Construction and presentation of a virtual environment using panoramic stereo images of a real scene and computer graphics models

The progress in computer graphics has made it possible to construct various virtual environments such as urban or natural scenes. The 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. A 3-D geometric model is used to represent virtual objects in the user's vicinity, enabling a user to handle virtual objects. A 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. The cylindrical 2.5-D model is generated from cylindrical stereo images captured by an omnidirectional stereo imaging sensor. A prototype mixed reality system has been developed to confirm the feasibility of the method, in which panoramic binocular stereo images are projected on a cylindrical immersive projective display depending on the user's view point in real time.