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16 results (View BibTeX file of all listed publications)

2015

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Scalable Robust Principal Component Analysis using Grassmann Averages

Hauberg, S., Feragen, A., Enficiaud, R., Black, M.

IEEE Trans. Pattern Analysis and Machine Intelligence (PAMI), December 2015 (article)

Abstract
In large datasets, manual data verification is impossible, and we must expect the number of outliers to increase with data size. While principal component analysis (PCA) can reduce data size, and scalable solutions exist, it is well-known that outliers can arbitrarily corrupt the results. Unfortunately, state-of-the-art approaches for robust PCA are not scalable. We note that in a zero-mean dataset, each observation spans a one-dimensional subspace, giving a point on the Grassmann manifold. We show that the average subspace corresponds to the leading principal component for Gaussian data. We provide a simple algorithm for computing this Grassmann Average (GA), and show that the subspace estimate is less sensitive to outliers than PCA for general distributions. Because averages can be efficiently computed, we immediately gain scalability. We exploit robust averaging to formulate the Robust Grassmann Average (RGA) as a form of robust PCA. The resulting Trimmed Grassmann Average (TGA) is appropriate for computer vision because it is robust to pixel outliers. The algorithm has linear computational complexity and minimal memory requirements. We demonstrate TGA for background modeling, video restoration, and shadow removal. We show scalability by performing robust PCA on the entire Star Wars IV movie; a task beyond any current method. Source code is available online.

preprint pdf from publisher supplemental Project Page [BibTex]

2015

Hauberg, S., Feragen, A., Enficiaud, R., Black, M. Scalable Robust Principal Component Analysis using Grassmann Averages IEEE Trans. Pattern Analysis and Machine Intelligence (PAMI), December 2015 (article)

preprint pdf from publisher supplemental Project Page [BibTex]

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SMPL: A Skinned Multi-Person Linear Model

Loper, M., Mahmood, N., Romero, J., Pons-Moll, G., Black, M. J.

ACM Trans. Graphics (Proc. SIGGRAPH Asia), 34(6):248:1-248:16, ACM, New York, NY, October 2015 (article)

Abstract
We present a learned model of human body shape and pose-dependent shape variation that is more accurate than previous models and is compatible with existing graphics pipelines. Our Skinned Multi-Person Linear model (SMPL) is a skinned vertex-based model that accurately represents a wide variety of body shapes in natural human poses. The parameters of the model are learned from data including the rest pose template, blend weights, pose-dependent blend shapes, identity-dependent blend shapes, and a regressor from vertices to joint locations. Unlike previous models, the pose-dependent blend shapes are a linear function of the elements of the pose rotation matrices. This simple formulation enables training the entire model from a relatively large number of aligned 3D meshes of different people in different poses. We quantitatively evaluate variants of SMPL using linear or dual-quaternion blend skinning and show that both are more accurate than a Blend-SCAPE model trained on the same data. We also extend SMPL to realistically model dynamic soft-tissue deformations. Because it is based on blend skinning, SMPL is compatible with existing rendering engines and we make it available for research purposes.

pdf video code/model errata DOI Project Page Project Page [BibTex]

Loper, M., Mahmood, N., Romero, J., Pons-Moll, G., Black, M. J. SMPL: A Skinned Multi-Person Linear Model ACM Trans. Graphics (Proc. SIGGRAPH Asia), 34(6):248:1-248:16, ACM, New York, NY, October 2015 (article)

pdf video code/model errata DOI Project Page Project Page [BibTex]

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Dyna: A Model of Dynamic Human Shape in Motion

Pons-Moll, G., Romero, J., Mahmood, N., Black, M. J.

