Lars Nyland, David McAllister, Voicu Popescu, Chris McCue, Anselmo Lastra,
Paul Rademacher, Manuel Oliveira, Gary Bishop, Gopi Meenakshisundaram,
Matt Cutts, and Henry Fuchs
The Impact of Dense Range Data on Computer Graphics
(Abstract) Proceedings of Multi-View Modeling and Analysis
Workshop (MVIEW99) (Part of CVPR99), (Fort Collins, CO), June
23-26, 1999.
Abstract:
The ability to quickly acquire dense range data of familiar environments
has been met with enthusiastic response in our graphics laboratory. In
this paper, we describe our prototype range collection system, based
on a scanning laser rangefinder and a high-resolution digital color
camera, that allows us to create panoramic color photographs where
every pixel has an accurate range value. To accommodate occlusions, the
data acquisition process is repeated from multiple locations and the
results are registered with software. We discuss the acquisition system
and review how the data from this prototype system have been used in
existing graphics projects. We speculate about future improvements to
range acquisition hardware and how those improvements impact graphics
applications. The data acquired from our system is just a hint of what
will be available in the future and we conclude with speculation about the
impact of such data on graphics hardware and algorithms, since prevailing
graphics hardware and software do not support this data well.