Vis Comput (2017) 33:1357–1369 DOI 10.1007/s00371-016-1231-2 ORIGINAL ARTICLE Kinetic depth images: flexible generation of depth perception Sujal Bista 1 · Ícaro Lins Leitão da Cunha 2 · Amitabh Varshney 1 Published online: 6 May 2016 © Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2016 Abstract In this paper we present a systematic approach to create smoothly varying images from a pair of photographs to facilitate enhanced awareness of the depth structure of a given scene. Since our system does not rely on sophisticated display technologies such as stereoscopy or auto-stereoscopy for depth awareness, it (a) is inexpensive and widely acces- sible, (b) does not suffer from vergence - accommodation fatigue, and (c) works entirely with monocular depth cues. Our approach enhances the depth awareness by optimizing across a number of features such as depth perception, opti- cal flow, saliency, centrality, and disocclusion artifacts. We report the results of user studies that examine the relationship between depth perception, relative velocity, spatial perspec- tive effects, and the positioning of the pivot point and use them when generating kinetic-depth images. We also present a novel depth re-mapping method guided by perceptual rela- tionships based on the results of our user study. We validate our system by presenting a user study that compares the out- put quality of our proposed method against other existing alternatives on a wide range of images. Keywords Kinetic depth effect · Depth perception · Aesthetics in visualization · Visualization for the masses B Sujal Bista sujal@umiacs.umd.edu 1 Department of Computer Science and Institute for Advanced Computer Studies, University of Maryland, College Park, USA 2 Universidade Federal Rural de Pernambuco - Unidade Academica de Garanhuns, Garanhuns, PE, Brazil 1 Introduction The kinetic-depth effect (KDE) is the perception of the three-dimensional structure of a scene resulting from a rotat- ing motion. First defined by Wallach and O’Connell [53], the kinetic-depth effect has been used widely. Images that exhibit KDE are commonly found online. These images are variously called Wiggle images, Piku-Piku, Flip images, animated stereo, and GIF 3D. We prefer to use the term Kinetic Depth Images (KDI), as they use the KDE to give the perception of depth. In 2012, Gizmodo organized an online competition to reward the KDI submission that best provided a sense of depth [55]. Recently, the New York Public Library published a collection of animated 3D images online [18]. Flickr has a large number of groups that discuss and post animated 3D stereo images. Also, online community-based galleries that focus on KDI can be found at the Start3D website [8]. With the increasing availability of stereo and lightfield cameras (such as the Lytro), the use of the KDE to express depth on ordinary displays is rising rapidly. Although the basic form of the KDE is trivial to imple- ment for a virtual environment where the 3D geometry and lighting are known, excessive motion and reduced depth perception mar the visual experience unless proper care is taken. In fact, accomplishing a high-quality KDE from a pair of photographs is not trivial and has several interesting nuances, as outlined in this paper, which should be useful for any practitioner wishing to use this technique for facilitating depth awareness. In this paper we describe an algorithm and its accompanying system, for facilitating depth awareness through KDE using only a pair of photographs or images. The use of the KDE is a viable alternative to the use of stereoscopic and autostereoscopic displays: (i) the KDE pro- vides monocular depth cues that allow us to experience depth, even with one eye, which accommodates people who suffer 123