Optical flow

The optic flow experienced by a rotating observer (in this case a fly). The direction and magnitude of optic flow at each location is represented by the direction and length of each arrow.

Optical flow or optic flow is the pattern of apparent motion of objects, surfaces, and edges in a visual scene caused by the relative motion between an observer and a scene.[1][2] Optical flow can also be defined as the distribution of apparent velocities of movement of brightness pattern in an image.[3]

The concept of optical flow was introduced by the American psychologist James J. Gibson in the 1940s to describe the visual stimulus provided to animals moving through the world.[4] Gibson stressed the importance of optic flow for affordance perception, the ability to discern possibilities for action within the environment. Followers of Gibson and his ecological approach to psychology have further demonstrated the role of the optical flow stimulus for the perception of movement by the observer in the world; perception of the shape, distance and movement of objects in the world; and the control of locomotion.[5]

The term optical flow is also used by roboticists, encompassing related techniques from image processing and control of navigation including motion detection, object segmentation, time-to-contact information, focus of expansion calculations, luminance, motion compensated encoding, and stereo disparity measurement.[6][7]

  1. ^ Burton, Andrew; Radford, John (1978). Thinking in Perspective: Critical Essays in the Study of Thought Processes. Routledge. ISBN 978-0-416-85840-2.
  2. ^ Warren, David H.; Strelow, Edward R. (1985). Electronic Spatial Sensing for the Blind: Contributions from Perception. Springer. ISBN 978-90-247-2689-9.
  3. ^ Horn, Berthold K.P.; Schunck, Brian G. (August 1981). "Determining optical flow" (PDF). Artificial Intelligence. 17 (1–3): 185–203. doi:10.1016/0004-3702(81)90024-2. hdl:1721.1/6337.
  4. ^ Gibson, J.J. (1950). The Perception of the Visual World. Houghton Mifflin.
  5. ^ Royden, C. S.; Moore, K. D. (2012). "Use of speed cues in the detection of moving objects by moving observers". Vision Research. 59: 17–24. doi:10.1016/j.visres.2012.02.006. PMID 22406544. S2CID 52847487.
  6. ^ Aires, Kelson R. T.; Santana, Andre M.; Medeiros, Adelardo A. D. (2008). Optical Flow Using Color Information (PDF). ACM New York, NY, USA. ISBN 978-1-59593-753-7.
  7. ^ Beauchemin, S. S.; Barron, J. L. (1995). "The computation of optical flow". ACM Computing Surveys. 27 (3). ACM New York, USA: 433–466. doi:10.1145/212094.212141. S2CID 1334552.