Five-dimensional (5-D) light field video (LFV) (also known as plenoptic video) is a more powerful form of representing information of dynamic scenes compared to conventional three-dimensional (3-D) video. In this dissertation, the spectra of moving objects in LFVs are analyzed, and it is shown that such moving objects can be enhanced based on their depth and velocity by employing 5-D digital filters, what is defined as depth-velocity filters. In particular, the spectral region of support (ROS) of a Lambertian object moving with constant velocity and at constant depth is shown to be a skewed 3-D hyperfan in the 5-D frequency domain. Furthermore, it is shown that the spectral ROS of a Lambertian object moving at non-constant depth can be approximated as a sequence of ROSs, each of which is a skewed 3-D hyperfan, in the 5-D continuous frequency domain. Based on the spectral analysis, a novel 5-D finite-extent impulse response (FIR) depth-velocity filter and a novel ultra-low complexity 5-D infinite-extent impulse response (IIR) depth-velocity filter are proposed for enhancing objects moving with constant velocity and at constant depth in LFVs. Furthermore, a novel ultra-low complexity 5-D IIR adaptive depth-velocity filter is proposed for enhancing objects moving at non-constant depth in LFVs. Also, an ultra-low complexity 3-D linear-phase IIR velocity filter that can be incorporated to design 5-D IIR depth-velocity filters is proposed. To the best of the author’s knowledge, the proposed 5-D FIR and IIR depth-velocity filters and the proposed 5-D IIR adaptive depth-velocity filter are the first such 5-D filters applied for enhancing moving objects in LFVs based on their depth and velocity. Numerically generated LFVs and LFVs of real scenes, generated by means of a commercially available Lytro light field (LF) camera, are used to test the effectiveness of the proposed 5-D depth-velocity filters. Numerical simulation results indicate that the proposed 5-D depth-velocity filters outperform the 3-D velocity filters and the four-dimensional (4-D) depth filters in enhancing moving objects in LFVs. More importantly, the proposed 5-D depth-velocity filters are capable of exposing heavily occluded parts of a scene and of attenuating noise significantly. Considering the ultra-low complexity, the proposed 5-D IIR depth-velocity filter and the proposed 5-D IIR adaptive depth-velocity filter have significant potentials to be employed in real-time applications. / Graduate / 0544

Cette thèse se place dans le cadre de la synthèse d'images en temps réel. Le problème auquel elle s'attaque est celui du rendu efficace du détail visuel, principal élément du réalisme d'une image. Pour faire face à la complexité du détail visuel, il est nécessaire de disposer de représentations adaptées à la fois aux objets que l'on cherche à rendre ainsi qu'aux capacités des processeurs graphiques actuels. Le premier axe de recherche porte sur l'utilisation du relief pour représenter et rendre efficacement du détail géométrique. La représentation compacte et structurée du relief par une carte hauteur permet la conception d'algorithmes de rendu exacts et efficaces. Nous en proposons deux~: le premier permet de rendre des reliefs dynamiques, alors que le second s'adresse aux reliefs statiques en exploitant la possibilité d'effectuer un pré-traitement sur la carte de hauteur. Nous développons aussi une réflexion sur l'utilisation du relief pour la représentation de surfaces quelconques, et présentons une application au rendu réaliste et en temps réel de volumes d'eau. Le deuxième axe de recherche se concentre sur les représentations non surfaciques, nécessaires lorsque les représentations géométriques sont inadaptées voire inexistantes. C'est le cas notamment des objets lointains ou des objets à géométrie dense, comme par exemple le feuillage d'un arbre. Le problème ici est d'être capable de représenter l'apparence d'un objet, sans recourir à un modèle géométrique. Nous proposons une méthode permettant, à partir de la seule donnée du light-field d'un objet, de déterminer les paramètres optimaux d'une représentation adaptée pour le rendu.

