A survey of variational and CNN-based optical flow techniques

Abstract Dense motion estimations obtained from optical flow techniques play a significant role in many image processing and computer vision tasks. Remarkable progress has been made in both theory and its application in practice. In this paper, we provide a systematic review of recent optical flow techniques with a focus on the variational method and approaches based on Convolutional Neural Networks (CNNs). These two categories have led to state-of-the-art performance. We discuss recent modifications and extensions of the original model, and highlight remaining challenges. For the first time, we provide an overview of recent CNN-based optical flow methods and discuss their potential and current limitations.