MOVE-X: A System for Combining Video Films and Computer Animation

Abstract

The objective of the presented project was to implement a system for the visualization of buildings. The system is used to create movies of buildings and interior rooms before they are built. For a realistic impression of a building it is very important to show its actual environment in the film. The designed software solution permits to create films where real images of the environment are overlaid with computer generated images of the building. In order to overlay the video film with computer generated images, it is necessary to compute the exact position, the viewing direction and the adjustment of the zoom for every frame of the film. These parameters can be calculated from the video images. This paper describes the algorithms used to calculate the camera parameters and to track passpoints in a sequence of video images. Some problems resulting from interlaced video and low resolution are discussed in detail. The rendering techniques used to generate images of the new building are also discussed.