Nighttime Videographic Projection Mapping to Generate Photo-Realistic Simulation Environments

Abstract

This paper presents a methodology for generating photo realistic computer simulation environments of nighttime driving scenarios by combining nighttime photography and videography with video tracking [1] and projection mapping [2] technologies. Nighttime driving environments contain complex lighting conditions such as forward and signal lighting systems of vehicles, street lighting, and retro reflective markers and signage. The high dynamic range of nighttime lighting conditions make modeling of these systems difficult to render realistically through computer generated techniques alone. Photography and video, especially when using high dynamic range imaging, can produce realistic representations of the lighting environments. But because the video is only two dimensional, and lacks the flexibility of a three dimensional computer generated environment, the scenarios that can be represented are limited to the specific scenario recorded with video. However, by combining the realistic imagery from video and photographs with the flexibility of a computer generated environment, it is possible to vary any number of factors such as the speed of vehicles and the driver lane position, and to vary the types of vehicles and lighting conditions involved in the scenario. The combination of projection mapping, video tracking, and nighttime video and photography methodologies allow this flexibility. In addition to presenting the methodology and the resulting computer simulation environment, the final simulation is compared to actual video recordings of the same driving scenario to evaluate how similar they are in value, tone, color and visibility.