Fast, Automatic, Photo-realistic, 3D Modeling of Building Interiors

Automated 3D modeling of building interiors is useful in applications such as virtual reality and entertainment. In this talk, we develop an architecture and associated algorithms for fast, automatic, photo-realistic 3D models of building interiors. The central challenge of such a problem is to localize the acquisition device in GPS denied environments, while it is in motion, rather than collecting the data in a stop and go fashion. In the past, such acquisition devices have been placed on robots with wheels or human operated pushcarts, which would limit their use to planar environments. Our goal is to address the more difficult problem of localization and 3D modeling in more complex non-planar environments such as staircases, caves, or non-even surfaces. We propose a human operated backpack system made of a suite of sensors such as laser scanners, cameras, orientation measurement units (OMU)s which are used to both localize the backpack, and build the 3D geometry and texture of building interiors. We describe a number of localization algorithms based on merging laser, camera and OMU sensor information, and compare their performance using a high end IMU sensor which serves as the ground truth. Once the backpack is localized, a 3D point cloud can be generated and 3D meshing algorithms are applied to generate texture mapped 3D models. We show examples of resulting models for multiple floors of the electrical engineering building at U.C. Berkeley. Applications to image based rendering of 3D environments and mobile augmented reality will also be discussed.

Avideh Zakhor

Professor, EECS, University of California, Berkley on September 2, 2011 at 1:00 PM in Engineering Building II, Room 1230

Dr. Zakhor received her B.Sc. degree in Electrical Engineering, California Institute of Technology, 1983, a S.M. degree in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science from Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 1985, and a Ph.D. degree in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 1987. In 1994 she joined the faculty of EECS, UC Berkeley.

Honors and awards she has received include the General Motors Scholarship, 1982-3; Henry Ford Engineering Award, 1983; Hertz Fellowship, 1984-1988; Analog Devices Junior Faculty Development Award 1990-1995; IBM Junior Faculty Development Award 1990-1991; Presidential Young Investigator (PYI) Award, 1990; Office of Naval Research Young Investigator Award, 1992; IEEE Signal Processing Society Transactions Young Paper Award (with S. Hein) 1997; IEEE Circuits and Systems Society Video Technology Transactions Best Paper Award (with D. Taubman), 1997; IEEE Circuits and Systems Society Video Technology Transactions Best Paper Award (with R. Neff), 1999; International Conference on Image Processing best paper award (with R. Neff). 1999; Packet Video Workshop best paper award (with T. Ngyuen), 2002. Avideh Zakhor.

The Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering hosts a regularly scheduled seminar series with preeminent and leading reseachers in the US and the world, to help promote North Carolina as a center of innovation and knowledge and to ensure safeguarding its place of leading research.