Single Camera Motion Compensated Viewpoint Shift

Abstract

Eye contact is a necessary tool for human connection and in most video conferencing situations, eye contact is not possible. Standard laptop and webcam configurations position the camera at the top of the screen, meaning that when the user looks at other people’s faces in the center of the screen, the camera captures the user looking downward, creating the impression of poor eye contact for remote participants. Solutions involving 3D modeling of the face to synthesize a gaze-corrected view have been explored and exist but are too computationally costly for most personal computers. To address this computational challenge, we draw inspiration from 2D frame interpolation techniques to synthesize a virtual camera view that repositions the user’s apparent gaze toward the camera. Our method uses a single camera located at the top of the user’s screen and requires only a brief setup period. Assuming there is only one user, our approach creates a virtual camera view that transforms the user’s viewpoint from the screen center to the camera position, enabling more realistic eye contact in video conference calls.