Dual-Mode Deformable Models for Free-Viewpoint Video of Sports Events

Generating free-viewpoint video in outdoor sports environments is currently an unsolved problem due to difficulties in obtaining accurate background segmentation and camera calibration. This paper introduces a technique for the reconstruction of a scene in the presence of these errors. We tackle the issues of reconstruction completeness, and accuracy of surface shape and appearance. We introduce the concept of the conservative visual hull as a technique to improve reconstruction completeness. We then present a view-dependent surface optimisation technique using deformable models to improve surface shape and appearance. We contribute a novel dual-mode snake algorithm that is robust to noise and demonstrates reduced dependence on parameterisation by separating the search of the solution space from the data fitting. We conclude by presenting results of this technique along with a quantitative evaluation against other reconstruction techniques using a leave-one- out data set.