Smoothing depth maps for improved stereoscopic image quality

A technique to improve the image quality of stereoscopic pictures generated from depth maps (depth image based rendering or DIBR) is examined. In general, there are two fundamental problems with DIBR: a depth map could contain artifacts (e.g., noise or "blockiness") and there is no explicit information on how to render newly exposed regions ("holes") in the rendered image as a result of new virtual camera positions. We hypothesized that smoothing depth maps before rendering will not only minimize the effects of noise and distortions in the depth maps but will also reduce areas of newly exposed regions where potential artifacts can arise. A formal subjective assessment of four stereoscopic sequences of natural scenes was conducted with 23 viewers. The stereoscopic sequences consisted of source images for the left-eye view and rendered images for the right-eye view. The depth maps were smoothed with a Gaussian blur filter at different levels of strength before depth image based rendering. Results indicated that ratings of perceived image quality improved with increasing levels of smoothing of the depth maps. Even though the depth maps were smoothed, a negative effect on ratings of overall perceived depth quality was not found.