A new generation of 3d displays provides depth perception without the need for glasses and allows the viewer to see content from many different directions. Providing video for these displays requires capturing the scene by several cameras at different viewpoints, the data from which together forms light field video. To encode such video with existing video coding requires a large amount of data and it increases quickly with a higher number of views, which this application needs. One such coding is the multiview extension of High Efficiency Video Coding (mv-hevc), which encodes a number of similar video streams as different layers. A new coding scheme for light field video, called Panoramic Light Field (plf), is implemented and evaluated in this thesis. The main idea behind the coding is to project all points in a scene that are visible from any of the viewpoints to a single, global view, similar to how texture mapping maps a texture onto a 3d model in computer graphics. Whereas objects ordinarily shift position in the frame as the camera position changes, this is not the case when using this projection. A visible point in space is projected to the same image pixel regardless of viewpoint, resulting in large similarities between images from different viewpoints. The similarity between the layers in light field video helps to achieve more efficient compression when the projection is combined with existing multiview coding. In order to evaluate the scheme, 3d content was created and software was developed to encode it using plf. Video using this coding is compared to existing technology: a straightforward encoding of the views using mvhevc. The results show that the plf coding performs better on the sample content at lower quality levels, while it is worse at higher bitrate due to quality loss from the projection procedure. It is concluded that plf is a promising technology and suggestions are given for future research that may improve its performance further. / Nya tekniker är under utveckling för 3D-bildskärmar kan visa light field: bilder och video som spelas in med arrayer av kameror. Sådan video kräver stora datamängder. En ny kodning av light field, syftande till att uppnå ett bättre förhållande mellan bildkvalitet och bitrate, utvärderas i det här examensarbetet.

Although mass coral bleaching events are generally triggered by high seawater temperatures, experiments have demonstrated that corals and reef-dwelling foraminifers bleach more readily when exposed to high energy, short wavelength solar radiation (blue, violet and ultraviolet [UVR]: Lambda ~ 280 - 490 nm). In seawater, colored dissolved organic matter (CDOM), also called gelbstoff, preferentially absorbs these shorter wavelengths, which consequently bleach and degrade the CDOM. Alteration of watersheds and destruction of coastal wetlands have reduced natural sources of CDOM to reefal waters. I tested the null hypothesis that CDOM does not differ between reefs that differ in coral health, and that water transparency to UVR is not a factor in reef health. I measured absorption of UVR and UV irradiance at various reefs in the Florida Keys that differ in distance from shore and degree of anthropogenic development of the adjacent shoreline. My results show that intact shoreline - associated reefs and inshore reefs tend to be exposed to lower intensities of UVR, and lower degrees of photic stress, than developed shoreline - associated reefs and offshore reefs. Absorption due to CDOM (ag320) was higher, and photic stress, as revealed by increased production of UV-absorbing compounds, Mycosporine - like Amino Acids (MAAs), was lower at the surface compared to the bottom. The following results support my conclusion: ag320 and UV attenuation coefficients (Kd 's) were higher at intact compared to developed shoreline - associated reefs, and at inshore compared to offshore reefs. Spectral slope, S, was higher at offshore compared to inshore reefs, indicating a higher degree of photobleaching of CDOM. Relative expression of MAAs was higher at developed compared to intact shoreline - associated reefs, at offshore reefs compared to inshore reefs, and at the surface compared to the bottom. Solar energy reaching the benthos at two inshore reefs of the same depth (6m) was approximately an order of magnitude higher at the reef near developed shoreline compared to the reef near intact shoreline, and may be due to greater degree of diffuseness of the underwater light field combined with lower ag at the developed shoreline-associated reef.

Thesis (MSc (Mathematical Sciences))--Stellenbosch University, 2008. / A novel implementation exploiting modern hardware is explored and found to be a significant improvement over current methods used. A 50 times performance increase in the computation time of DRRs is achieved over the conventional ray casting approach and image registration is performed in under a minute.

