Fusion of depth maps with multiple scales

Multi-view stereo systems can produce depth maps with large variations in viewing parameters, yielding vastly different sampling rates of the observed surface. We present a new method for surface reconstruction by integrating a set of registered depth maps with dramatically varying sampling rate. The method is based on the construction of a hierarchical signed distance field represented in an incomplete primal octree by incrementally adding triangulated depth maps. Due to the adaptive data structure, our algorithm is able to handle depth maps with varying scale and to consistently represent coarse, low-resolution regions as well as small details contained in high-resolution depth maps. A final surface mesh is extracted from the distance field by construction of a tetrahedral complex from the scattered signed distance values and applying the Marching Tetra-hedra algorithm on the partition. The output is an adaptive triangle mesh that seamlessly connects coarse and highly detailed regions while avoiding filling areas without suitable input data.