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Tieniu Tan · Qiuqi Ruan
Shengjin Wang · Huimin Ma
Kaichang Di (Eds.)

Communications in Computer and Information Science 525

Advances
in Image and Graphics
Technologies
10th Chinese Conference, IGTA 2015
Beijing, China, June 19–20, 2015
Proceedings

123
Communications
in Computer and Information Science 525

Editorial Board
Simone Diniz Junqueira Barbosa
Pontifical Catholic University of Rio de Janeiro (PUC-Rio),
Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
Phoebe Chen
La Trobe University, Melbourne, Australia
Alfredo Cuzzocrea
ICAR-CNR and University of Calabria, Cosenza, Italy
Xiaoyong Du
Renmin University of China, Beijing, China
Joaquim Filipe
Polytechnic Institute of Setúbal, Setúbal, Portugal
Orhun Kara
TÜBİTAK BİLGEM and Middle East Technical University, Ankara, Turkey
Igor Kotenko
St. Petersburg Institute for Informatics and Automation of the Russian Academy
of Sciences, St. Petersburg, Russia
Krishna M. Sivalingam
Indian Institute of Technology Madras, Chennai, India
Dominik Ślęzak
University of Warsaw and Infobright, Warsaw, Poland
Takashi Washio
Osaka University, Osaka, Japan
Xiaokang Yang
Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shangai, China
More information about this series at http://www.springer.com/series/7899
Tieniu Tan Qiuqi Ruan
•

Shengjin Wang Huimin Ma

•

Kaichang Di (Eds.)

Advances
in Image and Graphics
Technologies
10th Chinese Conference, IGTA 2015
Beijing, China, June 19–20, 2015
Proceedings

123
Editors
Tieniu Tan Huimin Ma
Chinese Academy of Sciences institute Tsinghua University
of Automation Beijing
Beijing China
China
Kaichang Di
Qiuqi Ruan Chinese Academy of Sciences
Beijing Jiaotong University Beijing
Beijing China
China
Shengjin Wang
Tsinghua University
Beijing
China

ISSN 1865-0929 ISSN 1865-0937 (electronic)

Communications in Computer and Information Science
ISBN 978-3-662-47790-8 ISBN 978-3-662-47791-5 (eBook)
DOI 10.1007/978-3-662-47791-5

Library of Congress Control Number: 2015942483

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 Preface

It was a pleasure and an honor to have organized the 10th Conference on Image and
Graphics Technologies and Applications. The conference was held during June 19–20,
2015, in Beijing, China. The conference series is the premier forum for presenting
research in image processing and graphics and related topics. The conference provides
a rich forum for sharing the latest advances in the areas of image processing tech-
nology, image analysis and understanding, computer vision and pattern recognition, big
data mining, computer graphics and VR, image technology application, with the
generation of new ideas, new approaches, new techniques, new applications, and new
evaluation. The conference is organized under the auspices of the Beijing Society of
Image and Graphics, in Tsinghua University, Beijing, China.
The conference program included keynotes, oral presentations, posters, demos, and
exhibitions. We received 138 papers for review. Each of these was assessed by no
fewer than two reviewers, with some papers being assessed by three reviewers; 50
submissions were selected for oral and poster presentation.
We are grateful for the efforts of the people who helped make this conference a
reality. We would like to thank the reviewers for completing the reviewing process in
time. The local host, Tsinghua University, handled many of the local arrangements for
the conference.
The conference continues to provide a leading forum for cutting-edge research and
case studies in image and graphics technology. We hope you enjoy reading the
proceedings.

June 2015 Shengjin Wang

 Organization

General Conference Chairs

Wang Sheng-jin Tsinghua University
Ruan Qiu-qi Beijing Jiaotong University

Executive and Coordination Committee

Tan Tie-niu Institute of Automation, Chinese Academy of Sciences
Wang Run-sheng China Aero Geophysical Survey and Remote Sensing
Center for Land and Resources
Wang Guo-ping Peking University
Chen Chao-wu The First Research Institute of the Ministry of Public
Security of P.R.C.
Zhou Ming-quan Beijing Normal University
Jiang Zhi-guo Beihang University