ACM Transactions on Graphics, (Proc. SIGGRAPH), 34(4):120:1-120:14, ACM, August 2015 (article)

Abstract
To look human, digital full-body avatars need to have soft tissue deformations like those of real people. We learn a model of soft-tissue deformations from examples using a high-resolution 4D capture system and a method that accurately registers a template mesh to sequences of 3D scans. Using over 40,000 scans of ten subjects, we learn how soft tissue motion causes mesh triangles to deform relative to a base 3D body model. Our Dyna model uses a low-dimensional linear subspace to approximate soft-tissue deformation and relates the subspace coefficients to the changing pose of the body. Dyna uses a second-order auto-regressive model that predicts soft-tissue deformations based on previous deformations, the velocity and acceleration of the body, and the angular velocities and accelerations of the limbs. Dyna also models how deformations vary with a person’s body mass index (BMI), producing different deformations for people with different shapes. Dyna realistically represents the dynamics of soft tissue for previously unseen subjects and motions. We provide tools for animators to modify the deformations and apply them to new stylized characters.

pdf preprint video data DOI Project Page Project Page [BibTex]

Pons-Moll, G., Romero, J., Mahmood, N., Black, M. J. Dyna: A Model of Dynamic Human Shape in Motion ACM Transactions on Graphics, (Proc. SIGGRAPH), 34(4):120:1-120:14, ACM, August 2015 (article)

pdf preprint video data DOI Project Page Project Page [BibTex]

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Linking Objects to Actions: Encoding of Target Object and Grasping Strategy in Primate Ventral Premotor Cortex

Vargas-Irwin, C. E., Franquemont, L., Black, M. J., Donoghue, J. P.

Journal of Neuroscience, 35(30):10888-10897, July 2015 (article)

Abstract
Neural activity in ventral premotor cortex (PMv) has been associated with the process of matching perceived objects with the motor commands needed to grasp them. It remains unclear how PMv networks can flexibly link percepts of objects affording multiple grasp options into a final desired hand action. Here, we use a relational encoding approach to track the functional state of PMv neuronal ensembles in macaque monkeys through the process of passive viewing, grip planning, and grasping movement execution. We used objects affording multiple possible grip strategies. The task included separate instructed delay periods for object presentation and grip instruction. This approach allowed us to distinguish responses elicited by the visual presentation of the objects from those associated with selecting a given motor plan for grasping. We show that PMv continuously incorporates information related to object shape and grip strategy as it becomes available, revealing a transition from a set of ensemble states initially most closely related to objects, to a new set of ensemble patterns reflecting unique object-grip combinations. These results suggest that PMv dynamically combines percepts, gradually navigating toward activity patterns associated with specific volitional actions, rather than directly mapping perceptual object properties onto categorical grip representations. Our results support the idea that PMv is part of a network that dynamically computes motor plans from perceptual information. Significance Statement: The present work demonstrates that the activity of groups of neurons in primate ventral premotor cortex reflects information related to visually presented objects, as well as the motor strategy used to grasp them, linking individual objects to multiple possible grips. PMv could provide useful control signals for neuroprosthetic assistive devices designed to interact with objects in a flexible way.

publisher link DOI Project Page [BibTex]

Vargas-Irwin, C. E., Franquemont, L., Black, M. J., Donoghue, J. P. Linking Objects to Actions: Encoding of Target Object and Grasping Strategy in Primate Ventral Premotor Cortex Journal of Neuroscience, 35(30):10888-10897, July 2015 (article)

publisher link DOI Project Page [BibTex]

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Shape Models of the Human Body for Distributed Inference

Zuffi, S.

Brown University, May 2015 (phdthesis)

Abstract
In this thesis we address the problem of building shape models of the human body, in 2D and 3D, which are realistic and efficient to use. We focus our efforts on the human body, which is highly articulated and has interesting shape variations, but the approaches we present here can be applied to generic deformable and articulated objects. To address efficiency, we constrain our models to be part-based and have a tree-structured representation with pairwise relationships between connected parts. This allows the application of methods for distributed inference based on message passing. To address realism, we exploit recent advances in computer graphics that represent the human body with statistical shape models learned from 3D scans. We introduce two articulated body models, a 2D model, named Deformable Structures (DS), which is a contour-based model parameterized for 2D pose and projected shape, and a 3D model, named Stitchable Puppet (SP), which is a mesh-based model parameterized for 3D pose, pose-dependent deformations and intrinsic body shape. We have successfully applied the models to interesting and challenging problems in computer vision and computer graphics, namely pose estimation from static images, pose estimation from video sequences, pose and shape estimation from 3D scan data. This advances the state of the art in human pose and shape estimation and suggests that carefully de ned realistic models can be important for computer vision. More work at the intersection of vision and graphics is thus encouraged.

