Merging artificial objects with marker-less video sequences based on the interacting multiple model method

Inserting synthetic objects into video sequences has gained much interest in recent years. Fast and robust vision-based algorithms are necessary to make such an application possible. Traditional pose tracking schemes using recursive structure from motion techniques adopt one Kalman filter and thus only favor a certain type of camera motion. We propose a robust simultaneous pose tracking and structure recovery algorithm using the interacting multiple model (IMM) to improve performance. In particular, a set of three extended Kalman filters (EKFs), each describing a frequently occurring camera motion in real situations (general, pure translation, pure rotation), is applied within the IMM framework to track the pose of a scene. Another set of EKFs,one filter for each model point, is used to refine the positions of the model features in the 3-D space. The filters for pose tracking and structure refinement are executed in an interleaved manner. The results are used for inserting virtual objects into the original video footage. The performance of the algorithm is demonstrated with both synthetic and real data. Comparisons with different approaches have been performed and show that our method is more efficient and accurate.