Non-sequential structure from motion

Prior work on multi-view structure from motion is dominated by sequential approaches starting from a single two-view reconstruction, then adding new images one by one. In contrast, we propose a non-sequential methodology based on rotational consistency and robust estimation using convex optimization. The resulting system is more robust with respect to (i) unreliable two-view estimations caused by short baselines, (ii) repetitive scenes with locally consistent structures that are not consistent with the global geometry and (iii) loop closing as errors are not propagated in a sequential manner. Both theoretical justifications and experimental comparisons are given to support these claims.