Scientists Create 3D Time-Lapse Videos from Internet Photos of Landmarks

Researchers at the University of Washington have figure out how to create 3D time-lapse video sequences of landmarks by using a collection of still photos found on the Internet. The 7-minute video above is a short presentation that shows the technology in action.

Unlike previous work in this field, which assumed a static camera (the scientists shared their earlier progress back in May), this project uses a virtual camera that is able to move around continuously through time and space as the time-lapse plays, providing an extra dimension of depth and immersiveness for the viewer.

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Each video is created by generating a “time-varying depth map” of the scene and building a high-quality hole-free image of the scene for each of the frames using data gathered from the still photos. The resulting time-lapses are able to show how various skylines and natural landscapes change over the years, displayed with “dramatic parallax effects.”

If you’re interested, you can read the research paper for yourself here.

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