Optimized Camera Ranking Algorithms for Real-time Image Based Rendering of Endoscopic Image Data

Unstructured Lumigraph Rendering is a well-established and flexible image-based rendering technique to create novel views from a set of acquired images. However, the standard implementation may not provide a pleasing visu-alization when images are captured under suboptimal con-ditions. In our scenario, lightfield information is gained us-ing images from endoscopes that observe the operating field during minimal-invasive surgery. Suboptimal lighting con-ditions and limited mobility of the endoscope lead to visual artefacts in the final visualization of the scene. To resolve these problems, we propose a set of new algo-rithms for computing the ranking criterions that are used by the Unstructured Lumigraph for visualization. Using these algorithms, we get satisfying results for visualization of endoscopic image data captured under the aforemen-tioned conditions. To achieve real-time visualization, the vital parts of our algorithms have been implemented using OpenGL and GLSL, thus making use of the features and speed of modern graphics hardware. 1