Quaternion epipolar decomposition for camera pose identification and animation

In the literature of computer vision, computer graphics and robotics, the use of quaternions is exclusively related to 3D rotation representation and interpolation. In this research we found how epipoles in multi-camera systems can be used to represent camera poses in the quaternion domain. The rotational quaternion is decomposed in two epipole rotational quaternions and one z axis rotational quaternion. Quadratic form of the essential matrix is also related to quaternion factors. Thus, five pose parameters are distributed into three independent rotational quaternions resulting in measurement error separation at camera pose identification and greater flexibility at virtual camera animation. The experimental results refer to the design of free viewpoint television.