Wide Baseline Multi-view Video Matting Using a Hybrid Markov Random Field

We describe a novel framework for segmenting a time- and view-coherent foreground matte sequence from synchronised multiple view video. We construct a Markov Random Field (MRF) comprising links between super pixels corresponded across views, and links between super pixels and their constituent pixels. Texture, colour and disparity cues are incorporated to model foreground appearance. We solve using a multi-resolution iterative approach enabling an eight view high definition (HD) frame to be processed in less than a minute. Furthermore we incorporate a temporal diffusion process introducing a prior on the MRF using information propagated from previous frames, and a facility for optional user correction. The result is a set of temporally coherent mattes solved for simultaneously across views for each frame, exploiting similarities across views and time.