Omnistereo: Panoramic stereo imaging

AnOmnistereo panorama consists of a pair of panoramic images. where one pan orama is for the left eye and another panorama is for the right eye. The pa noramic stereo pair provides a stereo sensation up to a full 360 degrees. O mnistereo panoramas cannot be photographed by two omnidirectional cameras f rom two viewpoints, but can be constructed by mosaicing together images fro m a rotating stereo pair. A more convenient approach to generate omnistereo panoramas is by mosaicing images from a single rotating camera. This appro ach also enables the control of stereo disparity, giving larger baselines f or faraway scenes, and a smaller baseline for closer scenes. Capturing pano ramic omnistereo images with a rotating camera makes it impossible to captu re dynamic scenes at video rates and limits omnistereo imaging to stationar y scenes. We. therefore, present two possibilities for capturing omnistereo panoramas using optics without any moving parts. A special mirror is intro duced such that viewing the scene through this mirror creates the same rays as those used with the rotating cameras. A lens for omnistereo panorama is also introduced. The designs of the mirror and of the lens are based on cu rves whose caustic is a circle. Omnistereo panoramas can also be rendered b y computer graphics methods to represent virtual environments.