Smooth Image Sequences for Data-driven Morphing

Smoothness is a quality that feels aesthetic and pleasing to the human eye. We present an algorithm for finding “as-smoothas-possible” sequences in image collections. In contrast to previous work, our method does not assume that the images show a common 3D scene, but instead may depict different object instances with varying deformations, and significant variation in lighting, texture, and color appearance. Our algorithm does not rely on a notion of camera pose, view direction, or 3D representation of an underlying scene, but instead directly optimizes the smoothness of the apparent motion of local point matches among the collection images. We increase the smoothness of our sequences by performing a global similarity transform alignment, as well as localized geometric wobble reduction and appearance stabilization. Our technique gives rise to a new kind of image morphing algorithm, in which the in-between motion is derived in a data-driven manner from a smooth sequence of real images without any user intervention. This new type of morph can go far beyond the ability of traditional techniques. We also demonstrate that our smooth sequences allow exploring large image collections in a stable manner.