Towards a multi-camera generalization of brightness constancy

Abstract

Standard optical flow methods for motion or disparity estimation use a brightness constancy constraint equation (BCCE). This BCCE either handles a moving camera imaging a non-moving scene or a fixed camera imaging a moving scene. In this paper a BCCE is developed that can handle instantaneous motion of the camera on a 2D plane normal to the viewing direction and motion of the imaged scene. From the thus acquired up to 5 dimensional data set 3D object motion, 3D surface element position, and -normals can be estimated simultaneously. Experiments using Id or 2d camera grids and a weighted total least squares (TLS) estimation scheme demonstrate performance in terms of systematic error and noise stability, and show technical implications. © Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2007.