Video-Based Rendering

This book offers an in-depth introduction to video-based rendering (VBR), a rapidly developing interdisciplinary topic employing techniques from computer graphics, computer vision, and telecommunications engineering. Providing an overview of the state-of-the-art of video-based rendering and details of fundamental VBR algorithms, the author discusses the advantages, the potential, as well as the limitations of various VBR techniques in the context of different application scenarios.Based on the concept of using real-world imagery for novel view synthesis, VBR unifies still image-based rendering and motion capture. The fundamental goal of video-based rendering is to interactively display dynamic real-world events from arbitrary perspectives as realistically as possible. Besides raising profound scientific questions and imposing intriguing technological challenges, video-based rendering possesses considerable economic potential in areas such as computer games, special effects, and future visual media, including interactive television, 3D TV, and free-viewpoint video.

Marcus Magnor is head of the Independent Research Group Graphics-Optics-Vision at the Max-Planck-Institut for Informatik in Saarbruecken, Germany. He received his B.A. in Physics from the University of Wurzburg, Germany, an M.S. in Physics from the University of New Mexico, and a Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering from the University of Erlangen, Germany. He did post-doctoral research at Stanford University's Computer Graphics Laboratory.