A 3D shape constraint on video

We propose to combine the information from multiple motion fields by enforcing a constraint on the surface normals (3D shape) of the scene in view. The fact that the shape vectors in the different views are related only by rotation can be formulated as a rank = 3 constraint. This constraint is implemented in an algorithm which solves 3D motion and structure estimation as a practical constrained minimization. Experiments demonstrate its usefulness as a tool in structure from motion providing very accurate estimates of 3D motion.