A binocular stereo algorithm for reconstructing sloping, creased, and broken surfaces in the presence of half-occlusion

The author presents a method for reconstructing the three-dimensional scene geometry, i.e., depth, surface orientation, occluding contours, and surface creases, from a pair of stereo images. This reconstruction is not done as a postprocessing step, but rather all of the quantities are estimated simultaneously as part of the matching algorithm. An energy functional is considered in which each of the quantities in the scene geometry is explicitly represented. For this energy functional, a smoothness prior that, in addition to its ability to detect surface discontinuities and the accompanying half-occluded regions, is able to reconstruct steeply sloping surfaces with sharp creases is used. Experimental results demonstrating the effectiveness of the algorithm are presented