Environment matting extensions: towards higher accuracy and real-time capture

Abstract

Environment matting is a generalization of traditional bluescreen matting. By photographing an object in front of a sequence of structured light backdrops, a set of approximate light-transport paths through the object can be computed. The original environment matting research chose a middle ground—using a moderate number of photographs to produce results that were reasonably accurate for many objects. In this work, we extend the technique in two opposite directions: recovering a more accurate model at the expense of using additional structured light backdrops, and obtaining a simplified matte using just a single backdrop. The first extension allows for the capture of complex and subtle interactions of light with objects, while the second allows for video capture of colorless objects in motion.