RAY-SPACE INTERPOLATION BYWARPING DISPARITY MAPS

In this paper we propose a new method of Depth-Image-Based Rendering (DIBR) for Free-viewpoint TV (FTV). In the proposed method, virtual viewpoint images are rendered with 3D warping instead of estimating the view-dependent depth since depth estimation is usually costly and it is desirable to eliminate it from the rendering process. However, 3D warping causes some problems that do not occur in the method with view-dependent depth estimation; for example, the appearance of holes on the rendered image, and the occurrence of depth discontinuity on the surface of the object at virtual image plane. Depth discontinuity causes artifacts on the rendered image. In this paper, these problems are solved by reconstructing disparity information at virtual camera position from neighboring two real cameras. In the experiments, high quality arbitrary viewpoint images were obtained.