Ray-space acquisition system of all-around convergent views using a rotation mirror

In this paper, we introduce a new Ray-Space acquisition system that we developed. The Ray-Space method records the position and direction of rays that are transmitted in the space as ray data. The composition of arbitrary viewpoint images using the Ray-Space method enables the generation of realistic arbitrary viewpoint picture. However, acquisition of a dense Ray-Space is necessary to apply the Ray-Space method. The conventional method of acquiring the ray data uses a camera array. This method enables capturing a dynamic scene. To acquire a dense Ray-Space by this method, however, interpolation is necessary. There is another common method for ray data acquisition, which uses a rotating stage. This method enables capturing images without requiring interpolation. However, only static scenes can be captured by this method. Therefore, we developed a new Ray-Space acquisition system. This system uses two parabolic mirrors. Incident rays that are parallel to the axis of a parabolic mirror gather at the focus of the parabolic mirror. Hence, rays that come out of an object that is placed at the focus of the lower parabolic mirror gather at the focus of the upper parabolic mirror. Then, the real image of the object is generated at the focus of the upper parabolic mirror, and a rotating aslope mirror scans rays at the focus of the upper parabolic mirror. Finally, the image from the aslope mirror is captured by a camera. By using this system, we were able to acquire an all-around image of an object.