A spatial image hierarchy for compression in image-based-rendering

Image-based rendering (IBR) systems create photorealistic views of complex 3D environments by resampling large collections of images captured in the environment. The quality of the resampled images increases significantly with higher image capture density. Thus, a significant challenge in interactive IBR systems is to provide both fast image access along arbitrary viewpoint paths and efficient storage of large image data sets. We describe a compression scheme based on a spatial image hierarchy that meets the requirements of interactive IBR walkthroughs. By exploiting image coherence over the entire image capture plane, we achieve compression performance similar to traditional motion-compensated schema, e.g., MPEG, yet allow image access along arbitrary paths. Furthermore, by exploiting graphics hardware for image resampling, we achieve interactive display rates during IBR walkthroughs.