Point-based calibration using a parametric representation of the general imaging model

Generic imaging models can be used to represent any camera. These models are specially suited for non-central cameras for which closed-form models do not exist. Current models are discrete and define a mapping between each pixel in the image and a straight line in 3D space. Due to difficulties in the calibration procedure and model complexity these methods have not been used in practice. The focus of our work was to relax these drawbacks. In this paper we modify the general imaging model using radial basis functions to interpolate image coordinates and 3D lines allowing both an increase in resolution (due to their continuous nature) and a more compact representation. Using this new variation of the general imaging model we also develop a new linear calibration procedure. In this process it is only required to match one 3D point to each image pixel. Also it is not required the calibration of every image pixel. As a result the complexity of the procedure is significantly decreased.