Modeling from Reality

This work summarizes the results of the editors' modelling-from-reality (MFR) project, during the 1990s. The goal of this project was to develop techniques for modelling real objects and/or environments into geometric and photometric models through computer vision techniques. By developing such techniques, time- consuming modelling process, currently undertaken by human programmers, can be (semi-) automatically performed, and, as a result, one can drastically shorten the developing time of such virtual reality systems, reduce their developing cost, and widen their application areas. The project was conducted while the authors were at the Computer Science Department of Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) and the Institute of Industrial Science at the University of Tokyo. "Modeling from Reality" is suitable for a secondary text in a graduate-level course, and as a reference for researchers and practitioners in industry.