Coordinate Systems
You can specify locations in images using various coordinate
systems. Coordinate systems are used to place elements in relation
to each other. Coordinates in pixel and spatial coordinate systems
relate to locations in an image. Coordinates in 3-D coordinate systems
describe the 3-D positioning and origin of the system.Pixel Indices
Pixel coordinates enable you to specify locations in images.
In the pixel coordinate system, the image is treated as a grid of
discrete elements, ordered from top to bottom and left to right.
For pixel coordinates, the number of rows, r, downward, while the number of
columns, c, increase to the right. Pixel coordinates are integer
values and range from 1 to the length of the row or column. The pixel coordinates
used in Computer Vision Toolbox™ software are one-based, consistent with the pixel coordinates used by
Image Processing Toolbox™ and MATLAB®. For more information on the pixel coordinate system, see Pixel Indices.Spatial Coordinates
Spatial coordinates enable you to specify a location in an image
with greater granularity than pixel coordinates. Such as, in the pixel
coordinate system, a pixel is treated as a discrete unit, uniquely
identified by an integer row and column pair, such as (3,4). In the
spatial coordinate system, locations in an image are represented in
terms of partial pixels, such as (3.3, 4.7).
For more information on the spatial coordinate system, see Spatial Coordinates.3-D Coordinate Systems
When you reconstruct a 3-D scene, you can define the resulting
3-D points in one of two coordinate systems. In a camera-based coordinate
system, the points are defined relative to the center of the camera.
In a calibration pattern-based coordinate system, the points are defined
relative to a point in the scene.
The Computer Vision Toolbox functions use the right-handed
world coordinate system. In this system, the x-axis
points to the right, the y-axis points down, and
the z-axis points away from the camera. To display
3-D points, use pcshow.Camera-Based Coordinate System
Points represented in a camera-based coordinate system are described
with the origin located at the optical center of the camera.
In a stereo system, the
origin is located at the optical center of Camera 1.
When you reconstruct
a 3-D scene using a calibrated stereo camera, the reconstructScene and triangulate functions return 3-D points
with the origin at the optical center of Camera 1. When you use Kinect® images,
the pcfromkinect function returns
3-D points with the origin at the center of the RGB camera.Calibration Pattern-Based Coordinate System
Points represented in a calibration pattern-based coordinate
system are described with the origin located at the (0,0) location
of the calibration pattern.
When you reconstruct a 3-D scene from multiple views containing a calibration pattern, the
resulting 3-D points are defined in the pattern-based coordinate system. The
Structure From Motion From Two Views
example shows how to reconstruct a 3-D scene from a pair of 2-D images
containing a checkerboard pattern.
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