Program Committee Chair

Ma Hui-min Tsinghua University

Organizing Committee Chair

Huang Kai-qi Institute of Automation, Chinese Academy of Sciences

Organizing Committee
Liu Yue Beijing Institute of Technology
Yang Lei Communication University of China
Di Kaichang Institute of Remote sensing and Digital Earth,
Chinese Academy of Sciences

Program Committee
Zhou Li Beijing University of Technology
Zhao Hui-jie Beihang University
Zhao Dan-pei Beihang University
Zhang Feng-jun Institute of Software, Chinese Academy of Sciences
Zhan Bing-hong Beijing Institute of Fashion Technology
Yuan Xiao-ru Peking University
Yu Neng-hai University of Science and Technology of China
VIII Organization

Yang Lei Communication University of China

Yang Cheng Communication University of China
Yan Jun Journal of Image and Graphics
Xu Zhi-yong ImageInfo Co., Ltd
Xu Guang-you Tsinghua University
Xia Shi-hong Institute of Computing Technology,
Chinese Academy of Sciences
Wu Zhong-ke Beijing Normal University
Tao Lin-mi Tsinghua University
Sun Feng-jie North China Electric Power University
Di Kaichang Institute of Remote Sensing and Digital Earth,
Chinese Academy of Sciences
Su Guang-da Tsinghua University
Lv Xue-qiang Beijing Information Science and Technology University
Lu Han-qing Institute of Automation, Chinese Academy of Sciences
Liu Wen-ping Beijing Forestry University
Liu Jian-bo Communication University of China
Lin Hua Tsinghua University
Liang Xiao-hui Beihang University
 Contents

Viewpoints Selection of 3D Object Recognition Based on Manifold

Topological Multi-resolution Analysis Method . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
Xiang Wang, Huimin Ma, and Jiayun Hou

Fast Narrow-Baseline Stereo Matching Using CUDA Compatible GPUs . . . . 10

Tao Chen, Yiguang Liu, Jie Li, and Pengfei Wu

Semantic Description of Fish Abnormal Behavior Based

on the Computer Vision. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
Gang Xiao, Wei-kang Fan, Jia-fa Mao, Zhen-bo Cheng, and Hai-biao Hu

Infrared Face Recognition Based on Adaptive Dominant Pattern

of Local Binary Pattern . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
Zhihua Xie

Single Training Sample Face Recognition Based on Gabor and 2DPCA . . . . 37

Jun Yang and Yanli Liu

Vibe Motion Target Detection Algorithm Based on Lab Color Space . . . . . . 45

Zhiyong Peng, Faliang Chang, and Wenhui Dong

Image Data Embedding with Large Payload Based on Reference-Matrix. . . . 55

Yan Xia, Zhaoxia Yin, and Liangmin Wang

A Novel Image Splicing Forensic Algorithm Based on Generalized DCT

Coefficient-Pair Histogram. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63
Yang Fusheng and Tiegang Gao

A Patch-Based Non-local Means Denoising Method Using Hierarchical

Searching. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72
Zhi Dou, Yubing Han, Weixing Sheng, and Xiaofeng Ma

Approach for License Plate Location Using Texture Direction

and Edge Feature . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80
Fujian Feng and Lin Wang

Object-Based Binocular Data Reconstruction Using Consumer Camera . . . . . 87

YunBo Rao, Bojiang Fang, and Xianshu Ding

A Parallel SIFT Algorithm for Image Matching Under Intelligent

Vehicle Environment. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96
Hui-qi Liu, Yuan-yuan Li, and Tian-tian Li
X Contents

Object Tracking Based on Particle Filter with Data Association . . . . . . . . . . 104

Peng Li and Yanjiang Wang

A Cosegmentation Method for Aerial Insulator Images . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113

Yincheng Qi, Lei Xu, Zhenbing Zhao, and Yinping Cai

A Study on H.264 Live Video Technology with Android System . . . . . . . . . 123

Jie Dong, Jitao Xin, and Peng Zhuang

Solar Wafers Counting Based on Image Texture Feature . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 133

Qian Zhang, Bo-quan Li, Zhi-quan Sun, Yu-jun Li, and Chang-yun Pan

Robust Image Feature Point Matching Based on Structural Distance. . . . . . . 142

