The Lumigraph

This paper discusses a new method for capturing the complete appearanceof both synthetic and realworld objects andscenes,representing this information, and then using this representation to render images of the object from new camera positions. Unlike the shape captureprocesstraditionally usedin computervisionand the rendering process traditionally used in computer graphics, our approach does not rely on geometric representations. Instead we sample and reconstruct a 4D function, which we call a Lumigraph. The Lumigraph is a subsetof the complete plenoptic function that describes the flow of light at all positions in all directions. With the Lumigraph, newimages ofthe objectcanbegeneratedvery quickly, independentof the geometric or illumination complexity of the scene or object. The paper discusses a complete working system including the capture of samples, the construction of the Lumigraph, and the subsequentrendering of images from this new representation.

• Type: Conference
• Year: 1996
• Where: SIGGRAPH
• Authors: Steven J. Gortler, Radek Grzeszczuk, Richard Szeliski, Michael F. Cohen
• Keywords: Complete Plenoptic Function, Computer Graphics, Geometric Representations, Realworld Objects, SIGGRAPH 1996