 |
3D scan of
Van Gogh's bust
See the light mapping (Format: AVI, 4.1MB)
3D scan of
semi-transparent glass star
See the light mapping (Format: AVI, 3.4MB)
Large synthetic environment
See the light mapping (Format: AVI, 32MB)
|
|
|
|
Creating photorealistic 3D graphics is a time-consuming process, often reserved only for cinematic special effects. But Intel research and development researchers have recently developed a technology that will allow those images to be used in real-time, interactive applications, such as video games and 3D scanning.
Light Field Mapping (LFM) is a software technology that efficiently represents the light reflectance qualities of both real and synthetic objects. An LFM-based model describes simply and accurately, not only the 3D shape of an object, but also its precise appearance from all possible viewing angles. Even though the information represented by each LFM-based model is vast, the data format is very compact and allows for interactive visualization of these models on the personal computer.
LFM representation can be thought of as a special type of texture map that changes its appearance with the viewing angle. Because it is compact and allows for hardware-accelerated rendering, it is ideal for reproducing many physical objects with complex surface reflectance properties.
Building the LFM representation of a physical object requires the acquisition of information about its 3D shape and its view-dependent appearance. After scanning the shape of the object, a 3D scanner collects samples of its appearance from different points of view with 200-400 digital photographs. The raw images are then organized, resampled, and processed using statistical data analysis tools. This data processing pipeline reduces the size of raw data coming from the scanner from 2-3GB to less than 1MB, so the final LFM representation consists of a small set of texture maps and the 3D geometry.
LFM's ability to combine interactivtiy with photorealistic representations would greatly benefit many industries and uses, such as architectural design, electronic educational material, online shopping, virtual reality/tours, and 3D gaming.
Learn more about Light Field Mapping at the Intel Microprocessor Research Labs.
|
Home Computing
