C OMPUTER V ISION : P ROJECTIVE G EOMETRY 3D
IIT Kharagpur
Computer Science and Engineering,
Indian Institute of Technology
Kharagpur.
(IIT Kharagpur) Projective Geometry-3 Jan ’10 1 / 15
The projective geometry of 3D P3
A point X in 3-space is represented in homogeneous coordinates as:
X1
X
T
X = 2 = X1 X2 X3 X4
X3
X4
A projective transformation acting on P3 is a non-singular 4 × 4
matrix.
X0 = HX
The matrix H has 15 degrees of freedom.
The map is a collineation (lines are mapped to lines) which
preserves incidence relations such as intersection point of a line
with a plane, order of contact.
(IIT Kharagpur) Projective Geometry-3 Jan ’10 2 / 15
Planes
A plane in 3-space may be written as
π1 X + π2 Y + π3 Z + π4 = 0
This equation is unaffected by scalar multiplication.
The homogeneous representation of the plane is the 4-vector
π = (π1 , π2 , π3 , π4 )T
Homogenizing by replacements:
X 7→ X1 /X4 , Y 7→ X2 /Y4 , Z 7→ X3 /X4
π1 X1 + π2 X2 + π3 X3 + π4 X4 = 0 πT X = 0
The normal to the plane is given by: n = (π1 , π2 , π3 )T
(IIT Kharagpur) Projective Geometry-3 Jan ’10 3 / 15
Join and incidence relations
A plane is defined uniquely by the join of 3 points, or the join of a
line and a point, (in general position).
Two distinct planes intersect in a unique line.
Three distinct planes intersect in a unique point.
(IIT Kharagpur) Projective Geometry-3 Jan ’10 4 / 15
Three points define a plane
A point Xi incident T
on a plane π would X1
satisfy πT Xi = 0
π = 0
T
X
2
T
X3
This is a 3 × 4 matrix with rank 3.
The intersection
π1
T
point X of 3 planes
πi is obtained using:
π
T
X = 0
2
π3
T
(IIT Kharagpur) Projective Geometry-3 Jan ’10 5 / 15
Projective Transformation
Under the point transformation X0 = HX, a plane transforms as:
π0 = H−T π
(IIT Kharagpur) Projective Geometry-3 Jan ’10 6 / 15
Lines
A line is defined by the join of two points or the intersection of two
planes.
A line has 4 degrees of freedom in 3-space. A line can be defined
by its intersection with two orthogonal planes.
(IIT Kharagpur) Projective Geometry-3 Jan ’10 7 / 15
The hierarchy of transforms
" #
A t
Projective: with 15 dof.
vT v
" #
A t
Affine: with 12 dof.
0T 1
" #
sR t
Similarity: with 7 dof.
0T 1
" #
R t
Euclidean: with 6 dof.
0T 1
(IIT Kharagpur) Projective Geometry-3 Jan ’10 8 / 15
Invariants P3
Projective:
I Intersection and tangency of surfaces in contact
Affine:
I Parallelism of planes,
I volume ratios,
I centroids,
I The plane at infinity π∞
Similarity:
I The absolute conic
Euclidean:
I Volume
(IIT Kharagpur) Projective Geometry-3 Jan ’10 9 / 15
Comparison
In planar P2 projective In 3-space P3 projective geometry
geometry
Identifying the line at Plane at infinity π∞
infinity l∞ allowed affine
properties of the plane
to be measured.
Identifying the circular
points on l∞ allows the Absolute conic Ω∞
measurement of metric
properties.
(IIT Kharagpur) Projective Geometry-3 Jan ’10 10 / 15
The plane at infinity
π∞ has the canonical position π∞ = (0, 0, 0, 1)T in affine 3-space.
Two planes are parallel, if and only if, their line of intersection is on
π∞ .
A line is parallel to another line, or to a plane, if the point of
intersection is on π∞ .
The plane π∞ is a geometric representation of the 3 degrees of
freedom required to specify affine properties in a projective
coordinate frame.
The plane at infinity is a fixed plane under the projective
transformation H if, and only if, H is an affinity.
(IIT Kharagpur) Projective Geometry-3 Jan ’10 11 / 15
Affine properties of a
reconstruction
Identify π∞ in the projective coordinate frame.
Move π∞ to its canonical position at π∞ = (0, 0, 0, 1)T .
The scene and the reconstruction are now related by an affine
transformation.
Thus affine properties can now be measured directly from the
coordinates of the entity.
(IIT Kharagpur) Projective Geometry-3 Jan ’10 12 / 15
The absolute conic Ω∞
The absolute conic Ω∞ is a (point) conic on π∞ .
In the metric frame π∞ = (0, 0, 0, 1)T and points on Ω∞ satisfy
X21 + X22 + X23
( X 1 , X 2 , X 3 ) I ( X 1 , X 2 , X 3 )T = 0
=0
X 4
Ω∞ corresponds to a conic C with matrix C = I.
It is a conic of purely imaginary points on π∞ .
The conic Ω∞ is a geometric representation of the 5 additional
degrees of freedom that are required to specify metric properties
in an affine coordinate frame.
The absolute conic Ω∞ is a fixed conic under the projective
transformation H if and only if H is a similarity transformation.
(IIT Kharagpur) Projective Geometry-3 Jan ’10 13 / 15
The absolute conic Ω∞
The absolute conic Ω∞ is only fixed as a set by a general
similarity; it is not fixed pointwise. This means that under a
similarity transformation, a point on Ω∞ may travel to another point
on Ω∞ , but it is not mapped to a point off the conic.
All circles intersect Ω∞ in two points. These points are the circular
points of the support plane of the circle.
All spheres intersect π∞ in Ω∞ .
(IIT Kharagpur) Projective Geometry-3 Jan ’10 14 / 15
Metric Properties
Once Ω∞ and its support plane π∞ have been identified in
projective 3-space then metric properties, such as angles and
relative lengths, can be measured.
Consider two lines with directions (3-vectors) d1 and d2 . The
angle between these directions:
In Euclidean frame In a projective frame
dT1 d2 dT1 Ω∞ d2
cos θ = q cos θ = q
(dT1 d1 )(dT2 d2 ) (dT1 Ω∞ d1 )(dT2 Ω∞ d2 )
These expressions are equivalent since in the Euclidean world
frame Ω∞ = I
(IIT Kharagpur) Projective Geometry-3 Jan ’10 15 / 15
