Video Trace: 3D Models from Video

VideoTrace is a system for interactively generating realistic 3D models of objects from video. The user interacts with VideoTrace by tracing the shape of the object to be modelled over one or more frames of the video.

By interpreting the sketch drawn by the user in light of 3D information obtained from computer vision techniques, a small number of simple 2D interactions can be used to generate a realistic 3D model.

In many ways the system is similar to the sadly demised CANOMA but with video, the movie below provides a good insight into how Video Trace works:



By way of simple comparison with CANOMA below is a movie we created some 8 years ago from a postcard - if we had the video capability it would of provided a similar output to Video Trace:





A version of CANOMA but from video is an intriguing step forward - if this can be semi-automated then low end rapid capture of city models could be round the corner.

You can find out more about Video Trace via their main page.