Efficient depth map generation with occlusion handling for various camera arrays
In this paper, we propose a direct depth map acquisition method for the arc camera array as well as the parallel camera array. In conventional stereo matching algorithms, image rectification is necessary where disparity values are obtained by identifying correspondences in the identical horizontal line of stereo images. The acquired disparity values are then transformed to depth values. However, image rectification may fabricate unwanted outcomes related to the arc camera array. Thus, the proposed method excludes image rectification and directly extracts depth values using an epipolar constraint. In particular, occlusion detection and handling processes are inserted to increase depth map accuracy. Further, belief propagation-based energy optimization is employed to confirm occlusion regions. Then, reasonable depth values are assigned to obtained occlusion regions using distances and color differences of neighbor pixels. Experimental results show that compared to the conventional methods, the proposed method generate more stable depth maps with fewer limitations.
occlusion handling stereo matching image rectification epipolar constraint