Maodi Hu, Yu Liu, and Yiqiang Fan

A Novel MRF-Based Image Segmentation Approach . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 150

Wei Liu, Feng Yu, and Chunyang Gao

Flexible Projector Calibration in the Structured Light 3D Measurement

System . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 158
Haitao Wu, Biao Li, Jiancheng Zhang, Jie Yang, and Yanjun Fu

Computational Complexity Balance Between Encoder and Decoder

for Video Coding . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 167
Shuting Cai and Zhuosheng Lin

Application of Gravity Center Track in Gait Recognition Robust

to Influencing Factors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 176
Chengyi Chen, Xin Chen, and Jiaming Xu

Data Virtualization for Coupling Command and Control (C2) and Combat
Simulation Systems. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 190
Xiangzhong Xu, Jiandong Yang, and Zaijiang Tang

Ship Recognition Based on Active Learning and Composite Kernel SVM . . . 198
Bin Pan, Zhiguo Jiang, Junfeng Wu, Haopeng Zhang, and Penghao Luo

Extraction of Plaque Characteristics in Iris Image. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 208

Jing Yu and Hong Tian

Research of Remote Sensing Image Compression Technology Based

on Compressed Sensing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 214
Tong Yu and Shujun Deng

A Novel Camera-Based Drowning Detection Algorithm . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 224

Chi Zhang, Xiaoguang Li, and Fei Lei
 Contents XI

The Extraction of Rutting Transverse Profiles’ Indicators Using 13-Point

Based Lasers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 234
Tian-tian Li, Xue Wang, and Hui-qi Liu

A 3D Reconstruction Method for Gastroscopic Minimally Invasive

Surgery . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 243
Dong Yang, Yinhong Zhao, Jiquan Liu, Bin Wang, and Huilong Duan

Learning Based Random Walks for Automatic Liver Segmentation

in CT Image. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 251
Pan Zhang, Jian Yang, Danni Ai, Zhijie Xie, and Yue Liu

Corner Detection Algorithm with Improved Harris . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 260

Li Wan, Zhenming Yu, and Qiuhui Yang

Fusion of Contour Feature and Edge Texture Information for Palmprint

Recognition . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 272
Gang Wang, Weibo Wei, Zhenkuan Pan, Danfeng Hong, and Mengqi Jia

Design of Interactive System for Digital Splash-Color Painting Based

on the Mobile Platform . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 282
Wang Yan, Yongjing Wang, and Ou George

Micro-video Segmentation Based on Histogram and Local Optimal

Solution Method . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 292
Bin Zhang and Yujie Liu

A Merging Model Reconstruction Method for Image-Guided

Gastroscopic Biopsy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 300
Juan He, Yinhong Zhao, Jiquan Liu, Bin Wang, and Huilong Duan

A Novel Terrain Rending Method for Visual Navigation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 308

Liyun Hao, Jiao Ye, Wu Lingda, and Cao Rui

Decision Mechanisms for Interactive Character Animations in Virtual

Environment. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 317
Du Jun and Qiang Liang

A Fast Optical Method to Estimate Melanin Distribution from Colour

Images. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 324
Tang Chaoying and Biao Wang

An Adaptive Detection Algorithm for Small Targets in Digital Image . . . . . 333

Shumei Wang

A Leaf Veins Visualization Modeling Method Based on Deformation. . . . . . 340

Duo-duo Qi, Ling Lu, and Li-chuan Hu
XII Contents

Research on Tracking Mobile Targets Based on Wireless Video Sensor

Networks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 353
Zixi Jia, Linzhuo Pang, Jiawen Wang, and Zhenfei Gong

Paper Currency Denomination Recognition Based on GA and SVM . . . . . . . 366

Jian-Biao He, Hua-Min Zhang, Jun Liang, Ou Jin, and Xi Li

Simulation Research for Outline of Plant Leaf . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 375

Qing Yang, Ling Lu, Li-min Luo, and Nan Zhou

Nonlocal Mumford-Shah Model for Multiphase Texture Image

Segmentation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 386
Wenqi Lu, Jinming Duan, Weibo Wei, Zhenkuan Pan, and Guodong Wang

Automated Cloud Detection Algorithm for Multi-Spectral High Spatial

Resolution Images Using Landsat-8 OLI . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 396
Yu Yang, Hong Zheng, and Hao Chen

