Iterative estimation of non-rigid motion based on relative elasticity

Abstract

The vast majority of published research in motion has assumed that the imaged world moves in a rigid manner, even though this is an ill-posed assumption for recovering the motion parameters of many naturally occurring objects, such as clouds, plants, and animals. Unfortunately, if the rigidity of motion assumption is relaxed to allow deformation of motion, the problem of estimating the motion becomes severely underconstrained. In this paper, we define a model of deformable motion based on the concept of an object's relative elasticity. We then use this novel concept to develop an iterative, linear technique to recover a description of the whole-body, as well as the sectional, motion of objects undergoing deformable transformations. The algorithm's ability to perform the stated task is then verified by experiment.<>