Esta tese descreve métodos interativos para estimar e compensar erros de refração (NETRA) e opacidades ópticas (CATRA) em sistemas de imageamento usando telas de campos de luz programáveis, de alta resolução e alto contraste. Os novos métodos para oftalmologia computacional descritos aqui podem avaliar câmeras e olhos se o usuário do sistema estiver consciente do modelo de interação. A solução combina elementos ópticos baratos, interfaces interativas e reconstrução computacional. Uma tela de campos de luz, posicionada perto do olho, cria objetos virtuais em profundidades pré-definidas através de várias seções do olho. Via esta plataforma, cria-se uma nova gama de aplicações interativas que é extremamente sensível a aberrações ópticas. A capacidade de focar em um objeto virtual, alinhar padrões exibidos na tela e detectar suas variações de forma e brilho permite ao sistema estimar a função de propagação de ponto de luz para o olho e a acomodação da lente. Enquanto os sistemas convencionais requerem formação especializada, dispositivos caros, procedimentos de segurança sensíveis e normalmente não são móveis, esta tese simplifica o mecanismo, colocando o paciente no centro do teste. Ao final, a resposta do usuário calcula a condição de refração em termos de poderes esférico e cilíndrico, o eixo de astigmatismo, o poder de acomodação da lente e mapas para a opacidade, atenuação, contraste e função de espalhamento de um ponto de luz. O objetivo é permitir que o público em geral opere um sistema de iluminação portátil e obtenha uma compreensão de suas próprias condições visuais. Esta tese apresenta projetos ópticos para software e hardware para oftalmologia computacional. Avaliações com usuários e com câmeras com lentes modificadas são realizadas. Os dados compilados são usados para reconstruir visão afetada do indivíduo, oferecendo uma nova abordagem para capturar informações para o rastreio, diagnóstico e análises clínicas de anomalias visuais. / This thesis proposes light-field pre-warping methods for measuring and compensating for optical aberrations in focal imaging systems. Interactive methods estimate refractive conditions (NETRA) and model lens opacities (CATRA) of interaction-aware eyes and cameras using cost-efficient hardware apps for high-resolution screens. Tailored displays use stereo-viewing hardware to compensate for the measured visual aberrations and display in-focus information that avoids the need of corrective eyeglasses. A light-field display, positioned very close to the eye, creates virtual objects in a wide range of predefined depths through different sectors of the eye’s aperture. This platform creates a new range of interactivity that is extremely sensitive to spatially-distributed optical aberrations. The ability to focus on virtual objects, interactively align displayed patterns, and detect variations in shape and brightness allows the estimation of the eye’s point spread function and its lens’ accommodation range. While conventional systems require specialized training, costly devices, strict security procedures, and are usually not mobile, this thesis simplifies the mechanism by putting the human subject in the loop. Captured data is transformed into refractive conditions in terms of spherical and cylindrical powers, axis of astigmatism, focal range and aperture maps for opacity, attenuation, contrast and sub-aperture point-spread functions. These optical widgets carefully designed to interactive interfaces plus computational analysis and reconstruction establish the field of computational ophthalmology. The overall goal is to allow a general audience to operate portable light-field displays to gain a meaningful understanding of their own visual conditions. Ubiquitous, updated, and accurate diagnostic records can make private and public displays show information in a resolution that goes beyond the viewer’s visual acuity. The new display technology is able to compensate for refractive errors and avoid light-scattering paths. Tailored Displays free the viewer from needing wearable optical corrections when looking at it, expanding the notion of glasses-free multi-focus displays to add individual variabilities. This thesis includes proof-of-concept designs for ophthalmatic devices and tailored displays. User evaluations and validations with modified camera optics are performed. Capturing the daily variabilities of an individual’s sensory system is expected to unleash a new era of high-quality tailored consumer devices.

