Coming Soon: A 3D Image Search Engine

Picture this: Year 2012, every image available on the Internet can be viewed

from all directions-from all sides, i.e. in a three dimensional (3D) manner.

Prof. Niloy J Mitra, who has professional know-how of 3D modeling technology and

a degree from Stanford University and Technical University Vienna, has embarked

on a three step idealistic mission to view, modify and search images in a 3 D

fashion.

To achieve 3D modeling, Prof. Niloy and his team are conceptualizing a

scanner, which will capture 3D images of any object.



“We are used to flatbed and portable scanners that copy the content across two
dimensions and give the same or better image than the original copy. Imagine a

hardware device which sends out light beams in all the three (X, Y and Z)

directions and creates a digital image of it based on the intensity and time the

light ray took to bounce back. This digital image will be saved on your computer

just like a regular JPEG image”, he



explained.

The next step obviously is to be able to modify this 3D digital image and

view them from all directions. In order to accomplish this, processing of 3D

objects is being taken up by the group. This is done by calculating the angle

between one coordinate to the other and the variation of all the intermediate

angles, the sum of which make up the final angle-in other words, the pattern and

symmetry of the object. Once this is achieved, one can easily predict and modify

the 3D nature of an object.

Niloy J Mitra Professor, IIT Delhi Graphics Group, Department of Computer Science

One interesting application of this would be in the manufacturing industry

where an automobile manufacturer, who needs to physically crash test a vehicle

against a wall or drive it through a wind tunnel to check vulnerability will be

able to do the same with 3D imaging in future. One can simulate the motion of

the vehicle, depending on the roughness or smoothness of the road, and the

effect of impact against a wall or any other



obstruction can be accurately predicted. A beefed up version of this application
can also be used by the aviation industry.

To round off the research, the team is also working on a mechanism to browse,

access and classify such modifiedimages-a 3D image search engine.

The group at IIT is also working with All India Institute of Medical Sciences

(AIIMS) to create an application that lets specialized doctors get more accurate

CT scans and X ray scans.