Spherical environment maps for image-based rendering

Spherical environment maps capture all of the light visible from a given point in space. From such a representation it is possible to render any perspective view along any direction from a fixed eye position located at the center of the sphere. In this paper this idea is extended to allow for eye movement within a bounded region of space. A novel method for reconstructing views from a set of precaptured images is presented. Image information is manipulated to create new views of the captured environment. These views provide correct parallax information from the particular viewpoint and, therefore, enable occluded regions to be viewed. Unlike other related methods, there is no reliance on geometric information, thus making the approach completely content independent. Basic interpolation techniques are employed to improve the quality of the reconstructed images and results are presented.