Title :
Virtual people: capturing human models to populate virtual worlds
Author :
Hilton, Adrian ; Beresford, Daniel ; Gentils, Thomas ; Smith, Raymond ; Sun, Wei
Author_Institution :
Centre for Vision, Speech & Signal Process., Surrey Univ., Guildford, UK
Abstract :
A new technique is introduced for automatically building recognisable moving 3D models of individual people. Realistic modelling of people is essential for advanced multimedia, augmented reality and immersive virtual reality. Current systems for whole-body model capture are based on active 3D sensing to measure the shape of the body surface. Such systems are prohibitively expensive and do not enable capture of high-quality photo-realistic colour. This results in geometrically accurate but unrealistic human models. The goal of this research is to achieve automatic low cost modelling of people suitable for personalised avatars to populate virtual worlds. A model based approach is presented for automatic reconstruction of recognisable avatars from a set of low cost colour images of a person taken from four orthogonal views. A generic 3D human model represents both the human shape and kinematic joint structure. The shape of a specific person is captured by mapping 2D silhouette information from the orthogonal view colour images onto the generic 3D model. Colour texture mapping is achieved by projecting the set of images onto the deformed 3D model. This results in the capture of a recognisable 3D facsimile of an individual person suitable for articulated movement in a virtual world. The system is low cost, requires single shot capture, is reliable for large variations in shape and size and can cope with clothing of moderate complexity
Keywords :
colour graphics; computer animation; image texture; realistic images; virtual reality; 2D silhouette information; active 3D sensing; advanced multimedia; articulated movement; augmented reality; automatic low cost modelling; automatic reconstruction; body surface; colour texture mapping; deformed 3D model; generic 3D human model; generic 3D model; human models; human shape; immersive virtual reality; kinematic joint structure; low cost colour images; model based approach; orthogonal view colour images; our orthogonal views; personalised avatars; realistic modelling; recognisable 3D facsimile; recognisable moving 3D models; single shot capture; virtual people; virtual worlds; whole-body model capture; Active shape model; Augmented reality; Avatars; Biological system modeling; Costs; Current measurement; Humans; Shape measurement; Solid modeling; Virtual reality;
Conference_Titel :
Computer Animation, 1999. Proceedings
Conference_Location :
Geneva
Print_ISBN :
0-7695-0167-2
DOI :
10.1109/CA.1999.781210