Enhancing the Human with Computers: Ongoing research at the Computer Graphics, Image Processing and Interaction Group

The Computer Graphics, Image Processing and Interaction (CGIP) group at UFRGS concentrates expertise from many different and complementary graphics related domains. In this paper we introduce the group and present our re- search lines and some ongoing projects. We selected mainly the projects related to 3D interaction and navigation, which includes applications as massive data visualization, surgery planning and simulation, tracking and computer vision algorithms, and modeling approaches for human perception and natural world

BILAYER VIDEO SEGMENTATION FOR VIDEOCONFERENCING APPLICATIONS

This paper presents a new bilayer video segmentation algorithm focusing on videoconferencing application. A face tracking algorithm is used to guide a generic Ω-shaped template of the head and shoulders. A region of interest (ROI) is created around the generic template, and an energy function based on edge, color and motion cues is used to define the boundary between the person and the background. Our experimental results indicate that the silhouettes can be effectively extracted in common videoconferencing scenarios. Index Terms — biliayer video segmentation, dynamic programming, videoconferencing systems. for such training, and new techniques are required. This paper presents a new approach for human figure segmentation in video sequences. The proposed approach relies on a face tracking algorithm that guides a head-shoulders generic template. The template defines a region of interest (ROI) that contains the boundary of the participant, and an energy function based on edge, color and motion cues is used to extract the silhouette of the participant. The remainder of this paper is organized as follows. Section 2 presents an overview of existing methods for bilayer video segmentation, and the proposed approach is described in Section 3. The experimental results are shown in Section 4, and the conclusions are drawn in the last Section. 1