Fast Image Blending Using Seeded Region Growing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 408

Yili Zhao and Dan Xu

Research on the Algorithm of Multidimensional Vector Fourier

Transformation Matrix. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 416
Yue Yang, Aijun Sang, Liyue Sun, Xiaoni Li, and Hexin Chen

A Small Infrared Target Detection Method Based on Coarse-to-Fine

Segmentation and Confidence Analysis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 423
Hang Li, Ze Wang, Tian Tian, and Hui Huang

Rapid Recognition of Cave Target Using AirBorne LiDAR Data . . . . . . . . . 433

Guangjun Dong, Zhu Chaojie, Haifang Zhou, and Sheng Luo

Robust Visual Tracking via Discriminative Structural Sparse Feature . . . . . . 438

Fenglei Wang, Jun Zhang, Qiang Guo, Pan Liu, and Dan Tu

Research on Images Correction Method of C-arm Based Surgical

Navigation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 447
Jianfa Zhang, Shaolong Kuang, Yu Yaping, Liling Sun,
and Fengfeng Zhang

Author Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 455

 Viewpoints Selection of 3D Object Recognition
Based on Manifold Topological Multi-resolution
Analysis Method

Xiang Wang, Huimin Ma(), and Jiayun Hou

Department of Electronic Engineering, Tsinghua University, Beijing, China

wangxiang14@mails.tsinghua.edu.cn, mhmpub@tsinghua.edu.cn

Abstract. Viewpoints selection is a key part in 3D object recognition since 3D

object can be represented by a set of 2D projections. In this paper, we discuss a
new method to select viewpoints of 3D object recognition. Based on manifold
topological multi-resolution analysis method (MMA), manifold information
which represents the intrinsic feature of 3D objects is used, thus the viewpoints
selected are more distinctive. We compared with “7 viewpoints method” which
provides us a simple and effective way to select viewpoints. Experiments dem-
onstrate that the method based on MMA is effective and performances better
than “7 viewpoints method” in 3D object recognition.

Keywords: 3D object recognition · Manifold topological multi-resolution

analysis · Viewpoint · LLE · 2D projections

1 Introduction

3D object recognition is a hard task since object looks differently in different

viewpoints [3, 6]. A real 3D object can be represented as a set of 2D projections,
so it’s very important to choose some robust viewpoints. In [1], a simple and ef-
fective method has been proposed, which choose 7 viewpoints based on a simple
view set. They constructed seven view sets based on graph matching method [2],
containing 13 possible views for each model. These possible views including
three side views, four corner views and six edge views. Fig.1 is an example which
shows two directions of each view type of a cube. Fig.2 shows a 3D airplane and
some 2D projections from different views [1].
Based on the 13 possible views, they constructed seven “view sets” by combining
different type of viewpoints. Table 1 shows the detail about the combination of the
seven view sets [1]. Many experiments demonstrate that the combination between 3
side views and 4 corner views performs best. So they proposed to choose 3 side views
and 4 corner views as viewpoints for 3D object recognition, which we called it
“7 viewpoints method” in this paper.
Manifold topological multi-resolution analysis method (MMA) [3] is proposed on
basis of locally linear embedding (LLE) [7, 8]. In this paper, we select viewpoints of
3D object recognition based on the manifold topological multi-resolution analysis
© Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2015
T. Tan et al. (Eds.): IGTA 2015, CCIS 525, pp. 1–9, 2015.
DOI: 10.1007/978-3-662-47791-5_1
2 X. Wang et al.

method. We conducted som me experiments and found that the method based on MM MA
is consistent with “7 viewp
points method” when applied to simple 3D object such aas a
cube. What’s more, since the method based on MMA takes advantage of maniffold
information, when applied to other objects, the viewpoints selection method basedd on
MMA performs better than n “7 viewpoints method” which demonstrates that this mme-
thod is effective. The remaainder of this paper proceeds as follow. In section 2, we
introduce the viewpoints seelecting method by using MMA. In section 3, we comppare
the method based on MMA A with “7 viewpoints method”, both consistence and difffer-
ence are discussed. In sectiion 4, some recognition experiments have been conduccted
to prove the advantage of viewpoints
v selection method based on manifold topologgical
multi-resolution analysis method.
m And conclusion is made in section 5.

