Frame Sequence Generator 5 (FSG5)

Frame Sequence Generator 5 (FSG5) generates synthesized frames given a reference image and a disparity/depth map. The inpainting process is similar to the one in Frame Sequence Generator 2 (FSG2), that is, it is very basic (and therefore very fast). FSG5 generates frames on either side of the reference image.

The positioning of the stereo window is controlled by the "Stereo Window" parameter which is a grayscale value (from 0 and 255). A value of 255 places the stereo window at the depth of the white areas in the depth map. A value of 0 places the stereo window at the depth of the black areas in the depth map. You might want to use the eye-dropper tool in The Gimp or Photoshop to get the value you want.

The stereo effect is controlled by the "Stereo Effect" percentage. The higher the percentage, the stronger the stereo effect but the more difficult it is to inpaint (and the less sense it makes).

If image.xxx is the reference image, the frames generated will be named frame1.xxx, frame2.xxx, etc, going from left to right. If the number of images requested is odd, the reference image will be one of the frames. For example, if the number of frames is 5, frame 3 will be the reference image. To animate the frames, I suggest loading the generated images into some third-party software like Lenticular Image Creator (or anything else that can be used to generate animated gifs).

The disparity/depth map should be a grayscale image where white indicates closest foreground object and black indicates furthest background object. The disparity/depth map doesn't need to come from any of my programs.

Here's an example using stereo window = 220, stereo effect = 3%, and number of frames = 3:

Reference image.

Depth map.

Frame 1.

Frame 2 (reference image).

Frame 3.

This rudimentary method of view interpolation generates streaks around object boundaries. For a more sophisticated inpainting method (using interpolation), you may want to use Frame Sequence Generator 4 (FSG4).

Here's what FSG4 does for the same reference image and depth map using focal plane = 220, stereo effect = 0.1, and number of frames per side = 1:

Left frame 1 (corresponds to frame 1).

Right frame 1 (corresponds to frame 3).

Note that the stereo effect parameter behavior in FSG4 is not the same as in FSG5 (sorry about that). One day, I'll probably change the one in FSG4 so that it behaves the same as in FSG5.

At some point, I will probably release Frame Sequence Generator 6 (FSG6) or Frame Sequence Generator 52 (FSG52) which will use two depth maps instead of just one for view interpolation.

The windows executable (guaranteed to be virus free) is available for free via the 3D Software Page. Please, refer to the 'Help->About' page in the actual program for how to use it.