Realistic Visualization of Virtual Views and Virtual Cinema

Realistic Virtual View Visualization is a new field of research which has received increasing attention in recent years. It is strictly related to the increased popularity of virtual reality and the spread of its applications, among which virtual photography and cinematography. The use of computer generated characters, "virtual actors", in the motion picture production increases every day. While the most known computer graphics techniques have largely been adopted successfully in nowadays fictions, it still remains very challenging to implement virtual actors which would resemble, visually, human beings. Interestingly, film directors have been looking at the recent progress achieved by the research community in the field of realistic visualization of virtual views, and they have successfully implemented state of the art research approaches in their productions. An innovative concept is then gaining consensus: the augmented actor. Fundamental concepts and examples of methods proposed for realistic view synthesis, based on the transfer of photorealism from reference photographs to novel views, will be presented. The application of methods for realistic image synthesis to virtual cinematography will also be illustrated with examples from the recent movie sequel: "The Matrix" and "The Matrix Reloaded"