Robust Wide-Baseline Stereo Matching for Sparsely Textured Scenes

The task of wide baseline stereo matching algorithms is to identify corresponding elements in pairs of overlapping images taken from significantly different viewpoints. Such algorithms are a key ingredient to many computer vision applications, including object recognition, automatic camera orientation, 3D reconstruction and image registration. Although today's methods for wide baseline stereo matching produce reliable results for typical application scenarios, they assume properties of the image data that are not always granted, for example a significant amount of distinctive surface texture. For such problems, highly advanced algorithms have been proposed, which are often very problem specific, difficult to implement and hard to transfer to new matching problems. The motivation for our work comes from the belief that we can find a generic formulation for robust wide baseline image matching that is able to solve difficult matching problems and at the same time applicable to a variety of applications. It should be easy to implement, and have good semantic interpretability. Therefore our key contribution is the development of a generic statistical model for wide baseline stereo matching, which seamlessly integrates different types of image features, similarity measures and spatial feature relationships as information cues. It unifies the ideas of existing approaches into a Bayesian formulation, which has a clear statistical interpretation as the MAP estimate of a binary classification problem. The model ultimately takes the form of a global minimization problem that can be solved with standard optimization techniques. The particular type of features, measures, and spatial relationships however is not prescribed. A major advantage of our model over existing approaches is its ability to compensate weaknesses in one information cue implicitly by exploiting the strength of others. In our experiments we concentrate on images of sparsely textured scenes as a specifically difficult matching problem. Here the amount of stable image features is typically rather small, and the distinctiveness of feature descriptions often low. We use the proposed framework to implement a wide baseline stereo matching algorithm that can deal better with poor texture than established methods. For demonstrating the practical relevance, we also apply this algorithm to a system for automatic image orientation. Here, the task is to reconstruct the relative 3D positions and orientations of the cameras corresponding to a set of overlapping images. We show that our implementation leads to more successful results in case of sparsely textured scenes, while still retaining state of the art performance on standard datasets.Robuste Merkmalszuordnung für Bildpaare schwach texturierter Szenen mit deutlicher Stereobasis Die Aufgabe von Wide Baseline Stereo Matching Algorithmen besteht darin, korrespondierende Elemente in Paaren überlappender Bilder mit deutlich verschiedenen Kamerapositionen zu bestimmen. Solche Algorithmen sind ein grundlegender Baustein für zahlreiche Computer Vision Anwendungen wie Objekterkennung, automatische Kameraorientierung, 3D Rekonstruktion und Bildregistrierung. Die heute etablierten Verfahren für Wide Baseline Stereo Matching funktionieren in typischen Anwendungsszenarien sehr zuverlässig. Sie setzen jedoch Eigenschaften der Bilddaten voraus, die nicht immer gegeben sind, wie beispielsweise einen hohen Anteil markanter Textur. Für solche Fälle wurden sehr komplexe Verfahren entwickelt, die jedoch oft nur auf sehr spezifische Probleme anwendbar sind, einen hohen Implementierungsaufwand erfordern, und sich zudem nur schwer auf neue Matchingprobleme übertragen lassen. Die Motivation für diese Arbeit entstand aus der Überzeugung, dass es eine möglichst allgemein anwendbare Formulierung für robustes Wide Baseline Stereo Matching geben muß, die sich zur Lösung schwieriger Zuordnungsprobleme eignet und dennoch leicht auf verschiedenartige Anwendungen angepasst werden kann. Sie sollte leicht implementierbar sein und eine hohe semantische Interpretierbarkeit aufweisen. Unser Hauptbeitrag besteht daher in der Entwicklung eines allgemeinen statistischen Modells für Wide Baseline Stereo Matching, das verschiedene Typen von Bildmerkmalen, Ähnlichkeitsmaßen und räumlichen Beziehungen nahtlos als Informationsquellen integriert. Es führt Ideen bestehender Lösungsansätze in einer Bayes'schen Formulierung zusammen, die eine klare Interpretation als MAP Schätzung eines binären Klassifikationsproblems hat. Das Modell nimmt letztlich die Form eines globalen Minimierungsproblems an, das mit herkömmlichen Optimierungsverfahren gelöst werden kann. Der konkrete Typ der verwendeten Bildmerkmale, Ähnlichkeitsmaße und räumlichen Beziehungen ist nicht explizit vorgeschrieben. Ein wichtiger Vorteil unseres Modells gegenüber vergleichbaren Verfahren ist seine Fähigkeit, Schwachpunkte einer Informationsquelle implizit durch die Stärken anderer Informationsquellen zu kompensieren. In unseren Experimenten konzentrieren wir uns insbesondere auf Bilder schwach texturierter Szenen als ein Beispiel schwieriger Zuordnungsprobleme. Die Anzahl stabiler Bildmerkmale ist hier typischerweise gering, und die Unterscheidbarkeit der Merkmalsbeschreibungen schlecht. Anhand des vorgeschlagenen Modells implementieren wir einen konkreten Wide Baseline Stereo Matching Algorithmus, der besser mit schwacher Textur umgehen kann als herkömmliche Verfahren. Um die praktische Relevanz zu verdeutlichen, wenden wir den Algorithmus für die automatische Bildorientierung an. Hier besteht die Aufgabe darin, zu einer Menge überlappender Bilder die relativen 3D Kamerapositionen und Kameraorientierungen zu bestimmen. Wir zeigen, dass der Algorithmus im Fall schwach texturierter Szenen bessere Ergebnisse als etablierte Verfahren ermöglicht, und dennoch bei Standard-Datensätzen vergleichbare Ergebnisse liefert

