2. Stereo Vision

The human capability to perceive depth even with one eye closed is remarkable. Technically we need two eyes to measure depth but our experience with the 3D structure of the space we live in, combined with our experience of light interacting with the objects we see allows us to perceive depth with one eye closed (or from pictures of course in which case two eyes do not provide extra information).

In this chapter we consider looking at the world around us with two eyes (or camera’s). We assume the camera’s are adequatly modelled as pinhole camera’s. Be aware that in practice barrel distortion needs to be corrected for before applying the formula’s in this chapter.

When we observe a scene with two camera’s and both camera’s can observe the same 3D point \(\hv X\) the coordinates \(\hv x\) and \(\hv x'\) in both camera’s can be related to one another. We will characterize the general setup of two camera’s looking at the same scene with epipolar geometry. The images of \(\hv X\) in both camera’s are related with the fundamental matrix \(F\) through \(\hv x' F \hv x = 0\).

• 2.1. Triangulation
• 2.2. Epipolar Geometry and the Fundamental Matrix