Re: Mars 3-D

[P3D John W Roberts <roberts@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

>Date: Thu, 10 Jul 1997 23:01:19 -0500
>From: P3D Andrew Eskind  <andy@xxxxxxx>
>Subject: Re: Mars 3-D

>Those who saw today's explaination by Dr. Carol Stroker of the virtual
>modeling being
>done from Mars images (I saw it via VXTREME video linked to CNN.com) may
>have
>had the same question I did.

Would you consider summarizing it, for the benefit of those of us who
didn't see it?

>She spoke of the spacial resolution only being good for about 15 ft
>radius due to the
>limited separation of the camera 'eyes'.

The interocular on both the lander and the rover are not too far off from
the human interocular, and the resolution isn't all that bad - perhaps she
meant that 15 feet is the cutoff for calculating distances within some
specified limit of precision?

>...Other than the mis-matched height, why shouldn't they extend the
>rangefinder base
>by 'pairing' images made-&-xmitted at similar matching compression,
>filtration, pointed
>to achieve maximum overlap - one from lander, paired with one from
>rover.

Under the circumstances, sticking with the traditional 2-view approach (for
hyperstereo) seems like trying to use modern technology to distribute 
information by use of clay tablets. The information is already digitized 
(no Kodachrome :-), and they have the ability to move around and get enormous 
numbers of images, which will enable a 3D computer model to be built up, 
so you can get a stereo image from the viewpoint of your choice.

>Maybe stereo just isn't their first priority.  

I agree. They didn't spend ~$250 million on the project solely to get nice
stereo pictures - that's just a fortunate by-product. :-)  More importantly,
it highlights the increasing awareness that stereo imagery is especially useful
for space and other exploratory applications.

>I am eager to see their
>'monster' virtual
>reality creation when they get it on the web.

Me too.

John R


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