Method and system for rendering and combining images to form a synthesized view of a scene containing image information from a second image

A method for image processing comprising the steps of:

• generating a mosaic containing a plurality of first images of a scene, said plurality of first images including an image having a first viewpoint of said scene and an image having a second viewpoint of said scene;
• generating a second image;
• providing a plurality of indicia proximate an area where a performance is imaged as said second image;
• imaging, using a tracking camera that is separate from a camera used to generate said second image, said plurality of indicia as a reference image while generating said second image
• rendering, in response to said indicium of viewpoint;
• a synthesized image of said scene from said mosaic, said synthesized image comprising image information from said first and second viewpoints of said scene;
• and
• compositing said synthesized image with said second image to produce a composite image.

A method for image processing comprising the steps of:

• generating a mosaic containing a plurality of first images of a scene, said plurality of first images including an image having a first viewpoint of said scene and an image having a second viewpoint of said scene;
• generating a second image;
• providing a plurality of indicia proximate an area where a performance is imaged as said second image;
• imaging said plurality of indicia as a reference image while generating said second image;
• rendering, in response to said indicium of viewpoint, a synthesized image of said scene from said mosaic, said synthesized image comprising image information from said first and second viewpoints of said scene;
• compositing said synthesized image with said second image to produce a composite image;
• imaging a plurality of reference images representing said indicia viewed from a plurality of viewpoints;
• correcting said indicium of viewpoint using said plurality of reference images;
• selecting a reference image that represents a viewpoint that best represents a viewpoint indicated by said indicium of viewpoint;
• warping said selected reference image into alignment with a landmark image generated from said viewpoint represented by said indicium of viewpoint;
• computing, in response to said alignment, offset parameters for correcting said indicium of viewpoint;
• and
• generating said synthesized image in response to said corrected indicium of viewpoint.

An image processing system comprising:

• mosaic generation means for generating a mosaic of first images representing a scene and translation parameters for each of said first images, where said translation parameters define an alignment relationship for each of the first images with respect to common image information contained in each of the first images and having a first viewpoint;
• viewpoint indicium means for generating an indicium of viewpoint, non-coincidental with said first viewpoint, for a second image;
• rendering means, connected to said mosaic generation means and said viewpoint indicium means, for producing a synthetic image derived from said mosaic that represents a view of the scene corresponding to the indicium of viewpoint;
• and
• compositing means, connected to said rendering means and said viewpoint indicium means, for combining said synthesized image and said second image to form a composite image including parallax information.