Exploiting Occluding Contours for Real-Time 3D Tracking: A Unified Approach

Model-based 3D object tracking is fast and robust using 3D edges. However, traditional edge-based approaches have difficulty handling occluding contours of curved surfaces, since they are not static model edges but change with the viewpoint. In this paper we propose a unified approach to edge-based tracking where 3D edges including occluding contours are utilized. This is achieved through an analysis of local surface differential geometry, which provides the foundation for incorporating occluding contours of curved surfaces into edge-based tracking. This approach uses a simple parametrization of both types of model edges within the same framework. The proposed method has been tested within the context of an existing edge-based tracking system. The system can track both types of model edges in a very fast and robust manner. Experimental results on both synthetic and real scenes are provided, which confirm that occluding contours improve real-time 3D tracking performance.