Creating Adaptive Views for Group Video Teleconferencing – An Image-Based Approach

Abstract

We present a system and techniques for synthesizing views for many-to-many video teleconferencing. Instead of replicating oneto-one systems for each pair of users, or performing complex 3D scene acquisition, we rely upon user tolerance for soft discontinuities for our rendering techniques. Furthermore, we observed that the participants’ eyes usually remain at a constant height (sitting height) during video teleconferencing, thus we only need to be able to synthesize new views on a horizontal plane. We demonstrate a real-time system that uses a linear array of cameras to perform Light Field style rendering. The simplicity and robustness of Light Fielding rendering, combined with the natural restrictions of limited view volume in video teleconferencing, allow us to synthesize photo-realistic views for a group of participants at interactive rate.