Generating Large Scale Image Datasets from 3 D CAD Models

Datasets power computer vison research and drive breakthroughs. Larger and larger datasets are needed to better utilize the exponentially increasing computing power. However, datasets generation is both time consuming and expensive as human beings are required for image labelling. Human labelling cannot scale well. How can we generate larger image datasets easier and faster? In this paper, we provide a new approach for large scale datasets generation. We generate images from 3D object models directly. The large volume of freely available 3D CAD models and mature computer graphics techniques make generating large scale image datasets from 3D models very efficient. As little human effort involved in this process, it can scale very well. Rather than releasing a static dataset, we will also provide a software library for dataset generation so that the computer vision community can easily extend or modify the datasets accordingly.