ABSTRACT
This chapter surveys various studies on compression and representation of 3-D images. There are several types of 3-D images such as stereo pairs, multi-view images, volumetric images, holograms, geometric models, and light fields. Most of the work in this field has concentrated on reducing the redundancy that is unique to individual types of 3-D images. For example, several techniques concerned with the concept of disparity compensation have been developed for the compression of stereo pairs and multi-view images. In addition to disparity compensation, the concept of an epipolar plane image (EPI) has been playing an important role in the compression of multi-view images. These techniques, however, depend heavily on individual camera configurations. Accordingly, to deal with several multi-view configurations and other types of 3-D images comprehensively, a new platform for 3-D image representation was introduced. This platform aimed to outgrow the framework of 3-D "image" communication and to open up a new field that would be called 3-D "spatial" communication. Here, the ray-based method in particular has a wide range of applications, including the integration of virtual and physical worlds as well as the efficient transmission of the physical world.
