A 2D to 3D video and image conversion technique based on a bilateral filter

A method to convert a 2D video or 2D still image into a depth map is presented. The depth map can consequently be converted into a pair of right and left images for viewing on a stereoscopic display. The depth map can be used for other applications such as multi-view generation. Our method is based on the use of an initial depth map and a bilateral filter approximated by a bilateral grid. For still images, the initial depth map is arbitrary set by default or can be chosen by the user, while for videos it is evaluated from motion estimation. Our method produces finely segmented depth maps; when converted to the appropriate format and seen on a stereoscopic display, the resulting image or video is both realistic and comfortable to watch.