In perspective cameras, images of a frontal-parallel 3D object preserve its aspect ratio invariant to its depth. Such an invariance is useful in photography but is unique to perspective projection. In this paper, we show that alternative non-perspective cameras such as the crossed-slit or XSlit cameras exhibit a different depth-dependent aspect ratio (DDAR) property that can be used to 3D recovery. We first conduct a comprehensive analysis to characterize DDAR, infer object depth from its AR, and model recoverable depth range, sensitivity, and error. We show that repeated shape patterns in real Manhattan World scenes can be used for 3D reconstruction using a single XSlit image. We also extend our analysis to model slopes of lines. Specifically, parallel 3D lines exhibit depth-dependent slopes (DDS) on their images which can also be used to infer their depths. We validate our analyses using real XSlit cameras, XSlit panoramas, and catadioptric mirrors. Experiments show that DDAR and DDS provide important depth cues and enable effective single-image scene reconstruction.
Discovering and extracting new image features pertaining to scene geometry is important to 3D reconstruction and scene understanding. Examples include the classical vanishing points observed in a centric camera and the recent coplanar common points (CCPs) in a crossed-slit camera [21,17]. A CCP is a point in the image plane corresponding to the intersection of the projections of all lines lying on a common 3D plane. In this paper, we address the problem of determining CCP existence in general non-centric cameras. We first conduct a ray-space analysis to show that finding the CCP of a 3D plane is equivalent to solving an array of ray constraint equations. We then derive the necessary and sufficient conditions for CCP to exist in an arbitrary non-centric camera such as non-centric catadioptric mirrors. Finally, we present robust algorithms for extracting the CCPs from a single image and validate our theories and algorithms through experiments. A Manhattan World (MW) [3] is composed of planar surfaces and parallel lines aligned with three mutually orthogonal principal axes. Traditional MW understanding algorithms rely on geometry priors such as the vanishing points and reference (ground) planes for grouping coplanar structures. In this paper, we present a novel single-image MW reconstruction algorithm from the perspective of non-pinhole cameras. We show that by acquiring the MW using an XSlit camera, we can instantly resolve co planarity ambiguities. Specifically, we prove that parallel 3D lines map to 2D curves in an XSlit image and they converge at an XSlit Vanishing Point (XVP). In addition, if the lines are coplanar, their curved images will intersect at a second common pixel that we call Coplanar Common Point (CCP). CCP is a unique image feature in XSlit cameras that does not exist in pinholes. We present a comprehensive theory to analyze XVPs and CCPs in a MW scene and study how to recover 3D geometry in a complex MW scene from XVPs and CCPs. Finally, we build a prototype XSlit camera by using two layers of cylindrical lenses. Experimental results on both synthetic and real data show that our new XSlit-camera-based solution provides an effective and reliable solution for MW understanding.