Esta tese descreve métodos interativos para estimar e compensar erros de refração (NETRA) e opacidades ópticas (CATRA) em sistemas de imageamento usando telas de campos de luz programáveis, de alta resolução e alto contraste. Os novos métodos para oftalmologia computacional descritos aqui podem avaliar câmeras e olhos se o usuário do sistema estiver consciente do modelo de interação. A solução combina elementos ópticos baratos, interfaces interativas e reconstrução computacional. Uma tela de campos de luz, posicionada perto do olho, cria objetos virtuais em profundidades pré-definidas através de várias seções do olho. Via esta plataforma, cria-se uma nova gama de aplicações interativas que é extremamente sensível a aberrações ópticas. A capacidade de focar em um objeto virtual, alinhar padrões exibidos na tela e detectar suas variações de forma e brilho permite ao sistema estimar a função de propagação de ponto de luz para o olho e a acomodação da lente. Enquanto os sistemas convencionais requerem formação especializada, dispositivos caros, procedimentos de segurança sensíveis e normalmente não são móveis, esta tese simplifica o mecanismo, colocando o paciente no centro do teste. Ao final, a resposta do usuário calcula a condição de refração em termos de poderes esférico e cilíndrico, o eixo de astigmatismo, o poder de acomodação da lente e mapas para a opacidade, atenuação, contraste e função de espalhamento de um ponto de luz. O objetivo é permitir que o público em geral opere um sistema de iluminação portátil e obtenha uma compreensão de suas próprias condições visuais. Esta tese apresenta projetos ópticos para software e hardware para oftalmologia computacional. Avaliações com usuários e com câmeras com lentes modificadas são realizadas. Os dados compilados são usados para reconstruir visão afetada do indivíduo, oferecendo uma nova abordagem para capturar informações para o rastreio, diagnóstico e análises clínicas de anomalias visuais. / This thesis proposes light-field pre-warping methods for measuring and compensating for optical aberrations in focal imaging systems. Interactive methods estimate refractive conditions (NETRA) and model lens opacities (CATRA) of interaction-aware eyes and cameras using cost-efficient hardware apps for high-resolution screens. Tailored displays use stereo-viewing hardware to compensate for the measured visual aberrations and display in-focus information that avoids the need of corrective eyeglasses. A light-field display, positioned very close to the eye, creates virtual objects in a wide range of predefined depths through different sectors of the eye’s aperture. This platform creates a new range of interactivity that is extremely sensitive to spatially-distributed optical aberrations. The ability to focus on virtual objects, interactively align displayed patterns, and detect variations in shape and brightness allows the estimation of the eye’s point spread function and its lens’ accommodation range. While conventional systems require specialized training, costly devices, strict security procedures, and are usually not mobile, this thesis simplifies the mechanism by putting the human subject in the loop. Captured data is transformed into refractive conditions in terms of spherical and cylindrical powers, axis of astigmatism, focal range and aperture maps for opacity, attenuation, contrast and sub-aperture point-spread functions. These optical widgets carefully designed to interactive interfaces plus computational analysis and reconstruction establish the field of computational ophthalmology. The overall goal is to allow a general audience to operate portable light-field displays to gain a meaningful understanding of their own visual conditions. Ubiquitous, updated, and accurate diagnostic records can make private and public displays show information in a resolution that goes beyond the viewer’s visual acuity. The new display technology is able to compensate for refractive errors and avoid light-scattering paths. Tailored Displays free the viewer from needing wearable optical corrections when looking at it, expanding the notion of glasses-free multi-focus displays to add individual variabilities. This thesis includes proof-of-concept designs for ophthalmatic devices and tailored displays. User evaluations and validations with modified camera optics are performed. Capturing the daily variabilities of an individual’s sensory system is expected to unleash a new era of high-quality tailored consumer devices.