Fig. 1. An
n example of three direction types. (From [1])

Fig. 2. A 3D airplane and some 2D projections from different view. (From [1])
 Viewpoints Selection of 3D Object Recognition 3

Table 1. The detail of the seven view sets. (From [1])

Database 3 Siide 4 Corner 6 Edge Total

name
S √ 3
C √ 4
E √ 6
SC √ √ 7
SE √ √ 9
CE √ √ 10
SCE √ √ √ 13

2 Viewpoints Selection Method

As in [3], we select viewpo oints by using manifold topological multi-resolution anaaly-

sis method (MMA). A reall 3D object can be represented as a set of 2D projectiions
[4], so a common method for f 3D object recognition is to choose a set of effective 2D
projections. And the key point
p lies on the method for choosing projections, namely,
viewpoints. An example iss shown in Fig.3, Fig.3a is a model of an airplane choosen
from PSB [5], and Fig.3b shows a set of 2D projections of that airplane with eqqual
sample intervals. MMA tak kes advantage of manifold information, the study of MM MA
in [3] indicates that, by on
nly selecting the local extremas of a manifold, the origiinal
manifold can be represented d by them using linear interpolation. So the local extrem
mas
can be selected as distincttive viewpoints. While “7 viewpoints method” selectting
viewpoints by fixed directioon, this method selects viewpoints using manifold inform ma-
tion. Thus, the viewpoints selected by this method are more distinctive and perfoorm
better as we can see in the experiments.
e

Fig. 3. (a) Viewpoint space off an airplane. (b) 2D Projection images of the airplane samppled
from equal intervals. (From [3])
4 X. Wang et al.

3 Comparison

In this section, we compare the viewpoint selection method based on MMA with the
“7 viewpoints method” in [1].
First, we show that these two methods are consistent to some extent. In considera-
tion of the way of selecting possible viewpoints in the “7 viewpoints method” [1], we
choose a cube as an example for brevity. The method of obtaining 2D projections is
the same as in Fig.3. By using MMA method, we get the bottom 6 eigenvectors which
is shown as in Fig.4.

a b

c d

e f

Fig. 4. a ~ f are the bottom 6 eigenvectors in order

When we choose 7 viewpoints by finding its local extremas in the bottom 2 eigen-
vectors, we find out that these 7 viewpoints are almost the same as those in the “7
viewpoints method”. It shows us these two viewpoint selection methods are consistent
for simple 3D object and also verifies the effectiveness of the method based on MMA.
However, in most cases, the viewpoints chosen by “7 viewpoints method” and
MMA are not identical. Table 2 shows some examples. We find out that these two
methods both choose side views, but MMA selects the viewpoints more freely while
the “7 viewpoints method” is fixed. Take the “Pig” as an example, in “7 viewpoints
method”, the 3rd to 7th viewpoint are very similar, they are all side views. However,
 Viewpoints Selection of 3D Object Recognition 5

in our method, they look very

v different since different views are selected. Thus, the
method based on MMA tak kes advantage of information about manifold structure ef-
fectively which is helpful fo
or object recognition.

4 Recognition Exp
periments

The “7 viewpoints metho od” is simple and efficient while the method based on
MMA takes advantage of information
i about manifold structure which is helpful for
object recognition. In this section,
s we will show the effectiveness of MMA by soome
recognition experiments. First,
F we select distinctive viewpoints using two methhods
respectively. Then we com mpare all viewpoints with 3D objects and classify themm to
the nearest class, namely, class
c with minimum feature distance. Table 3 shows soome
results of the recognition test. These experiments demonstrate that the viewpoints
selection method based on MMA performs better than “7 viewpoints method” .Figg. 5
shows the thumbnails of thee 3D objects in the test.

