Stereo Reconstruction from Multiple Views

We present a unified framework for 3-D shape reconstruction that allows us to combine multiple information sources—such as stereo and shape-from-shading—derived from images whose vantage points may be very different. A formal integration framework is critical because, in recovering complicated surfaces, the information from a single source is often insufficient to provide a unique answer.We describe two complementary implementations of this paradigm that both rely on deforming a generic object-centered 3-D representation of the surface so as to minimize an objective function. The first implementation models the surface as a triangulated mesh. The second models it as a set of particles that interact with each other through forces that tend to align them.