Compression of 3D color integral images

In this paper, we discuss the compression results of full color 3D Integral Images (II) by MPEG-2 (Motion Picture Experts Group). II is a popular three-dimensional image video recording and display technique. The huge size of II data has become a practical issue for storing and transmitting of 3D scenes. The MPEG is a standard coded representation of moving pictures. We model the elemental images in II as consecutive frames in a moving picture. Therefore, MPEG scheme can be applied to take advantage of the high cross-correlations between elemental images. We also introduce several scanning topologies along the elemental image sequences and investigate their performance with different number of pictures in GOP (Group of Picture). Experimental results are presented to illustrate the image quality of the MPEG-2 and the baseline JPEG with the same compression rate. We show that a well-known and widely-available MPEG-2 scheme can be a good alternative for II compression. (C) 2004 Optical Society of America.