Construction and Presentation of a Virtual Environment Using Panoramic Stereo Images of a Real Scene and Computer Graphics Models

The recent progress in computer graphics has made it possible to construct various virtual environments such as urban or natural scenes. This paper proposes a hybrid method to construct a realistic virtual environment containing an existing real scene. The proposed method combines two different types of 3-D models. 3-D geometric model is used to represent virtual objects in user’s vicinity, enabling a user to handle virtual objects. Texture mapped cylindrical 2.5-D model of a real scene is used to render the background of the environment, maintaining real-time rendering and increasing realistic sensation. Cylindrical 2.5-D model is generated from cylindrical stereo images captured by an omnidirectional stereo imaging sensor. A prototype system has been developed to confirm the feasibility of the method, in which panoramic binocular stereo images are projected on a cylindrical immersive projection display depending on user’s viewpoint in real-time.