filename     : Zie07a.pdf
entry        : Journal
pages        : 156-166
year         : 2007
month        : January
title        : Low-Cost Telepresence for Collaborative Virtual Environments
subtitle     :
author       : S.-M. Rhee, R. Ziegler, J. Park, M. Naef, M. Gross, M.-H. Kim
booktitle    : IEEE Transactions on Visualization and Computer Graphics
ISSN/ISBN    : 1077-2626
editor       :
publisher    : IEEE Computer Society
publ.place   : Los Alamitos, CA, USA
volume       : 13
issue        :
language     : english
keywords     : 
abstract     : We present a novel low-cost method for visual communication and tele-presence in a CAVE\texttrademark-like environment, relying on 2D stereo-based video avatars. The system combines a selection of proven efficient algorithms and approximations in a unique way, resulting in a convincing stereoscopic real-time representation of a remote user acquired in a spatially immersive display. The system was designed to extend existing projection systems with acquisition capabilities requiring minimal hardware modifications and cost.

The system uses infrared-based image segmentation to enable concurrent acquisition and projection in an immersive environment without a static background. The system consists of two color cameras and two additional b/w cameras used for segmentation in the near-IR spectrum. There is no need for special optics as the mask and color image are merged using image-warping based on a depth estimation. The resulting stereo image stream is compressed, streamed across a network, and displayed as a frame-sequential stereo texture on a billboard in the remote virtual environment.