Virtual object replacement based on real environments: Potential application in augmented reality systems

Abstract

Augmented reality (AR) is an emerging technology that allows users to interact with simulated environments, including those emulating scenes in the real world. Most current AR technologies involve the placement of virtual objects within these scenes. However, difficulties in modeling real-world objects greatly limit the scope of the simulation, and thus the depth of the user experience. In this study, we developed a process by which to realize virtual environments that are based entirely on scenes in the real world. In modeling the real world, the proposed scheme divides scenes into discrete objects, which are then replaced with virtual objects. This enables users to interact in and with virtual environments without limitations. An RGB-D camera is used in conjunction with simultaneous localization and mapping (SLAM) to obtain the movement trajectory of the user and derive information related to the real environment. In modeling the environment, graph-based segmentation is used to segment point clouds and perform object segmentation to enable the subsequent replacement of objects with equivalent virtual entities. Superquadrics are used to derive shape parameters and location information from the segmentation results in order to ensure that the scale of the virtual objects matches the original objects in the real world. Only after the objects have been replaced with their virtual counterparts in the real environment converted into a virtual scene. Experiments involving the emulation of real-world locations demonstrated the feasibility of the proposed rendering scheme. A rock-climbing application scenario is finally presented to illustrate the potential use of the proposed system in AR applications.