High-Fidelity Imaging
Dr. Kurt Debattista and Prof Alan Chalmers
PhD
This research will look into creating and a evaluating a new imaging method which has the
potential to capture and display images with a level of realism never seen before.
Current developments in visual computing have led to a number of emerging new
technologies such as high-dynamic range imaging, stereoscopic 3D and super HD resolutions
that have the potential of revolutionising the way digital media is created and consumed.
High-dynamic range (HDR) imaging [BADC11] enables the capture, storage, processing, and
delivery of real world lighting. The traditional method of imaging, commonly termed Low
Dynamic Range (LDR), is not capable of capturing and displaying all the real world luminance
in one go, leaving many parts of a scene under or over-exposed. Stereoscopy is an imaging
technique which enables or improves the illusion of depth by presenting two offset images
to each of the viewer’s eyes. Stereoscopic-viewing environments not only provide a
qualitative feature that gives the users a better sense of immersion, but also a quantitative
ability that allows the users to have binocular depth information available to them when
performing depth-related visual tasks.
Resent research at WMG’s International Digital Laboratory has shown that it is possible to
combine HDR and stereo imaging methods, by adopting software solutions to be able to
enhance the capture of HDR stereo using only a single HDR video camera (as there are only
two HDR cameras in the world and they are quite expensive). While stereoscopic HDR
demonstrates strong potential, it is lacking, as with most stereo applications due to the
absence of motion parallax that is a perceptive depth cue which occurs, when for example, a
person moves their head. This project will look into a novel imaging method that concerns
itself with multiple views to create a technology we shall term for now High-Fidelity Imaging
(HFI). HFI shall be capable of capturing and displaying real-world lighting, stereoscopic and
motion parallex cues generating images with yet-unseen realism. Achieving HFI requires
many challenges that need to be solved, primarily an efficient capture method, a robust
compression method for storage and the ability to display HFI on current and possibly future
standards. This project will look into the creation of novel software and hardware methods
to handle each of these stages and, furthermore, help evaluate HFI compared to other
imaging methods.
The candidate must be a skilled programmer with a first degree in Computer Science,
Engineering, Maths, Physics or a related subject.