3D object reconstruction from uncalibrated images using a single off-the-shelf camera

Abstract

Three-dimensional (3D) objects reconstruction using just bi-dimensional (2D) images has been a major research topic in Computer Vision. However, it is still a hard problem to solve, when automation, speed and precision are required and/or the objects present complex shapes and visual properties. In this paper, we compare two Active Computer Vision methods commonly used for the 3D reconstruction of objects from image sequences, acquired with a single off-the-shelf CCD camera: Structure From Motion (SFM) and Generalized Voxel Coloring (GVC). SFM recovers the 3D shape of an object using the camera(s)s or objects movement, while VC is a volumetric method that uses photoconsistency measures to build a 3D model for the object. Both methods considered do not impose any kind of restrictions to the relative motion involved.