Reading between the lines - a method for extracting dynamic 3D with texture

Abstract

A method is presented that extracts the 3D shape of objects, together with their surface texture. Both shape and texture are obtained from a single image. The paper sketches the complete system but focuses on the problem of texture extraction. The underlying principle is based on an active technique. A high resolution pattern is projected onto the object and the deformations as observed by a single camera yield the 3rd dimension. The surface texture is extracted from the same image by literally reading between the lines that are used for the shape extraction. This is done using a combination of interpolation and non-linear diffusion techniques. Because the whole procedure is based on a single image, a frame-by-frame reconstruction of a video taken with the pattern projected throughout, yields 3D shape dynamics.