A Distortion Camera for Ray Tracing

Pietro Acquisto, Meister Eduard Gröller
A Distortion Camera for Ray Tracing
TR-186-2-95-05, March 1995 [paper]

Information

Abstract

Ray tracing is a powerful technique for realistic image generation. Typically a simple camera definition is used, whereby a 3D environment is mapped onto an image plane either by an orthographic or perspective projection. The concept of the usual simple camera definition is extended in several ways to achieve distorted views or projections of the object scene. The origins of primary rays are not required to lie on a plane anymore. Thus projections onto curved image surfaces are possible. The directions of primary rays may be chosen according to various nonlinear functions that allow nonstandard projections of the environment. The concept of centers of interest (coins) is introduced that enables to concentrate on especially interesting portions of object space. A center of interest is a 3D position that either distorts (attracts) a portion of the image surface or locally influences the directions of primary rays. The results of a test implementation are presented to show the feasibility of the methods presented. Several applications of distorted images are: creating elemental holographic images and raster omnimax images, virtual reality and arts.

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BibTeX

@techreport{Acquisto-1995-DCR,
  title =      "A Distortion Camera for Ray Tracing",
  author =     "Pietro Acquisto and Meister Eduard Gr\"{o}ller",
  year =       "1995",
  abstract =   "Ray tracing is a powerful technique for realistic image
               generation. Typically a simple camera definition is used,
               whereby a 3D environment is mapped onto an image plane
               either by an orthographic or perspective projection. The
               concept of the usual simple camera definition is extended in
               several ways to achieve distorted views or projections of
               the object scene. The origins of primary rays are not
               required to lie on a plane anymore. Thus projections onto
               curved image surfaces are possible. The directions of
               primary rays may be chosen according to various nonlinear
               functions that allow nonstandard projections of the
               environment. The concept of centers of interest (coins) is
               introduced that enables to concentrate on especially
               interesting portions of object space. A center of interest
               is a 3D position that either distorts (attracts) a portion
               of the image surface or locally influences the directions of
               primary rays. The results of a test implementation are
               presented to show the feasibility of the methods presented.
               Several applications of distorted images are: creating
               elemental holographic images and raster omnimax images,
               		virtual reality and arts.",
  month =      mar,
  number =     "TR-186-2-95-05",
  address =    "Favoritenstrasse 9-11/E193-02, A-1040 Vienna, Austria",
  institution = "Institute of Computer Graphics and Algorithms, Vienna
               University of Technology ",
  note =       "human contact: technical-report@cg.tuwien.ac.at",
  keywords =   "ray tracing, distortion camera, projection, image generation",
  URL =        "https://www.cg.tuwien.ac.at/research/publications/1995/Acquisto-1995-DCR/",
}