Tablle 2. Some results of the recognition test

3D objects “7 viewpoints method” MMA

M100 11.42% 13.66%
M101 5.79% 11.19%
M102 7.25% 10.80%
M110 7.25% 7.41%
M111 13.66% 17.28%

Fig. 5. Thumbnails of the 3D objects in the test

5 Conclusion

3D object can be representeed by a set of 2D projections. Since objects look differenntly

y important to select distinctive viewpoints. “7 viewpoints
in different views, it’s very
method” [1] and method baased on MMA [3] are both effective in selecting distincttive
viewpoints. In this paper, we
w compared these two methods in 3D object recognitiion.
Although “7 viewpoints method” provides us a simple and useful way to select ddis-
tinctive viewpoints, the vieewpoints selection method based on MMA performs beetter
since it takes advantage of manifold information. In conclusion, viewpoints selecttion
method based on MMA is effective
e in 3D object recognition.
6 X. Wang et al.

ble 3. Examples of viewpoints selection

Tab
3D The botto
om “7 viewpoints me-
MMA
object 6 eigenvecttors thod”

Cuboid
 Viewpoints Selection of 3D Object Recognition 7

Table 3. (Continued)

Plane
8 X. Wang et al.

Table 3. (Continued)

Pig

Acknowledgements. This wo
ork was supported by National Natural Science Foundationn of
China (No. 61171113).
 Viewpoints Selection of 3D Object Recognition 9

References
1. Min, P.: A 3D model search engine. Diss. Princeton University (2004)
2. Cyr, C.M., Kimia, B.B.: 3D object recognition using shape similiarity-based aspect graph.
In: Proceedings. Eighth IEEE International Conference on Computer Vision, ICCV 2001,
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3. You, S., Ma, H.: Manifold topological multi-resolution analysis method. Pattern Recogni-
tion 44(8), 1629–1648 (2011)
4. Schiffenbauer, R.D.: A survey of aspect graphs (2001). URL http://citeseer.ist.psu.edu/
schiffenbauer01survey.html
5. Shilane, P., et al.: The princeton shape benchmark. In: Proceedings, Shape modeling appli-
cations. IEEE (2004)
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resolution limits. Pattern Recognition Letters 31(3), 259–266 (2010)
7. Roweis, S.T., Saul, L.K.: Nonlinear dimensionality reduction by locally linear embedding.
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sional manifolds. The Journal of Machine Learning Research 4, 119–155 (2003)
 Fast Narrow-Baseline Stereo Matching
Using CUDA Compatible GPUs

Tao Chen, Yiguang Liu(), Jie Li, and Pengfei Wu

Vision and Image Processing Laboratory, College of Computer Science,

Sichuan University, Chengdu 610065, People’s Republic of China
liuyg@scu.edu.cn

Abstract. The Phase Correlation(PC) method demonstrates high robustness and

accuracy for measuring the very subtle disparities from stereo image pairs,
where the baseline (or the base-to-height ratio) is unconventionally narrowed.
However, this method remains inherently computationally expensive. In this
paper, an adaptive PC based stereo matching method is proposed, aiming to
achieve higher speed and better stereo quality compared to the existing me-
thods, while also preserving the quality of PC. Improvement was achieved both
algorithmically and architecturally, via carefully dividing the computing tasks
among multiprocessors of the GPUs under a novel global-pixel correlation
framework. Experimental results on our hardware settings show that the method
achieves as high as 64× and 24× speedup compared to single threaded and mul-
ti-threaded implementation running on a multi-core CPU system, respectively.

Keywords: Stereo matching · Narrow baseline · Phase Correlation(PC) · CUDA

1 Introduction

Stereo vision is an attractive topic in the realm of computer vision, while stereo
matching [3], targeting at extracting disparity information from a pair of images, is
the corner stone of the entire task. Though wide-baseline stereo matching [6], [10] is
commonly used because of its high estimation accuracy, its narrow-baseline counter-
part is, in contrast, much more challenging due to narrow triangulation. It is neverthe-
less worth addressing because it can alleviate the occlusion problem (Fig. 1), while
requiring a smaller disparity search range.
To attain high accuracy, PC was integrated into narrow-baseline stereo matching
[1], [8], [11]. The PC based method is more robust in illumination changes than sim-
ple correlation function based matching, while able to measure the very subtle dispari-
ties that result from low base-to-height ratio (e.g., less than 0.1). Thus potentially
allowing applications, such as digital elevation models (DEMs), to be derived from
images that previously might not have been considered suitable for stereo vision.
However, the PC based method remains inherently computationally expensive.
With the increasing of image resolutions, the computational time may even become
prohibited.

© Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2015

T. Tan et al. (Eds.): IGTA 2015, CCIS 525, pp. 10–17, 2015.
DOI: 10.1007/978-3-662-47791-5_2
 Fast Narrow-Baseline Stereo Matching Using CUDA Compatible GPUs 11

wide baseline narrow baseline

Fig. 1. Differences of occlusion zones. Occlusions in the left image of the stereo pair are sig-
naled by horizontal lines, occlusions in the right image of the stereo pair are signaled by slanted
lines. We see that in a wide-baseline system, the occlusion differences are much more critical
than in a narrow-baseline system.

To attain fast speed, stereo on graphics processing units (GPUs) is an attractive

trend. Specially, CUDA (Compute Unified Device Architecture) is a modern GPU
architecture designed for writing and running general-purpose applications on the
nVIDIA GPUs. Utilizing the horsepower of massive parallel processors, CUDA is
effective to accelerate stereo algorithms by exploiting their potential parallelism. Sev-
eral recent methods have reached fast speed on CUDA. Both Sarala [2] and Zhu [12]
implemented a Normalized Cross Correlation (NCC) approach and obtained signifi-
cant improvement in terms of computational efficiency. Their approach fails to main-
tain the matching quality, however, if the baseline is unconventionally narrowed [8].
Kentaro [7] suggested to perform parallel PC within a single image-block pair. It
offers great speed improvement, only if the image-block size is sufficient large. Un-
fortunately, this is not the case in stereo matching. In most applications, the size of
image-block is fairly small while the number of blocks is very large. Due to the limi-
tation of memory bandwidth, this approach does not have a noticeable effect on the
run-times. Similarly, the PC method accelerated for image fusion (e.g. Falk [9]), is
also not suitable for stereo matching.
In this paper, the PC method is re-examined, and a novel stereo matching frame-
work based on CUDA especially optimized for narrow-baseline scenario is proposed.
Using both algorithmic and architectural means, we carefully divide the task among
multiprocessors of the GPUs and exploit its texture memory. Furthermore, we com-
pare our results against single and multi-threaded CPU based implementation. Expe-
rimental results demonstrate the significant speedup of our approach. The remainder
of this paper is organized as follows. Section 2 briefly introduces the PC algorithm for
narrow-baseline stereo matching. Section 3 gives a detailed description of the pro-
posed framework of CUDA PC. The algorithm’s performance are analyzed in detail
in Section 4. Finally, we conclude in Section 5.

2 PC for Narrow-Baseline Stereo

Based on the well-known Fourier shift property [5], the PC method is developed to
estimate the translation displacement between two images. Consider two
12 T. Chen et al.

2.4
2.3
2.2
2.1
2.0
1.9
1.8
a b

Fig. 2. (a) Stereo pair of the stone lion with B/H ratio = 0.001. (b) Disparity map after meddian
filtering. (c) Textured reconstrruction result.

images I1(x,y), I2(x,y) that arre offset by simple translation a and b such that
I2(x,y) = I1(x − a,y − b) , (1)
their Fourier transforms (FT
Ts) Î1 and Î2 are related by the Fourier shift property, suuch
that
Iˆ2(u,v) = Iˆ1(u,v)e−2πi(au+bv) . (2)
This can be re-written as

(3)

Where denotes the commplex conjugate of Î2, and P(u,v) is referred to as the norm
ma-
lized cross power spectrum m (NCPS) of the two signals. There are two possible w ways
of solving (3) for (a,b) [4]. One is to work in the Fourier domain directly. Employying
singular value decompositiion (SVD) and robust 2-D fitting algorithm, [8] solve the
phase difference within th he Fourier domain and achieved sub-pixel disparity m mea-
surement. The second possiible approach is to first transform the NCPS back into sspa-
tial domain. It is then a sim mple matter to determine(a,b), since from (3) the resullt is
δ(x − a,y − b) which is a Dirac delta function centered at (a,b). The sub-pixel trannsla-
tion can be estimated using g interpolation-based approached after determining the m max
peak of the correlation surfaace on the integer-accuracy grid [4].
Both the Fourier domain and the spatial domain methods have been reportedd to
achieved up to 1/20th pixel accuracy. The latter is employed in our implementation due
d simplicity. As expected, this method is capable of precissely
to its relative efficiency and
and directly measuring the fractional disparities that result from unconventionally nnar-
row baseline images, imag ges which would otherwise not be considered suitable for
conventional stereo processiing. Fig. 2(a) shows the resulting stereo pair. Due to the vvery
low B/H ratio, the images arre geometrically very similar and thus enjoy high corresppon-
dence with little occlusion. This work focuses on tackling the challenge of fast steereo
matching for narrow-baselin ne scenario, as described in the next section.
 Fast Narrow-Baseline Stereo Matching Using CUDA Compatible GPUs 13

