Model-based recognition of 3D objects from single images

In this work, we treat major problems of object recognition which have received relatively little attention lately. Among them are the loss of depth information in the projection from a 3D object to a single 2D image, and the complexity of finding feature correspondences between images. We use geometric invariants to reduce the complexity of these problems. There are no geometric invariants of a projection from 3D to 2D. However, given certain modeling assumptions about the 3D object, such invariants can be found. The modeling assumptions can be either a particular model or a generic assumption about a class of models. Here, we use such assumptions for single-view recognition. We find algebraic relations between the invariants of a 3D model and those of its 2D image under general projective projection. These relations can be described geometrically as invariant models in a 3D invariant space, illuminated by invariant "light rays," and projected onto an invariant version of the given image. We apply the method to real images.