3D Browsing of Wide‐Angle Fisheye Images Under View‐Dependent Perspective Correction

This paper presents a novel technique for 3D browsing of wide-angle fisheye images using view-dependent perspective correction (VDPC). First, the fisheye imaging model with interior orientation parameters (IOPs) is established. Thereafter, a VDPC model for wide-angle fisheye images is proposed that adaptively selects correction planes for different areas of the image format. Finally, the wide-angle fisheye image is re-projected to obtain the visual effect of browsing in hemispherical space, using the VDPC model and IOPs of the fisheye camera calibrated using the ideal projection ellipse constraint. The proposed technique is tested on several downloaded internet images with unknown IOPs. Results show that the proposed VDPC model achieves a more uniform perspective correction of fisheye images in different areas, and preserves the detailed information with greater flexibility compared with the traditional perspective projection conversion (PPC) technique. The proposed algorithm generates a corrected image of 512 x 512 pixels resolution at a speed of 58 fps when run on a pure central processing unit (CPU) processor. With an ordinary graphics processing unit (GPU) processor, a corrected image of 1024 x 1024 pixels resolution can be generated at 60 fps. Therefore, smooth 3D visualisation of a fisheye image can be realised on a computer using the proposed algorithm, which may benefit applications such as panorama surveillance, robot navigation, etc.