OmniStereo: 3D Stereo Panorama

Moshe Ben-Ezra, Yael Pritch, Shmuel Peleg

Abstract

OmniStereo creates stereo (3D) images using a single ordinary camera sweeping a scene, and is the easiest way to create stereo images.
A basic stereo image consists of two views from two different viewpoints, each view seen by a different eye. Many stereoscopic displays are capable of using more views, enabling the viewer to "move around" the object. OmniStereo can create as many stereo views as needed by the stereo display. In addition to easy generation of stereo, OmniStereo is the only method that can create a wide field-of-view stereo, as wide as full 360 degrees.

OmniStereo images are created using the following steps:
(1) A set of images are captured by a camera sweeping the scene such that the axis of rotation is behind the camera.
(2) Each one of the stereo views is created by stitching together strips taken from the input frames. Different views are made from strips taken from different locations at the input frames.
(3) The stereo views are displayed on a stereo display. Stereo effect can be obtained in a normal 2D display by sequentially playing the stereo views, as done in the examples down this page.

Omnidirectional stereo panoramas can also be captured using optics without any moving parts, or rendered by computer graphics methods to represent virtual environments. OmniStereo is the only method that can render a full 360 degrees of stereo, providing the ultimate immersive viewing experience.

Publications (PDF)

• S. Peleg, M. Ben-Ezra, and Y. Pritch, OmniStereo: Panoramic Stereo Imaging, IEEE Trans. on PAMI, March 2001, pp. 279-290.
• S. Peleg and M. Ben-Ezra, Stereo Panorama with a Single Camera, CVPR'99, Ft. Collins, June 1999, pp. 395-401.
• S. Peleg, Y. Pritch, and M. Ben-Ezra, Cameras for Stereo Panoramic Imaging, CVPR'00, Hilton Head Island, June 2000, Vol. I, pp. 208-214.
• Y. Pritch, M. Ben-Ezra, and S. Peleg, Automatic Disparity Control in Stereo Panoramas (OmniStereo), IEEE Workshop on Omnidirectional Vision, Hilton Head Island, June 2000, Vol. I, pp. 54-61.
• Y. Pritch, M. Ben-Ezra, and S. Peleg, Optics for OmniStereo Imaging, in L.S. Davis (Editor), Foundations of Image Understanding, Kluwer Academic, July 2001, pp. 447-467.
• S. Peleg, M. Ben-Ezra, and Y. Pritch. Panoramic imaging with horizontal stereo. In R. Benosman and S.B. Kang, editors, Panoramic Vision: Sensors, Theory, and Applications, pp. 143-160. Springer Verlag, March 2001.

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Patents (PDF)

• US Patent 6,665,003, System and method for generating and displaying panoramic images and movies. Also European Patent EP1048167.
• US Patent 7,477,284, System and Method for Capturing and Viewing Stereoscopic Panoramic Images.
• US Patent 6,831,677, System and method for facilitating the adjustment of disparity in a stereoscopic panoramic image pair.
• US Patent 6,795,109, Stereo panoramic camera arrangements for recording panoramic images useful in a stereo panoramic image pair. Also European Patent EP1292854, German Patent DE60037040, and Japanese patent JP3952776.