Abstract

We present a General Linear Camera (GLC) model that uni- ?es many previous camera models into a single representation. The GLC model is capable of describing all perspective (pinhole), orthographic, and many multiperspective (including pushbroom and two-slit) came- ras, as well as epipolar plane images. It also includes three new and previously unexplored multiperspective linear cameras. Our GLC mo- del is both general and linear in the sense that, given any vector space where rays are represented as points, it describes all 2D affine subspa- ces (planes) that can be formed by affine combinations of 3 rays. The incident radiance seen along the rays found on subregions of these 2D affine subspaces are a precise definition of a pro jected image of a 3D scene. The GLC model also provides an intuitive physical interpretation, which can be used to characterize real imaging systems. Finally, since the GLC model provides a complete description of all 2D affine subspaces, it can be used as a tool for first-order difierential analysis of arbitrary (higher-order) multiperspective imaging systems.