Flexible camera calibration by viewing a plane from unknown orientations

TLDR

The paper proposes a flexible camera calibration technique that requires only a planar pattern observed from a few unknown orientations. The method uses a planar pattern viewed from at least two different orientations, with either the camera or pattern movable and motion unknown, models radial lens distortion, and applies a closed‑form solution followed by maximum‑likelihood refinement. Simulations and real‑world experiments demonstrate very good calibration accuracy, outperforming classical techniques that use expensive orthogonal planes, and advancing 3D computer vision toward practical real‑world use. The corresponding software is available from the author's Web page (http://research.microsoft.com//spl sim/zhang).

Abstract

Proposes a flexible new technique to easily calibrate a camera. It only requires the camera to observe a planar pattern shown at a few (at least two) different orientations. Either the camera or the planar pattern can be freely moved. The motion need not be known. Radial lens distortion is modeled. The proposed procedure consists of a closed-form solution followed by a nonlinear refinement based on the maximum likelihood criterion. Both computer simulation and real data have been used to test the proposed technique, and very good results have been obtained. Compared with classical techniques which use expensive equipment, such as two or three orthogonal planes, the proposed technique is easy to use and flexible. It advances 3D computer vision one step from laboratory environments to real-world use. The corresponding software is available from the author's Web page (<http://research.microsoft.com//spl sim/zhang>).