Method for supporting intuitive view specification in the free-viewpoint television application

A method of selecting first and second basis views from a group of at least three provided views, said first and second basis views to be used in synthesizing a third virtual view, said group of provided views being spatially offset from one another in at least one dimension, and the method comprising:

• (a) receiving an input from a user indicating a desired direction of shift in said one dimension from a current view;
• (b) determining which view within said group of provided views is spatially closest to said current view relative to a direction opposite said desired direction of shift, selecting that view as said first basis view, and thereby creating a sub-group of at least two provided views, said sub-group being composed of the provided views not selected as said first basis view;
• and
• (c) determining automatically with a processor, and without manual input, which of said sub-group of provided views is spatially closest to the selected first basis view relative to said desired direction of shift by determining a directional relationship between pairs of said views using a comparison between an average disparity and a median disparity in a rectified image constructed from said pairs of said views;
• and
• (d) selecting the determined view that is spatially closest the first basis view as the second basis view.