We present a multi-view stereo algorithm that addresses the extreme changes in lighting, scale, clutter, and other effects in large online community photo collections. Our idea is to intelligently choose images to match, both at a per-view and per-pixel level. We show that such adaptive view selection enables robust performance even with dramatic appearance variability. The stereo matching technique takes as input sparse 3D points reconstructed from structure-from-motion methods and iteratively grows surfaces from these points. Optimizing for surface normals within a photoconsistency measure significantly improves the matching results. While the focus of our approach is to estimate high-quality depth maps, we also show examples of merging the resulting depth maps into compelling scene reconstructions. We demonstrate our algorithm on standard multi-view stereo datasets and on casually acquired photo collections of famous scenes gathered from the Internet.

3D reconstruction pipelines using structure-from-motion and multi-view stereo techniques are today able to reconstruct impressive, large-scale geometry models from images but do not yield textured results. Current texture creation methods are unable to handle the complexity and scale of these models. We therefore present the first comprehensive texturing framework for large-scale, real-world 3D reconstructions. Our method addresses most challenges occurring in such reconstructions: the large number of input images, their drastically varying properties such as image scale, (out-of-focus) blur, exposure variation, and occluders (e.g., moving plants or pedestrians). Using the proposed technique, we are able to texture datasets that are several orders of magnitude larger and far more challenging than shown in related work.

We present an extremely simple yet robust multi-view stereo algorithm and analyze its properties. The algorithm first computes individual depth maps using a window-based voting approach that returns only good matches. The depth maps are then merged into a single mesh using a straightforward volumetric approach. We show results for several datasets, showing accuracy comparable to the best of the current state of the art techniques and rivaling more complex algorithms.

Real-world objects are usually composed of a number of different materials that often show subtle changes even within a single material. Photorealistic rendering of such objects requires accurate measurements of the reflection properties of each material, as well as the spatially varying effects. We present an image-based measuring method that robustly detects the different materials of real objects and fits an average bidirectional reflectance distribution function (BRDF) to each of them. In order to model local changes as well, we project the measured data for each surface point into a basis formed by the recovered BRDFs leading to a truly spatially varying BRDF representation. Real-world objects often also have fine geometric detail that is not represented in an acquired mesh. To increase the detail, we derive normal maps even for non-Lambertian surfaces using our measured BRDFs. A high quality model of a real object can be generated with relatively little input data. The generated model allows for rendering under arbitrary viewing and lighting conditions and realistically reproduces the appearance of the original object.