Summary
On Saturday, June 25, 2005, researchers from around the globe gathered to collaborate at Procams 2005, the IEEE International Workshop on Projector-Camera Systems, held in conjunction with CVPR 2005 in San Diego, California. From surface re-construction systems to performance art, interactive display surfaces to handheld projectors, the workshop featured a wide variety of projects and applications.
The second such workshop of its kind, Procams is steadily "getting better," according to Matthew Flagg of the Georgia Institute of Technology. "Eventually, every projector system will have a camera," Flagg predicts. "With a camera, many techniques can be used, such as shadow removal."
Flagg was one of many researchers who made a presentation at Procams 2005. Various institutions and companies from around the globe contributed to the workshop’s body of knowledge, including Philip Fong, a researcher from Stanford University. "There is a resolution gap between cameras and projectors," Fong points out. "The consumer is unwilling to pay much for high-frame rate, high-resolution projectors, while they spend more on high-resolution cameras."
Keeping the "real world" in mind was an unofficial theme at the workshop in gen-eral, as all of the invited speakers focused on the link between the academic and commercial applications of the technologies. Chris Chinnock, founder and president of In-sight Media, believes that "connecting with commercial users and getting feedback should be the most important concern of Procams."
To that end, the workshop also featured a panel that sparked lively discussion between representatives from companies like Fakespace Systems and Scalable Display Technology and researchers from Sandia National Labs and University of Kentucky, as well as contributions from the audience.