Image-based Building Modeling

MPhil Thesis Defence


Title: "Image-based Building Modeling"

By

Mr. Jianxiong Xiao


Abstract

Image-based modeling is the process of converting 2D images of the real 
world into digital 3D models in computer. Among myriad kinds of objects in 
the world, man-made buildings are of special importance, since there are a 
large number of potential applications. This challenging problem has been 
studied by both academic research and commercial industrial communities. 
However, all the existing approaches still need plenty of human efforts in 
order to produce satisfactory results. This thesis presents a 
state-of-the-art automatic approach that only requires minimal human 
efforts for image-based building modeling to achieve visual pleasing 
results. This image-based approach has three steps: reconstruction, 
segmentation and modeling. The first step is to reconstruct a 3D point 
cloud from the 2D images. The second step is to segment the 3D point cloud 
and the 2D images, where each group represents an object or a kind of 
objects for modeling. The final step is to model each object by structure 
analysis and regularization. This three-step approach is remarkably 
robust, because it clearly divides the work into subproblems properly, and 
conquers each subproblem with strategies according to different objectives 
to be achieved in each stage. While this approach is also suitable for 
general image-based modeling of any object, specifical focus is on 
man-made buildings, where Manhattan-world property presents frequently. 
This thesis concludes with demonstration of the proposed approach for 
building modeling in several cities, including Pittsburgh, Minneapolis, 
Chapel Hill in the United States, and Guangzhou in China.


Date:			Thursday, 20 August 2009

Time:			2:00pm – 4:00pm

Venue:			Room 4475
 			Lifts 25-26

Committee Members:	Prof. Long Quan (Supervisor)
 			Prof. Dit-Yan Yeung (Chairperson)
 			Dr. Chiew-Lan Tai


**** ALL are Welcome ****