Stereo Without Epipolar Lines: A Maximum-Flow Formulation

  • Authors:
  • Sébastien Roy

  • Affiliations:
  • NEC Research Institute, 4 Independence Way, Princeton, NJ 08540, USA. sebastien@research.nj.nec.com

  • Venue:
  • International Journal of Computer Vision - Special issue on computer vision research at NEC Research Institute
  • Year:
  • 1999

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Abstract

This paper describes a new algorithm for solving the stereocorrespondence problem with a global 2-d optimizationby transforming it into a maximum-flowproblem in a graph. This transformation effectively removes explicit useof epipolar geometry, thus allowing direct use ofmultiple cameras with arbitrary geometries. The maximum-flow, solved both efficiently and globally, yieldsa minimum-cut that corresponds toa disparity surface for the whole image at once. This global and efficient approach to stereo analysis allowsthe reconstruction to proceed in an arbitrary volume ofspace and provides a more accurateand coherent depth map than the traditional stereo algorithms. In particular, smoothness is applied uniformly instead of only along epipolar lines, while the global optimality of the depth surface is guaranteed. Results show improved depth estimation as well as better handlingof depth discontinuities. While the worst case running time isO(n^1.5 d^1.5 log(nd)), the observed average running time isO(n^1.2 d^1.3) for an image size of n pixels and depth resolution d.