3D Reconstruction of Indoor Corridor Models Using Single Imagery and Video Sequences

In recent years, 3D indoor modeling has gained more attention due to its role in decision-making process of maintaining the status and managing the security of building indoor spaces. In this thesis, the problem of continuous indoor corridor space modeling has been tackled through two approaches. The first approach develops a modeling method based on middle-level perceptual organization. The second approach develops a visual Simultaneous Localisation and Mapping (SLAM) system with model-based loop closure. In the first approach, the image space was searched for a corridor layout that can be converted into a geometrically accurate 3D model. Manhattan rule assumption was adopted, and indoor corridor layout hypotheses were generated through a random rule-based intersection of image physical line segments and virtual rays of orthogonal vanishing points. Volumetric reasoning, correspondences to physical edges, orientation map and geometric context of an image are all considered for scoring layout hypotheses. This approach provides physically plausible solutions while facing objects or occlusions in a corridor scene. In the second approach, Layout SLAM is introduced. Layout SLAM performs camera localization while maps layout corners and normal point features in 3D space. Here, a new feature matching cost function was proposed considering both local and global context information. In addition, a rotation compensation variable makes Layout SLAM robust against cameras orientation errors accumulations. Moreover, layout model matching of keyframes insures accurate loop closures that prevent miss-association of newly visited landmarks to previously visited scene parts. The comparison of generated single image-based 3D models to ground truth models showed that average ratio differences in widths, heights and lengths were 1.8%, 3.7% and 19.2% respectively. Moreover, Layout SLAM performed with the maximum absolute trajectory error of 2.4m in position and 8.2 degree in orientation for approximately 318m path on RAWSEEDS data set. Loop closing was strongly performed for Layout SLAM and provided 3D indoor corridor layouts with less than 1.05m displacement errors in length and less than 20cm in width and height for approximately 315m path on York University data set. The proposed methods can successfully generate 3D indoor corridor models compared to their major counterpart

Improving 3D Reconstruction using Deep Learning Priors

Modeling the 3D geometry of shapes and the environment around us has many practical applications in mapping, navigation, virtual/ augmented reality, and autonomous robots. In general, the acquisition of 3D models relies on using passive images or using active depth sensors such as structured light systems that use external infrared projectors. Although active methods provide very robust and reliable depth information, they have limited use cases and heavy power requirements, which makes passive techniques more suitable for day-to-day user applications. Image-based depth acquisition systems usually face challenges representing thin, textureless, or specular surfaces and regions in shadows or low-light environments. While scene depth information can be extracted from the set of passive images, fusion of depth information from several views into a consistent 3D representation remains a challenging task. The most common challenges in 3D environment capture include the use of efficient scene representation that preserves the details, thin structures, and ensures overall completeness of the reconstruction. In this thesis, we illustrate the use of deep learning techniques to resolve some of the challenges of image-based depth acquisition and 3D scene representation. We use a deep learning framework to learn priors over scene geometry and scene global context for solving several ambiguous and ill-posed problems such as estimating depth on textureless surfaces and producing complete 3D reconstruction for partially observed scenes. More specifically, we propose that using deep learning priors, a simple stereo camera system can be used to reconstruct a typical apartment size indoor scene environments with the fidelity that approaches the quality of a much more expensive state-of-the-art active depth-sensing system. Furthermore, we describe how deep learning priors on local shapes can represent 3D environments more efficiently than with traditional systems while at the same time preserving details and completing surfaces.Doctor of Philosoph

Line Primitives and Their Applications in Geometric Computer Vision

Line primitives are widely found in structured scenes which provide a higher level of structure information about the scenes than point primitives. Furthermore, line primitives in space are closely related to Euclidean transformations, because the dual vector (also known as Pluecker coordinates) representation of 3D lines is the counterpart of the dual quaternion which depicts an Euclidean transformation. These geometric properties of line primitives motivate the work in this thesis with the following contributions: Firstly, by combining local appearances of lines and geometric constraints between line pairs in images, a line segment matching algorithm is developed which constructs a novel line band descriptor to depict the local appearance of a line and builds a relational graph to measure the pair-wise consistency between line correspondences. Experiments show that the matching algorithm is robust to various image transformations and more efficient than conventional graph based line matching algorithms. Secondly, by investigating the symmetric property of line directions in space, this thesis presents a complete analysis about the solutions of the Perspective-3-Line (P3L) problem which estimates the camera pose from three reference lines in space and their 2D projections. For three spatial lines in general configurations, a P3L polynomial is derived which is employed to develop a solution of the Perspective-n-Line problem. The proposed robust PnL algorithm can efficiently and accurately estimate the camera pose for both small numbers and large numbers of line correspondences. For three spatial lines in special configurations (e.g., in a Manhattan world which consists of three mutually orthogonal dominant directions), the solution of the P3L problem is employed to solve the vanishing point estimation and line classification problem. The proposed vanishing point estimation algorithm achieves high accuracy and efficiency by thoroughly utilizing the Manhattan world characteristic. Another advantage of the proposed framework is that it can be easily generalized to images taken by central catadioptric cameras or uncalibrated cameras. The third major contribution of this thesis is about structure-from-motion using line primitives. To circumvent the Pluecker constraints on the Pluecker coordinates of lines, the Cayley representation of lines is developed which is inspired by the geometric property of the Pluecker coordinates of lines. To build the line observation model, two derivations of line projection functions are presented: one is based on the dual relationship between points and lines; and the other is based on the relationship between Pluecker coordinates and the Pluecker matrix. Then the motion and structure parameters are initialized by an incremental approach and optimized by sparse bundle adjustment. Quantitative validations show the increase in performance when compared to conventional line reconstruction algorithms