A montage method: the overlaying of the computer generated images onto a background photograph

Abstract

A system of computer programs has been established to generate high quality montage image of considerable usefulness in architectural simulation which combine computer-generated images and photographed background pictures.Traditionally, there are two methods of creating architectural montages: (1) an artist paints new buildings onto a background scene usually generated photographically, and (2) a three-dimensional scale model is created to simulate the whole landscape, and this model is then photographed. The montage method described here combines aspects of both traditional montage methods with significant improvement in accuracy and reduction of time and cost of preparation. Specifically, a digitized photograph is used as a background scene onto which is superimposed a 3D computer-generated image of a new building. The outstanding points of the new method are:(i) The shading and shadows of each computer generated image are calculated with higher accuracy, (ii) the fog effect is taken into account, and (iii) a new anti-aliasing technique improves the quality of the final montage image.