Learning Grammars for Architecture-Specific Facade Parsing

International audienceParsing facade images requires optimal handcrafted grammar for a given class of buildings. Such a handcrafted grammar is often designed manually by experts. In this paper, we present a novel framework to learn a compact grammar from a set of ground-truth images. To this end, parse trees of ground-truth annotated images are obtained running existing inference algorithms with a simple, very general grammar. From these parse trees, repeated subtrees are sought and merged together to share derivations and produce a grammar with fewer rules. Furthermore, unsupervised clustering is performed on these rules, so that, rules corresponding to the same complex pattern are grouped together leading to a rich compact grammar. Experimental validation and comparison with the state-of-the-art grammar-based methods on four diff erent datasets show that the learned grammar helps in much faster convergence while producing equal or more accurate parsing results compared to handcrafted grammars as well as grammars learned by other methods. Besides, we release a new dataset of facade images from Paris following the Art-deco style and demonstrate the general applicability and extreme potential of the proposed framework

Low-rank Based Algorithms for Rectification, Repetition Detection and De-noising in Urban Images

In this thesis, we aim to solve the problem of automatic image rectification and repeated patterns detection on 2D urban images, using novel low-rank based techniques. Repeated patterns (such as windows, tiles, balconies and doors) are prominent and significant features in urban scenes. Detection of the periodic structures is useful in many applications such as photorealistic 3D reconstruction, 2D-to-3D alignment, facade parsing, city modeling, classification, navigation, visualization in 3D map environments, shape completion, cinematography and 3D games. However both of the image rectification and repeated patterns detection problems are challenging due to scene occlusions, varying illumination, pose variation and sensor noise. Therefore, detection of these repeated patterns becomes very important for city scene analysis. Given a 2D image of urban scene, we automatically rectify a facade image and extract facade textures first. Based on the rectified facade texture, we exploit novel algorithms that extract repeated patterns by using Kronecker product based modeling that is based on a solid theoretical foundation. We have tested our algorithms in a large set of images, which includes building facades from Paris, Hong Kong and New York

Semantizing Complex 3D Scenes using Constrained Attribute Grammars

International audienceWe propose a new approach to automatically semantize complex objects in a 3D scene. For this, we define an expressive formalism combining the power of both attribute grammars and constraint. It offers a practical conceptual interface, which is crucial to write large maintainable specifications. As recursion is inadequate to express large collections of items, we introduce maximal operators, that are essential to reduce the parsing search space. Given a grammar in this formalism and a 3D scene, we show how to automatically compute a shared parse forest of all interpretations -- in practice, only a few, thanks to relevant constraints. We evaluate this technique for building model semantization using CAD model examples as well as photogrammetric and simulated LiDAR data

Holistic interpretation of visual data based on topology:semantic segmentation of architectural facades

The work presented in this dissertation is a step towards effectively incorporating contextual knowledge in the task of semantic segmentation. To date, the use of context has been confined to the genre of the scene with a few exceptions in the field. Research has been directed towards enhancing appearance descriptors. While this is unarguably important, recent studies show that computer vision has reached a near-human level of performance in relying on these descriptors when objects have stable distinctive surface properties and in proper imaging conditions. When these conditions are not met, humans exploit their knowledge about the intrinsic geometric layout of the scene to make local decisions. Computer vision lags behind when it comes to this asset. For this reason, we aim to bridge the gap by presenting algorithms for semantic segmentation of building facades making use of scene topological aspects. We provide a classification scheme to carry out segmentation and recognition simultaneously.The algorithm is able to solve a single optimization function and yield a semantic interpretation of facades, relying on the modeling power of probabilistic graphs and efficient discrete combinatorial optimization tools. We tackle the same problem of semantic facade segmentation with the neural network approach.We attain accuracy figures that are on-par with the state-of-the-art in a fully automated pipeline.Starting from pixelwise classifications obtained via Convolutional Neural Networks (CNN). These are then structurally validated through a cascade of Restricted Boltzmann Machines (RBM) and Multi-Layer Perceptron (MLP) that regenerates the most likely layout. In the domain of architectural modeling, there is geometric multi-model fitting. We introduce a novel guided sampling algorithm based on Minimum Spanning Trees (MST), which surpasses other propagation techniques in terms of robustness to noise. We make a number of additional contributions such as measure of model deviation which captures variations among fitted models

A Deep Learning Pipeline for Semantic Facade Segmentation

We propose an algorithm that provides a pixel-wise classification of building facades. Building facades provide a rich environment for testing semantic segmentation techniques. They come in a variety of styles that reflect both appearance and layout characteristics. On the other hand, they exhibit a degree of stability in the arrangement of structures across different instances. We integrate appearance and layout cues in a single framework. The most likely label based on appearance is obtained through applying the state-of-the-art deep convolution networks. This is further optimized through Restricted Boltzmann Machines (RBM), applied on vertical and horizontal scanlines of facade models. Learning the probability distributions of the models via the RBMs is utilized in two settings. Firstly, we use them in learning from pre-seen facade samples, in the traditional training sense. Secondly, we learn from the test image at hand, in a way the allows the transfer of visual knowledge of the scene from correctly classified areas to others. Experimentally, we are on par with the reported performance results. However, we do not explicitly specify any hand-engineered features that are architectural scene dependent, nor do we include any dataset specific heuristics/thresholds