two-dimensional meshes and camera parameters including camera view positions and a vector whose elements are pixel values of said basis image, as a term of a cost function, and computes said all-vertices depth parameter so that a value of said cost function becomes smallest by iteratively performing computation of a small variation of said all-vertices depth parameter and update of a current value of said all-vertices depth parameter by means of an optimization method setting said multiple images, said camera parameters and an initial value of said all-vertices depth parameter as inputs until a predetermined condition is satisfied.