The goal of this paper is to compare surface-based and volumetric 3D object shape representations, as well as viewer-centered and object-centered reference frames for single-view 3D shape prediction. We propose a new algorithm for predicting depth maps from multiple viewpoints, with a single depth or RGB image as input. By modifying the network and the way models are evaluated, we can directly compare the merits of voxels vs. surfaces and viewer-centered vs. object-centered for familiar vs. unfamiliar objects, as predicted from RGB or depth images. Among our findings, we show that surface-based methods outperform voxel representations for objects from novel classes and produce higher resolution outputs. We also find that using viewer-centered coordinates is advantageous for novel objects, while object-centered representations are better for more familiar objects. Interestingly, the coordinate frame significantly affects the shape representation learned, with object-centered placing more importance on implicitly recognizing the object category and viewer-centered producing shape representations with less dependence on category recognition.
Multi-surface representations of 3D shapes are popular for categorization tasks. The seminal work by Chen al @cite_28 proposes a 3D shape descriptor based on the silhouettes rendered from the 20 vertices of a dodecahedron surrounding the object. More recently, Su al @cite_3 and Qi al @cite_15 train CNNs on 2D renderings of 3D mesh models for classification. Qi al @cite_15 compares CNNs trained on volumetric representations to those trained on multiview representations. Although both representations encode similar amounts of information, they showed that multiview representations significantly outperform volumetric representations for 3D object classification. Unlike our approach, these approaches use multiple projections as input rather than output.
@cite_28 @cite_15 @cite_3
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3D shape models are becoming widely available and easier to capture, making available 3D information crucial for progress in object classification. Current state-of-theart methods rely on CNNs to address this problem. Recently, we witness two types of CNNs being developed: CNNs based upon volumetric representations versus CNNs based upon multi-view representations. Empirical results from these two types of CNNs exhibit a large gap, indicating that existing volumetric CNN architectures and approaches are unable to fully exploit the power of 3D representations. In this paper, we aim to improve both volumetric CNNs and multi-view CNNs according to extensive analysis of existing approaches. To this end, we introduce two distinct network architectures of volumetric CNNs. In addition, we examine multi-view CNNs, where we introduce multiresolution filtering in 3D. Overall, we are able to outperform current state-of-the-art methods for both volumetric CNNs and multi-view CNNs. We provide extensive experiments designed to evaluate underlying design choices, thus providing a better understanding of the space of methods available for object classification on 3D data. 3D shape models are becoming widely available and easier to capture, making available 3D information crucial for progress in object classification. Current state-of-the-art methods rely on CNNs to address this problem. Recently, we witness two types of CNNs being developed: CNNs based upon volumetric representations versus CNNs based upon multi-view representations. Empirical results from these two types of CNNs exhibit a large gap, indicating that existing volumetric CNN architectures and approaches are unable to fully exploit the power of 3D representations. In this paper, we aim to improve both volumetric CNNs and multi-view CNNs according to extensive analysis of existing approaches. To this end, we introduce two distinct network architectures of volumetric CNNs. In addition, we examine multi-view CNNs, where we introduce multi-resolution filtering in 3D. Overall, we are able to outperform current state-of-the-art methods for both volumetric CNNs and multi-view CNNs. We provide extensive experiments designed to evaluate underlying design choices, thus providing a better understanding of the space of methods available for object classification on 3D data. A longstanding question in computer vision concerns the representation of 3D shapes for recognition: should 3D shapes be represented with descriptors operating on their native 3D formats, such as voxel grid or polygon mesh, or can they be effectively represented with view-based descriptors? We address this question in the context of learning to recognize 3D shapes from a collection of their rendered views on 2D images. We first present a standard CNN architecture trained to recognize the shapes' rendered views independently of each other, and show that a 3D shape can be recognized even from a single view at an accuracy far higher than using state-of-the-art 3D shape descriptors. Recognition rates further increase when multiple views of the shapes are provided. In addition, we present a novel CNN architecture that combines information from multiple views of a 3D shape into a single and compact shape descriptor offering even better recognition performance. The same architecture can be applied to accurately recognize human hand-drawn sketches of shapes. We conclude that a collection of 2D views can be highly informative for 3D shape recognition and is amenable to emerging CNN architectures and their derivatives. A longstanding question in computer vision concerns the representation of 3D shapes for recognition: should 3D shapes be represented with descriptors operating on their native 3D formats, such as voxel grid or polygon mesh, or can they be effectively represented with view-based descriptors? We address this question in the context of learning to recognize 3D shapes from a collection of their rendered views on 2D images. We first present a standard CNN architecture trained to recognize the shapes' rendered views independently of each other, and show that a 3D shape can be recognized even from a single view at an accuracy far higher than using state-of-the-art 3D shape descriptors. Recognition rates further increase when multiple views of the shapes are provided. In addition, we present a novel CNN architecture that combines information from multiple views of a 3D shape into a single and compact shape descriptor offering even better recognition performance. The same architecture can be applied to accurately recognize human hand-drawn sketches of shapes. We conclude that a collection of 2D views can be highly informative for 3D shape recognition and is amenable to emerging CNN architectures and their derivatives.