A point-based tele-immersion system: from acquisition to stereoscopic display

Abstract

We present a point based reconstruction and transmission pipeline for a collaborative tele-immersion system. Two or more users in different locations collaborate with each other in a shared, simulated environment as if they were in the same physical room. Each user perceives point-based models of distant users along with collaborative data like molecule models. Disparity maps, computed by a commercial stereo solution, are filtered and transformed into clouds of 3D points. The clouds are compressed and transmitted over the network to distant users. At the other side the clouds are decompressed and incorporated into the 3D scene. The viewpoint used to display the 3D scene is dependent on the position of the head of the user. Collaborative data is manipulated through natural hand gestures. We analyse the performance of the system in terms of computation time, latency and photo realistic quality of the reconstructed models.