Generation Method for Immersive Bullet-Time Video Using an Omnidirectional Camera in VR Platform

This paper proposes a generation method of immersive bullet-time video that continuously switches the images captured by multi-viewpoint omnidirectional cameras arranged around the subject. In ordinary bullet-time processing, it is possible to observe a point of interest (POI) at the same screen position by applying projective transformation to captured multi-viewpoint images. However, the observable area is limited by the field of view of the capturing cameras. Thus, a blank region is added to the displayed image, depending on the spatial relationship between the POI and the capturing camera. This seriously harms image quality (i.e., immersiveness). We solve this problem by applying omnidirectional cameras to bullet-time video production. Furthermore, by using the virtual reality platform for calibration of multi-viewpoint omnidirectional cameras and display of bullet-time video, fast and simple processing can be realised.