Exploring Light Field camera applications through simulation

Abstract

Light Field, or Plenoptic, imaging is an exciting new technique where a user can capture 3-D information about a scene in a single acquisition. By placing a microlens array (thousands of tiny lenses) in between a conventional camera's main lens and image sensor, we can split rays which would have met on a single pixel onto different pixels, storing the direction which the ray has come from. By knowing where rays have come from, we can use computational techniques to produce different images from the captured data. This means we can change viewpoint, aperture, and focus after an image has been taken. We can produce an image with everything in focus or a 3-D reconstruction, all from a single acquisition.

This technology has many potential benefits in normal photography, and also biomedical imaging techniques such as microscopy. However it is difficult to design, implement, and optimise. Therefore, simulation software has been created so that plenoptic designs and applications can be explored without committing to build and calibrate a system.

This will enable advances in biomedical imaging techniques and light field rendering methods to be explored without the need for a physical plenoptic system.