System and process for generating high dynamic range video

A system for generating high dynamic range (HDR) video from a video image sequence captured while varying the exposure of each frame, comprising:

• a video camera used to capture said video image sequence;
• a general purpose computing device;
• a computer program comprising program modules executable by the computing device, wherein the computing device is directed by the program modules of the computer program to,
• computing an exposure for each frame of the video image sequence prior to it being captured as a function of the pixel brightness distribution in frames previously captured by the video camera and causing the video camera to capture each frame at the exposure computed for that frame, wherein said computed exposure is made to alternate between a shorter exposure and a longer exposure;
• for each frame of the video obtained from the video camera after a prescribed number of initiating frames,
• identifying corresponding pixels between the frame under consideration and both preceding and subsequent neighboring frames representing a corresponding pixel set,
• for each set of corresponding pixels, identifying at least one pixel in the set that represents a trustworthy pixel and employing the pixel color information associated with the one or more identified trustworthy pixels to compute a radiance value for that set of pixels to form a radiance map representing a frame of the HDR video.

A computer-readable medium having computer-executable instructions for generating high dynamic range (HDR) video from a video image sequence captured while varying the exposure of each frame, said computer-executable instructions comprising:

• setting the exposure for each frame of the video image sequence prior to it being captured as a function of the pixel brightness distribution;
• for each frame of the video after a prescribed number of initiating frames,
• identifying corresponding pixels between the frame under consideration and both preceding and subsequent neighboring frames representing a corresponding pixel set, and
• for each set of corresponding pixels, identifying at least one pixel in the set that represents a trustworthy pixel and employing the pixel color information associated with the one or more identified trustworthy pixels to compute a radiance value for that set of pixels to form a radiance map representing a frame of the HDR video, and
• tonemapping the radiance map to convert it into an 8-bit representation suitable for rendering.