Simplified integral imaging pickup method for real objects using a depth camera

Abstract

In this paper, we present a novel integral imaging pickup method. We extract each pixel's actual depth data from a real object's surface using a depth camera, then generate elemental images based on the depth map. Since the proposed method generates elemental images without a lens array, it has simplified the pickup process and overcome some disadvantages caused by a conventional optical pickup process using a lens array. As a result, we can display a three-dimensional (3D) image in integral imaging. To show the usefulness of the proposed method, an experiment is presented. Though the pickup process has been simplified in the proposed method, the experimental results reveal that it can also display a full motion parallax image the same as the image reconstructed by the conventional method. In addition, if we improve calculation speed, it will be useful in a real-time integral imaging display system.