Image processing apparatus, image processing method, image processing system, and storage medium

An image processing apparatus comprising:

• a first acquisition unit configured to acquire visibility information about an element of a three-dimensional shape model of an object whose image is captured by at least one of a plurality of cameras, wherein the visibility information indicates for each of one or more captured images among the plurality of captured images captured by the plurality of cameras whether a pixel corresponding to the element is included in the captured image;
• a second acquisition unit configured to acquire viewpoint information indicating one or more virtual viewpoints;
• and
• a generation unit configured to generate one or more virtual viewpoint images corresponding to the one or more virtual viewpoints identified by the viewpoint information acquired by the second acquisition unit, based on the plurality of captured images, the three-dimensional shape model, and the visibility information acquired by the first acquisition unit.

An image processing method of generating a virtual viewpoint image based on a plurality of captured images acquired by capturing an image of an image capturing target region from a plurality of directions using a plurality of cameras, the method comprising:

• storing, in a storage unit, visibility information about an element of a three-dimensional shape model of an object whose image is captured by at least one of the plurality of cameras, wherein the visibility information indicates for each of one or more captured images among the plurality of captured images whether a pixel corresponding to the element is included in the captured image;
• acquiring viewpoint information indicating one or more virtual viewpoints;
• and
• generating one or more virtual viewpoint images corresponding to the one or more virtual viewpoints identified by the acquired viewpoint information, based on the plurality of captured images, the three-dimensional shape model, and the visibility information stored in the storage unit.

A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing a program for causing a computer to execute an image processing method, the method comprising:

• storing, in a storage unit, visibility information about an element of a three-dimensional shape model of an object whose image is captured by at least one of the plurality of cameras, wherein the visibility information indicates for each of one or more captured images among the plurality of captured images whether a pixel corresponding to the element is included in the captured image;
• acquiring viewpoint information indicating one or more virtual viewpoints;
• and
• generating one or more virtual viewpoint images corresponding to the one or more virtual viewpoints identified by the acquired viewpoint information, based on the plurality of captured images, the three-dimensional shape model, and the visibility information stored in the storage unit.