Single-Camera Volumetric Image Capture Along Motion Paths
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional photographic techniques lack the ability to capture and reproduce the true feeling or understanding of a scene due to the absence of depth information from multiple viewpoints, and existing volumetric capture methods are cumbersome and data-intensive.
Innovation Solution
A method of capturing a series of images while moving a camera along a path, associating these images with motion path metadata, and assembling them into a package for playback at desired viewpoints, allowing for the creation and display of a limited volumetric image.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If a single camera is moved along a path to capture a series of images, then the complexity of the capture system is reduced and ease of operation is improved, but the ability to capture true volumetric depth information from multiple simultaneous viewpoints is compromised
Solution Approach 1:
The system uses a single camera to capture multiple 2D images from different positions along a motion path, creating a simplified copy representation of what would require a complex multi-camera array. Each image serves as a copy of the scene from a slightly different viewpoint, and these copies are computationally synthesized to create the volumetric effect.
Solution Approach 2:
The system transitions from a static multi-camera array to a dynamic single-camera approach where the camera moves along a predefined or captured motion path. This dynamic capture method allows one camera to occupy multiple spatial positions sequentially, achieving volumetric coverage through temporal dynamics rather than spatial multiplicity.
2Loss of information
If an array of many cameras is used to capture a scene from many viewpoints simultaneously, then true volumetric depth information is captured, but the device complexity and calibration requirements increase significantly
Solution Approach 1:
The invention extracts only the essential viewpoint information needed for volumetric reconstruction by moving a single camera through key positions along a motion path, rather than deploying a complete array of cameras at all possible viewpoints. This extracts the minimum necessary set of images to achieve the volumetric effect.
Solution Approach 2:
The volumetric capture task is segmented into discrete image captures at specific positions along a motion path, with each position contributing a portion of the overall volumetric information. The motion path itself is segmented into multiple capture points, allowing the system to build up volumetric data incrementally rather than requiring simultaneous capture from all positions.
3Loss of information
If a camera array is used to capture volumetric images, then complete volumetric data is obtained, but the data processing and compression requirements become prohibitively complex
Solution Approach 1:
The system captures a partial set of viewpoints along a motion path rather than a complete omnidirectional array, using just enough images to create the volumetric effect. This partial action approach reduces the total data volume while maintaining the essential volumetric perception, avoiding the excessive data generation that would come from a full camera array.
Data Source
AI summary
A volumetric image of a scene can be created, in one embodiment, by recording, through a camera in a device, a series of images of the scene as the camera is moved along a path relative to the scene; during the recording, the device stores motion path metadata about the path, and the series of images is associated with the motion path metadata and a metadata label is associated with the series of images, the metadata label indicating that the recorded series of images represent a volumetric image of the scene. The series of images, the motion path metadata and the metadata label can be assembled into a package for distribution to devices that can view the volumetric image, which may be referred to as a limited volumetric image. The devices that receive the volumetric image can display the individual images in the series of images or as a video.