Creating Augmented Virtual Environments

Abstract

An augmented reality fuses computer graphics onto images or direct views of a scene. In a new alternative augmentation approach a real scene is captured as video imagery from one or more cameras, and these images are used to augment a corresponding 3D scene model or virtual environment. This arrangement is termed an Augmented Virtual Environment (AVE) and it produces a powerful visualization of the dynamic activities observed by cameras. This chapter describes the AVE concept and the major technologies needed to realize such systems.