ImmersiveAutochrome: Enhanced Digitized Mono-Autochrome Viewing through Deep Learning and Virtual Reality

Resulting from the earliest impactful color photography process developed by the Lumière Brothers, autochromes are invaluable historical artifacts with a high sensitivity and susceptibility to degradation over time. We investigate the potential of deep learning to enhance the experience of historical autochromes through 3D photography and Virtual Reality (VR). Our proposed pipeline utilizes single-image depth estimation and depth-aware inpainting to transform digitized mono-autochromes into layered depth images and corresponding 3D meshes, enabling immersive 3D visualization via a WebXR application. Our user study shows the effectiveness of VR-based experience of autochromes compared to traditional visualization methods, revealing that participants found the VR experience as pleasant as analog exploration despite the latter’s authenticity. Thereby, our findings suggest that 3D VR technology could play a crucial role in digitally preserving and revitalizing these culturally significant artifacts and foster investigations with more samples and more types of user interfaces to mature these insights.