ITR: Collaborative Research: Generating an Accurate Sense of Depth and Size Using Computer Graphics

尽管真实感在过去十年中取得了令人印象深刻的进展，但计算机图形学目前无法有效地生成看起来很大的对象和环境的图像。这在很大程度上是因为计算机图形学在传达关于绝对深度的信息方面很差。这个项目的目标是证明，如果在开发渲染方法时特别注意传达绝对深度线索的需要，则有可能显著提高计算机图形的深度感和比例。要实现这一目标，将需要对可从2D图像中提取的3D信息有新的见解，需要修改图形算法以更好地呈现显著信息，以及需要复杂的感知实验来验证人们实际上可以看到预期的3D空间。PI的方法将是以计算机图形界以前没有做过的方式来利用计算视觉的结果和方法。计算视觉提供了对如何从2D图像中恢复关于3D空间的信息的内在约束的洞察。特别是，视觉的计算分析指出了相对深度判断和绝对深度判断之间的重要区别。令人惊讶的是，通常研究的图像线索中，很少有实际上足以提供关于绝对深度的信息。其中，由于显示技术的基本限制，以及除了沉浸式环境外，我们无法精确控制观看条件，其中一些无法在计算机图形学中使用。这项研究将影响需要传达准确空间信息的广泛图形应用，包括教育和培训、设计和原型制作以及远程呈现。

Despite impressive gains in realism over the last decade, computer graphics is currently unable to effectively generate images of objects and environments that look large. This is mostly because computer graphics is poor at conveying information about absolute depth. The goal of this project is to demonstrate that it is possible to significantly improve the sense of depth and scale in computer graphics if rendering methods are developed with specific attention to the need to convey cues for absolute depth. Accomplishing this goal will require new insights into the 3D information extractable from 2D images, modifications to graphics algorithms in order to better render salient information, and sophisticated perceptual experimentation to validate that people can actually see the intended 3D space. The PI's approach will be to draw upon the results and methods of computational vision in ways that have not previously been done in the computer graphics community. Computational vision provides insights into the intrinsic constraints on how information about 3D space can be recovered from 2D images. In particular, the computational analysis of vision points out the important distinction between relative depth judgments and absolute depth judgments. Surprisingly few of the commonly studied image cues are in fact sufficient to provide information about absolute depth. Of those that do, several cannot be exploited in computer graphics due to fundamental limitations in display technology and our inability to precisely control viewing conditions except in immersive environments. The research will impact a broad range of graphics applications in which accurate spatial information needs to be conveyed, including education and training, design and prototyping, and telepresence.