2012/06/10 by Chamberlain Fong, Fong, Chamberlain
Computer Science · Mathematics · #Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition (cs.CV) #Differential Geometry (math.DG) #FOS: Computer and information sciences #FOS: Mathematics #cs.CV #math.DG
paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.1206.2068
expanded version of "An Indoor Alternative to Stereographic Spherical Panoramas" (Bridges 2014)
arxiv created 2016/05/02 · arxiv updated 2016/05/03
We present an algorithm for converting an indoor spherical panorama into a photograph with a simulated overhead view. The resulting image will have an extremely wide field of view covering up to 4π steradians of the spherical panorama. We argue that our method complements the stereographic projection commonly used in the "little planet" effect. The stereographic projection works well in creating little planets of outdoor scenes; whereas our method is a well-suited counterpart for indoor scenes. The main innovation of our method is the introduction of a novel azimuthal map projection that can smoothly blend between the stereographic projection and the Lambert azimuthal equal-area projection. Our projection has an adjustable parameter that allows one to control and compromise between distortions in shape and distortions in size within the projected panorama. This extra control parameter gives our projection the ability to produce superior results over the stereographic projection.