Efficient three-dimensional object representation and reconstruction using depth and texture maps

This paper introduces an effective representation method for 3-D shape and texture, to be called DOC/TOC ("Depth/texture on cylinder"), and a depth estimation algorithm that is appropriate to representation in an image-based rendering environment using multiview input images. In this framework, we show that this representation is also useful for object reconstruction. While previous reconstruction methods focus on the estimation of 3-D information only, we consider compactness and effectiveness of the information, and reconstruction results as well. DOC/TOC represents 3-D information on a 2-D cylinder surface by projection on that surface. The inner-boundary loss of the projection is complemented by using multiple depth values. This method is also a good starting point for mesh generation for 3-D reconstruction. Experimental results show that the proposed methods successfully represent and reconstruct the shape and texture of 3-D objects without information loss. Results of this research are applicable to other various types of intermediate surface. (C) 2008 Society of Photo-Optical Instrumentation Engineers.