Data Reduction by Applying an Image-Based Modeling and Rendering Technique to CG Models

Article type: Research Article

Authors: Miyachi, H. | Sakamoto, N.

Affiliations: Visualization Division, KGT Inc., 2-8-8 Shinjuku Shinjuku-ku Tokyo, 160-0022, Japan. E-mail: miyachi@kgt.co.jp | Center for the Promotion of Excellence in Higher Education, Kyoto University, Yoshida-Honmachi, Sakyo-ku, Kyoto, 606-8501, Japan. E-mail: naohisas@mbox.kudpc.kyoto-u.ac.jp

Abstract: We applied an image-based modeling and rendering technique to reduce the data size of a CG model to be obtained as a visualization result. To date, this technique has been applied to the reconstruction of 3D graphical models from real objects; the size of the models can be reduced effectively because both color information and geometric information can be reduced. We applied a silhouette-and-voxel method that does not require design data for geometric simplification. Using our system, we simplified two models, one of which, involving medical data, was reduced by about 85% in file size. An accompanying subjective quality test showed that our approach maintains approximately the same visual quality as the geometric simplification method traditionally used.

Keywords: Visualization, Data reduction, Image-based modeling and rendering

Journal: Journal of Visualization, vol. 8, no. 4, pp. 331-338, 2005