Image Alignment and Stitching: A Tutorial (Foundations and Trends(r) in Computer Graphics and Vision)

Image Alignment and Stitching reviews image alignment and image stitching algorithms. Image alignment algorithms can discover the correspondence relationships among images with varying degrees of overlap. They are ideally suited for applications such as video stabilization, summarization, and the creation of panoramic mosaics. Image stitching algorithms take the alignment estimates produced by such registration algorithms and blend the images in a seamless manner, taking care to deal with potential problems such as blurring or ghosting caused by parallax and scene movement as well as varying image exposures. The book reviews the basic motion models underlying alignment and stitching algorithms, describes effective direct (pixel-based) and feature-based alignment algorithms, and describes blending algorithms used to produce seamless mosaics. It closes with a discussion of open research problems in the area. This is an invaluable resource for anyone planning or conducting research in this particular area, or computer vision generally. The essentials of the topic are presented in a tutorial style and an extensive bibliography guides towards further reading.