PDF [BibTex]

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Multi-view and 3D Deformable Part Models

Pepik, B., Stark, M., Gehler, P., Schiele, B.

Pattern Analysis and Machine Intelligence, 37(11):14, IEEE, March 2015 (article)

Abstract
As objects are inherently 3-dimensional, they have been modeled in 3D in the early days of computer vision. Due to the ambiguities arising from mapping 2D features to 3D models, 3D object representations have been neglected and 2D feature-based models are the predominant paradigm in object detection nowadays. While such models have achieved outstanding bounding box detection performance, they come with limited expressiveness, as they are clearly limited in their capability of reasoning about 3D shape or viewpoints. In this work, we bring the worlds of 3D and 2D object representations closer, by building an object detector which leverages the expressive power of 3D object representations while at the same time can be robustly matched to image evidence. To that end, we gradually extend the successful deformable part model [1] to include viewpoint information and part-level 3D geometry information, resulting in several different models with different level of expressiveness. We end up with a 3D object model, consisting of multiple object parts represented in 3D and a continuous appearance model. We experimentally verify that our models, while providing richer object hypotheses than the 2D object models, provide consistently better joint object localization and viewpoint estimation than the state-of-the-art multi-view and 3D object detectors on various benchmarks (KITTI [2], 3D object classes [3], Pascal3D+ [4], Pascal VOC 2007 [5], EPFL multi-view cars [6]).

DOI Project Page [BibTex]

Pepik, B., Stark, M., Gehler, P., Schiele, B. Multi-view and 3D Deformable Part Models Pattern Analysis and Machine Intelligence, 37(11):14, IEEE, March 2015 (article)

DOI Project Page [BibTex]

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From Scans to Models: Registration of 3D Human Shapes Exploiting Texture Information

Bogo, F.

University of Padova, March 2015 (phdthesis)

Abstract
New scanning technologies are increasing the importance of 3D mesh data, and of algorithms that can reliably register meshes obtained from multiple scans. Surface registration is important e.g. for building full 3D models from partial scans, identifying and tracking objects in a 3D scene, creating statistical shape models. Human body registration is particularly important for many applications, ranging from biomedicine and robotics to the production of movies and video games; but obtaining accurate and reliable registrations is challenging, given the articulated, non-rigidly deformable structure of the human body. In this thesis, we tackle the problem of 3D human body registration. We start by analyzing the current state of the art, and find that: a) most registration techniques rely only on geometric information, which is ambiguous on flat surface areas; b) there is a lack of adequate datasets and benchmarks in the field. We address both issues. Our contribution is threefold. First, we present a model-based registration technique for human meshes that combines geometry and surface texture information to provide highly accurate mesh-to-mesh correspondences. Our approach estimates scene lighting and surface albedo, and uses the albedo to construct a high-resolution textured 3D body model that is brought into registration with multi-camera image data using a robust matching term. Second, by leveraging our technique, we present FAUST (Fine Alignment Using Scan Texture), a novel dataset collecting 300 high-resolution scans of 10 people in a wide range of poses. FAUST is the first dataset providing both real scans and automatically computed, reliable "ground-truth" correspondences between them. Third, we explore possible uses of our approach in dermatology. By combining our registration technique with a melanocytic lesion segmentation algorithm, we propose a system that automatically detects new or evolving lesions over almost the entire body surface, thus helping dermatologists identify potential melanomas. We conclude this thesis investigating the benefits of using texture information to establish frame-to-frame correspondences in dynamic monocular sequences captured with consumer depth cameras. We outline a novel approach to reconstruct realistic body shape and appearance models from dynamic human performances, and show preliminary results on challenging sequences captured with a Kinect.

[BibTex]

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Long Range Motion Estimation and Applications

Sevilla-Lara, L.

