TOWARDS FREE-VIEWPOINT VIDEO CAPTURE IN CHALLENGING ENVIRONMENTS FOR COLLABORATIVE & IMMERSIVE ANALYSIS

Abstract. The ability to capture and explore complex real-world dynamic scenes is crucial for their detailed analysis. Tools which allow retrospective exploration of such scenes may support training of new employees or be used to evaluate industrial processes. In our work, we share insights and practical details for end-to-end acquisition of Free-Viewpoint Videos (FVV) in challenging environments and their potential for exploration in collaborative immersive virtual environments. Our lightweight capturing approach makes use of commodity DSLR cameras and focuses on improving both density and accuracy of Structure-from-Motion (SfM) reconstructions from small sets of images under difficult conditions. The integration of captured 3D models over time into a compact representation allows for efficient visualization of detailed FVVs in an immersive multi-user virtual reality system. We demonstrate our workflow on a representative acquisition of a suction excavation process and outline a use-case for exploration and interaction between collocated users and the FVV in a collaborative virtual environment.

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Contextualization of Archaeological Information Using Augmented Photospheres, Viewed with Head-Mounted Displays

Sustainability ◽

10.3390/su11143894 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 11 (14) ◽

pp. 3894

Author(s):

Fabrice Monna ◽

Nicolas Navarro ◽

Jérôme Magail ◽

Rodrigue Guillon ◽

Tanguy Rolland ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Virtual Reality ◽

Cultural Heritage ◽

Virtual Environments ◽

General Public ◽

3D Models ◽

Immersive Virtual Environments ◽

Sense Of Presence ◽

Head Mounted Displays ◽

Rigid Transformations ◽

The Web

Photospheres, or 360° photos, offer valuable opportunities for perceiving space, especially when viewed through head-mounted displays designed for virtual reality. Here, we propose to take advantage of this potential for archaeology and cultural heritage, and to extend it by augmenting the images with existing documentation, such as 2D maps or 3D models, resulting from research studies. Photospheres are generally produced in the form of distorted equirectangular projections, neither georeferenced nor oriented, so that any registration of external documentation is far from straightforward. The present paper seeks to fill this gap by providing simple practical solutions, based on rigid and non-rigid transformations. Immersive virtual environments augmented by research materials can be very useful to contextualize archaeological discoveries, and to test research hypotheses, especially when the team is back at the laboratory. Colleagues and the general public can also be transported to the site, almost physically, generating an authentic sense of presence, which greatly facilitates the contextualization of the archaeological information gathered. This is especially true with head-mounted displays, but the resulting images can also be inspected using applications designed for the web, or viewers for smartphones, tablets and computers.

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