The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology
Department of Computer Science and Engineering


PhD Thesis Defence


"From Dense Photometric Stereo to Interactive 3D Markup"

By

Mr. Tai-Pang Wu


Abstract

Three-dimensional (3D) model is still the de facto fundamental component
for 3D graphic rendering. While significant advances in techniques in 3D
rendering have been made, and extremely realistic and fascinating virtual
world can be displayed, creating a detailed 3D model, especially for a
physically non-existing object, is still a tedious or very time-consuming
task that requires a lot of skills and labors.

On the other hand, in computer vision, automatic stereo reconstruction
allows us to capture detail geometric information from the real world.
Although stereo vision may not provide a direct answer to 3D modeling that
satisfies the high quality demand necessary for realistic rendering where
subtle geometric details should be revealed, the scientific merits and
mathematics underpinning recent advances in stereo vision have inspired us
with useful ideas, which should lead to new solution to interactive 3D
modeling.

In this thesis, we will present such a new solution that brings together
photometric stereo and interactive modeling, under the auspices of
human-computer interaction. By starting our study on dense photometric
stereo, where a large class of objects can be digitized precisely despite
the presence of severe shadows, highlight, transparency and complex
geometry, high-quality and accurate normal maps can be produced. Such
normal map serves as a vehicle to our innovative and effective strategy
for interactive 3D markup, which we term ShapePalette metaphor. The
ShapePalette contributes by connecting the human and the computer, so that
they work in tandem to create complex 3D shapes, where the human user is
only required to draw a few simple 2D primitives and a detail 3D model can
be quickly materialized from line arts, sketches, and photographs within a
few minutes. We present impressive results and propose future work on this
thesis.


Date:			Thursday, 19 July 2007

Time:			3:00p.m.-5:00p.m.

Venue:			Room 3501
			Lifts 25-26

Chairman:		Prof. Ki Ling Cheung (ISMT)

Committee Members:	Prof. Chi-Keung Tang (Supervisor)
			Prof. Albert Chung
			Prof. Philip Fu
			Prof. Pheng-Ann Heng (Comp. Sci. & Engg., CUHK)
			Prof. Tien-Tsin Wong (Comp. Sci. & Engg., CUHK)


**** ALL are Welcome ****