Esta tese descreve métodos interativos para estimar e compensar erros de refração (NETRA) e opacidades ópticas (CATRA) em sistemas de imageamento usando telas de campos de luz programáveis, de alta resolução e alto contraste. Os novos métodos para oftalmologia computacional descritos aqui podem avaliar câmeras e olhos se o usuário do sistema estiver consciente do modelo de interação. A solução combina elementos ópticos baratos, interfaces interativas e reconstrução computacional. Uma tela de campos de luz, posicionada perto do olho, cria objetos virtuais em profundidades pré-definidas através de várias seções do olho. Via esta plataforma, cria-se uma nova gama de aplicações interativas que é extremamente sensível a aberrações ópticas. A capacidade de focar em um objeto virtual, alinhar padrões exibidos na tela e detectar suas variações de forma e brilho permite ao sistema estimar a função de propagação de ponto de luz para o olho e a acomodação da lente. Enquanto os sistemas convencionais requerem formação especializada, dispositivos caros, procedimentos de segurança sensíveis e normalmente não são móveis, esta tese simplifica o mecanismo, colocando o paciente no centro do teste. Ao final, a resposta do usuário calcula a condição de refração em termos de poderes esférico e cilíndrico, o eixo de astigmatismo, o poder de acomodação da lente e mapas para a opacidade, atenuação, contraste e função de espalhamento de um ponto de luz. O objetivo é permitir que o público em geral opere um sistema de iluminação portátil e obtenha uma compreensão de suas próprias condições visuais. Esta tese apresenta projetos ópticos para software e hardware para oftalmologia computacional. Avaliações com usuários e com câmeras com lentes modificadas são realizadas. Os dados compilados são usados para reconstruir visão afetada do indivíduo, oferecendo uma nova abordagem para capturar informações para o rastreio, diagnóstico e análises clínicas de anomalias visuais. / This thesis proposes light-field pre-warping methods for measuring and compensating for optical aberrations in focal imaging systems. Interactive methods estimate refractive conditions (NETRA) and model lens opacities (CATRA) of interaction-aware eyes and cameras using cost-efficient hardware apps for high-resolution screens. Tailored displays use stereo-viewing hardware to compensate for the measured visual aberrations and display in-focus information that avoids the need of corrective eyeglasses. A light-field display, positioned very close to the eye, creates virtual objects in a wide range of predefined depths through different sectors of the eye’s aperture. This platform creates a new range of interactivity that is extremely sensitive to spatially-distributed optical aberrations. The ability to focus on virtual objects, interactively align displayed patterns, and detect variations in shape and brightness allows the estimation of the eye’s point spread function and its lens’ accommodation range. While conventional systems require specialized training, costly devices, strict security procedures, and are usually not mobile, this thesis simplifies the mechanism by putting the human subject in the loop. Captured data is transformed into refractive conditions in terms of spherical and cylindrical powers, axis of astigmatism, focal range and aperture maps for opacity, attenuation, contrast and sub-aperture point-spread functions. These optical widgets carefully designed to interactive interfaces plus computational analysis and reconstruction establish the field of computational ophthalmology. The overall goal is to allow a general audience to operate portable light-field displays to gain a meaningful understanding of their own visual conditions. Ubiquitous, updated, and accurate diagnostic records can make private and public displays show information in a resolution that goes beyond the viewer’s visual acuity. The new display technology is able to compensate for refractive errors and avoid light-scattering paths. Tailored Displays free the viewer from needing wearable optical corrections when looking at it, expanding the notion of glasses-free multi-focus displays to add individual variabilities. This thesis includes proof-of-concept designs for ophthalmatic devices and tailored displays. User evaluations and validations with modified camera optics are performed. Capturing the daily variabilities of an individual’s sensory system is expected to unleash a new era of high-quality tailored consumer devices.

The aim of this thesis is to explain terms like light field, plenoptic camera or digital lens. Also the goal is to explain the principle of rendering the resulting images with the option to select the plane of focus, depth of field, changes in perspective and partial change in the angle of the point of view. The main outputs of this thesis are scripts for rendering images from Lytro camera and the interactive application, which clearly demonstrates the principles of plenoptic sensing.

This work presents the development and analysis of a system that combines the concepts of light field microscopy and particle image velocimetry (PIV) to measure three-dimensional velocities within a microvolume. Rectanglar microchannels were fabricated with dimensions on the order of 350-950 micrometers using a photolithographic process and polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS). The flow was seeded with fluorescent particles and pumped through microchannels at Reynolds numbers ranging from 0.016 to 0.028. Flow at Reynolds numbers in the range of 0.02 to 0.03 was seeded with fluorescent particles and pumped through microchannels. A light field microscope with a lateral resolution of 6.25 micrometers and an axial resolution of 15.5 micrometers was designed and built based on the concepts described by Levoy et al. Light field images were captured continuously at a frame rate of 3.9 frames per second using a Canon 5D Mark II DSLR camera. Each image was post processed to render a stack of two-dimensional images. The focal stacks were further post processed using various methods including bandpass filtering, 3D deconvolution, and intensity-based thresholding, to remove effects of diffraction and blurring. Subsequently, a multi-pass, three-dimensional PIV algorithm was used to measure channel velocities. Results from PIV analysis were compared with an analytical solution for fully-developed cases, and with CFD simulations for developing flows. Relative errors for fully-developed flow measurements, within the light field microscope refocusing range, were approximately 5% or less. Overall, the main limitations are the reduction in lateral resolution, and the somewhat low axial resolution. Advantages include the relatively low cost, ease of incorporation into existing micro-PIV systems, simple self-calibration process, and potential for resolving instantaneous three-dimensional velocities in a microvolume.