Seminar Report on
Neural Radiance Fields (NeRF)
Submitted by:
[Your Name Here]
Under the guidance of:
[Guide Name Here]
Department of [Department Name]
[Institution Name]
Month, Year
Abstract
Neural Radiance Fields (NeRF) have revolutionized 3D scene representation and view
synthesis. By leveraging deep neural networks and volumetric rendering, NeRF enables
photo-realistic rendering of complex scenes from sparse input views. This seminar report
explores the foundational concepts, mathematical formulation, and architecture of NeRF.
Furthermore, it discusses major advancements, applications, and future research
directions. The document aims to provide a comprehensive overview suitable for both
academic and practical understanding.
1. Introduction
Neural Radiance Fields (NeRF) are a breakthrough in computer vision and graphics,
enabling the reconstruction of high-fidelity 3D scenes from 2D images. Developed in
2020 by Mildenhall et al., NeRF utilizes a fully connected neural network to model the
volumetric scene representation and synthesize novel views using volume rendering
techniques. The model learns to map spatial coordinates and viewing directions to color
and density values, thereby capturing both geometry and appearance of the scene.
Unlike traditional 3D reconstruction methods that rely on explicit geometry (e.g., meshes
or point clouds), NeRF leverages implicit scene representation, enabling high detail and
continuous surfaces. This paradigm shift has significant implications for applications like
AR/VR, robotics, autonomous navigation, and digital content creation.
2. Background
Before NeRF, various 3D representation methods were used for reconstruction and
rendering. These include voxel grids, point clouds, and mesh models. While effective,
they often suffered from limited resolution or challenges in view synthesis. Volume
rendering, rooted in computer graphics, provides a way to simulate light transport
through semi-transparent media, and serves as a foundation for NeRF's rendering process.
Deep learning has further enhanced 3D vision, allowing models to learn scene
representations from large datasets. The integration of neural networks with volume
rendering enables NeRF to interpolate novel views that are consistent with observed data,
even in complex scenes with occlusions and lighting variations.
3. Fundamentals of NeRF
NeRF represents a static 3D scene using a continuous volumetric scene function. It maps
input coordinates (3D location and 2D viewing direction) to output values (RGB color
and volume density). This is achieved using a multilayer perceptron (MLP) trained on a
set of posed images.
The model takes as input:
- 3D position: (x, y, z)
- Viewing direction: (θ, φ)
and outputs:
- RGB color: (r, g, b)
- Volume density: σ
To effectively learn high-frequency details, NeRF uses positional encoding, which
projects input coordinates to a higher-dimensional space using sinusoidal functions. This
encoding helps the MLP capture fine details in appearance and geometry.
4. Mathematical Formulation
NeRF models the volume rendering process using a continuous volumetric scene
function. The function predicts color and volume density at a point in 3D space and a
given viewing direction.
Given a camera ray r(t) = o + td, where o is the origin and d is the direction, the color
C(r) of the ray is computed using the volume rendering equation:
C(r) = ∫ₜₙ^ₜₓ T(t) σ(r(t)) c(r(t), d) dt
Where:
- σ is the volume density at point r(t)
- c is the emitted RGB color
- T(t) = exp(-∫ₜₙ^t σ(r(s)) ds) is the accumulated transmittance
- tₙ and tₓ are the near and far bounds along the ray
In practice, the integral is approximated using stratified sampling and alpha compositing
over N sample points along each ray.
5. The NeRF Pipeline
The NeRF pipeline involves the following steps:
1. **Input Data**: A set of posed RGB images of a scene.
2. **Ray Sampling**: Rays are cast from the camera through each pixel into the 3D
scene.
3. **Positional Encoding**: The 3D coordinates and viewing directions are transformed
into a high-dimensional space.
4. **MLP Inference**: The neural network predicts color and density for sampled points.
5. **Volume Rendering**: Colors are accumulated along each ray to compute the final
pixel color.
6. **Loss Computation**: The rendered image is compared with ground-truth images
using MSE loss.
7. **Backpropagation**: Network parameters are updated via gradient descent.
Figure 1: Overview of NeRF Rendering Pipeline (illustration to be
inserted)
6. Variants and Extensions of NeRF
Since its introduction, NeRF has inspired numerous extensions and improvements:
- **NeRF++**: Models unbounded scenes by splitting the representation into a
foreground MLP and a background MLP.
- **Mip-NeRF**: Incorporates anti-aliasing and multi-scale rendering using
mipmapping.
- **Instant-NGP**: Achieves real-time performance with a hash grid encoding and
CUDA acceleration.
- **PlenOctrees**: Combines octrees with pre-trained NeRF for fast rendering.
- **D-NeRF**: Extends NeRF to dynamic scenes by modeling time as an input.
- **Semantic NeRF**: Incorporates semantic labels into the NeRF framework.
7. Applications of NeRF
NeRF has broad applications across multiple domains:
- **Novel View Synthesis**: Generate new views of a scene from a few known
viewpoints.
- **Augmented and Virtual Reality**: Create immersive environments with realistic
depth and parallax.
- **Robotics and Navigation**: Model environments for localization, mapping, and
obstacle avoidance.
- **Film and VFX**: Enable high-quality digital doubles and virtual cinematography.
- **Digital Twins and 3D Scanning**: Build accurate 3D replicas of real-world objects
and spaces.
