The impact of dense range data on computer graphics

The ability to quickly acquire dense range data of familiar environments has been met with enthusiastic response in our graphics laboratory. We describe our prototype range collection system, based on a scanning laser rangefinder and a high-resolution digital color camera, that allows us to create panoramic color photographs where every pixel has an accurate range value. To accommodate occlusions, the data acquisition process is repeated from multiple locations and the results are registered with software. We discuss the acquisition system and review how the data from this prototype system have been used in existing graphics projects. We speculate about future improvements to range acquisition hardware and how those improvements impact graphics applications. The data acquired from our system is just a hint of what will be available in the future and we conclude with speculation about the impact of such data on graphics hardware and algorithms, since prevailing graphics hardware and software do not support this data well.