Long Range Motion Estimation and Applications, University of Massachusetts Amherst, University of Massachusetts Amherst, Febuary 2015 (phdthesis)

Abstract
Finding correspondences between images underlies many computer vision problems, such as optical flow, tracking, stereovision and alignment. Finding these correspondences involves formulating a matching function and optimizing it. This optimization process is often gradient descent, which avoids exhaustive search, but relies on the assumption of being in the basin of attraction of the right local minimum. This is often the case when the displacement is small, and current methods obtain very accurate results for small motions. However, when the motion is large and the matching function is bumpy this assumption is less likely to be true. One traditional way of avoiding this abruptness is to smooth the matching function spatially by blurring the images. As the displacement becomes larger, the amount of blur required to smooth the matching function becomes also larger. This averaging of pixels leads to a loss of detail in the image. Therefore, there is a trade-off between the size of the objects that can be tracked and the displacement that can be captured. In this thesis we address the basic problem of increasing the size of the basin of attraction in a matching function. We use an image descriptor called distribution fields (DFs). By blurring the images in DF space instead of in pixel space, we in- crease the size of the basin attraction with respect to traditional methods. We show competitive results using DFs both in object tracking and optical flow. Finally we demonstrate an application of capturing large motions for temporal video stitching.

[BibTex]

Sevilla-Lara, L. Long Range Motion Estimation and Applications Long Range Motion Estimation and Applications, University of Massachusetts Amherst, University of Massachusetts Amherst, Febuary 2015 (phdthesis)

[BibTex]

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Spike train SIMilarity Space (SSIMS): A framework for single neuron and ensemble data analysis

Vargas-Irwin, C. E., Brandman, D. M., Zimmermann, J. B., Donoghue, J. P., Black, M. J.

Neural Computation, 27(1):1-31, MIT Press, January 2015 (article)

Abstract
We present a method to evaluate the relative similarity of neural spiking patterns by combining spike train distance metrics with dimensionality reduction. Spike train distance metrics provide an estimate of similarity between activity patterns at multiple temporal resolutions. Vectors of pair-wise distances are used to represent the intrinsic relationships between multiple activity patterns at the level of single units or neuronal ensembles. Dimensionality reduction is then used to project the data into concise representations suitable for clustering analysis as well as exploratory visualization. Algorithm performance and robustness are evaluated using multielectrode ensemble activity data recorded in behaving primates. We demonstrate how Spike train SIMilarity Space (SSIMS) analysis captures the relationship between goal directions for an 8-directional reaching task and successfully segregates grasp types in a 3D grasping task in the absence of kinematic information. The algorithm enables exploration of virtually any type of neural spiking (time series) data, providing similarity-based clustering of neural activity states with minimal assumptions about potential information encoding models.

pdf: publisher site pdf: author's proof DOI Project Page [BibTex]

Vargas-Irwin, C. E., Brandman, D. M., Zimmermann, J. B., Donoghue, J. P., Black, M. J. Spike train SIMilarity Space (SSIMS): A framework for single neuron and ensemble data analysis Neural Computation, 27(1):1-31, MIT Press, January 2015 (article)

pdf: publisher site pdf: author's proof DOI Project Page [BibTex]

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Metric Regression Forests for Correspondence Estimation

Pons-Moll, G., Taylor, J., Shotton, J., Hertzmann, A., Fitzgibbon, A.

International Journal of Computer Vision, pages: 1-13, 2015 (article)

springer PDF Project Page [BibTex]

Pons-Moll, G., Taylor, J., Shotton, J., Hertzmann, A., Fitzgibbon, A. Metric Regression Forests for Correspondence Estimation International Journal of Computer Vision, pages: 1-13, 2015 (article)

springer PDF Project Page [BibTex]

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Formation control driven by cooperative object tracking

Lima, P., Ahmad, A., Dias, A., Conceição, A., Moreira, A., Silva, E., Almeida, L., Oliveira, L., Nascimento, T.

Robotics and Autonomous Systems, 63(1):68-79, 2015 (article)

Abstract
In this paper we introduce a formation control loop that maximizes the performance of the cooperative perception of a tracked target by a team of mobile robots, while maintaining the team in formation, with a dynamically adjustable geometry which is a function of the quality of the target perception by the team. In the formation control loop, the controller module is a distributed non-linear model predictive controller and the estimator module fuses local estimates of the target state, obtained by a particle filter at each robot. The two modules and their integration are described in detail, including a real-time database associated to a wireless communication protocol that facilitates the exchange of state data while reducing collisions among team members. Simulation and real robot results for indoor and outdoor teams of different robots are presented. The results highlight how our method successfully enables a team of homogeneous robots to minimize the total uncertainty of the tracked target cooperative estimate while complying with performance criteria such as keeping a pre-set distance between the teammates and the target, avoiding collisions with teammates and/or surrounding obstacles.

DOI [BibTex]

Lima, P., Ahmad, A., Dias, A., Conceição, A., Moreira, A., Silva, E., Almeida, L., Oliveira, L., Nascimento, T. Formation control driven by cooperative object tracking Robotics and Autonomous Systems, 63(1):68-79, 2015 (article)

DOI [BibTex]

2004

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On the variability of manual spike sorting

Wood, F., Black, M. J., Vargas-Irwin, C., Fellows, M., Donoghue, J. P.

IEEE Trans. Biomedical Engineering, 51(6):912-918, June 2004 (article)

pdf pdf from publisher [BibTex]

2004

Wood, F., Black, M. J., Vargas-Irwin, C., Fellows, M., Donoghue, J. P. On the variability of manual spike sorting IEEE Trans. Biomedical Engineering, 51(6):912-918, June 2004 (article)

pdf pdf from publisher [BibTex]

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Modeling and decoding motor cortical activity using a switching Kalman filter

Wu, W., Black, M. J., Mumford, D., Gao, Y., Bienenstock, E., Donoghue, J. P.

IEEE Trans. Biomedical Engineering, 51(6):933-942, June 2004 (article)

Abstract
We present a switching Kalman filter model for the real-time inference of hand kinematics from a population of motor cortical neurons. Firing rates are modeled as a Gaussian mixture where the mean of each Gaussian component is a linear function of hand kinematics. A “hidden state” models the probability of each mixture component and evolves over time in a Markov chain. The model generalizes previous encoding and decoding methods, addresses the non-Gaussian nature of firing rates, and can cope with crudely sorted neural data common in on-line prosthetic applications.

pdf pdf from publisher [BibTex]

Wu, W., Black, M. J., Mumford, D., Gao, Y., Bienenstock, E., Donoghue, J. P. Modeling and decoding motor cortical activity using a switching Kalman filter IEEE Trans. Biomedical Engineering, 51(6):933-942, June 2004 (article)

pdf pdf from publisher [BibTex]

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Development of neural motor prostheses for humans

Donoghue, J., Nurmikko, A., Friehs, G., Black, M.

In Advances in Clinical Neurophysiology, (Editors: Hallett, M. and Phillips, L.H. and Schomer, D.L. and Massey, J.M.), Supplements to Clinical Neurophysiology Vol. 57, 2004 (incollection)

pdf [BibTex]

Donoghue, J., Nurmikko, A., Friehs, G., Black, M. Development of neural motor prostheses for humans In Advances in Clinical Neurophysiology, (Editors: Hallett, M. and Phillips, L.H. and Schomer, D.L. and Massey, J.M.), Supplements to Clinical Neurophysiology Vol. 57, 2004 (incollection)

pdf [BibTex]

1993

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Mixture models for optical flow computation

Jepson, A., Black, M.

In Partitioning Data Sets, DIMACS Workshop, pages: 271-286, (Editors: Ingemar Cox, Pierre Hansen, and Bela Julesz), AMS Pub, Providence, RI., April 1993 (incollection)

pdf [BibTex]

1993

Jepson, A., Black, M. Mixture models for optical flow computation In Partitioning Data Sets, DIMACS Workshop, pages: 271-286, (Editors: Ingemar Cox, Pierre Hansen, and Bela Julesz), AMS Pub, Providence, RI., April 1993 (incollection)

pdf [BibTex]

1992

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Robust Incremental Optical Flow

Black, M. J.

Yale University, Department of Computer Science, New Haven, CT, 1992, Research Report YALEU-DCS-RR-923 (phdthesis)

pdf code [BibTex]

1992

Black, M. J. Robust Incremental Optical Flow Yale University, Department of Computer Science, New Haven, CT, 1992, Research Report YALEU-DCS-RR-923 (phdthesis)

pdf code [BibTex]