3 CUDA PC
The CUDA environment exposes the single instruction multiple data (SIMD) archi-
tecture of the GPUs by enabling data-parallel computation for millions of threads.
These threads are organized into a grid of thread-blocks. The highest performance is
achieved when the threads avoid divergence and perform the same operation on their
data elements. Overall, the prime computational challenge

Fig. 3. Workflow of the proposed algorithm

in disparity estimation lies in the PC calculation for a huge number of image block
pairs, aiming to find the translation displacement of each pixel. In this implementa-
tion, we use the CUFFT function of CUDA library for 2D FTs. The global correlation
is employed to co-register the right image to the left via shift change. Thus allowing a
smaller image-block size for pixel correlation, which is helpful to improve the estima-
tion accuracy while reducing the computational cost. A parallel block-cut procedure is
designed to make the PC calculation for each pixel independent to other pixels. And
then the translation displacement of each pixel can be computed in parallel. Fig. 3
shows the principle workflow of the proposed algorithm.

3.1 Global Correlation.

For narrow-baseline images, it is worth to note that the disparities are likely to be in a
small range, which is less than the size of image-block. Thus the process can be efficient
as no search region is ever required. The only question remains of how to locate the cor-
responding block in the right image for each block in the left. We therefore employ a
global correlation procedure to estimate the global translation relationship. Although, we
assume that the images have been acquired with or resampled close to epipolar geometry.
14 T. Chen et al.

Given image resolution W × H, the global correlation consists of four steps: F FTs
for input images, NCPS callculation, inverse FTs and global shift calculation. We use
the highly optimized CUFF FT function of the CUDA for FTs and inverse FTs. NC CPS
calculation is parallelized with
w W × H thread. The threads are organized into a 2D ggrid
and the thread-block size iss 32×32. Each thread takes care of computing an indeppen-
dent coefficient at a given frequency
f component. Finally, the so-called phase correela-
tion surface (PCS) can be ob btained as p(x,y). In this step, an integer-level estimationn is
sufficient, so the global shifft parameters (xg,yg) is given by
(xg,yg) = argmax|p(x,y)| , (4)
x,y

which can be linear processed on the CPU.

3.2 Pixel Correlation

The difference between glo obal correlation and pixel correlation is subtle, but esssen-
tially different, especially at the parallel level.
The novel block-cut proccedure plays a crucial role for improving the parallel levvel,
which is also parallelized on o the GPU, as depicted in Fig. 4. A 2D grid with W × H
threads is created for each image, and every B × B threads takes care of copying a B ×
B section centered at a pixell to an individual memory space, where B(pixel) means the
side length of the image-bllock. Considering global shift (xg,yg), an image-block ccen-
ge is then paired with a image-block taken at (x + xg,y + yg)
tered at (x,y) in the left imag
in the right. Also, we use texture memory for accessing images due to the fact that our
copy procedure exhibit 2D locality, which provides a great scope for texture cachiing.
Thus before block-cut, two o input images are mapped to the texture memory sppace
previously.
Then, Npar independent block
b pairs are prepared for the following FTs, NCPS ccal-
culation, and inverse FTs prrocedures, with . Finally, we get
Npar PCSs at a time. Unliike global correlation, the NCP is approximated as [4]

(5)

Where α < 1, the peak posittion of the function corresponds to the global displacem
ment
between the two images, an nd the α corresponds to the degree of correlation betweeen
the two images. After locatiing the main peak at some coordinates

Fig. 4. block-cut procedure

 Fast Narrow-Baseline Stereo Matching Using CUDA Compatible GPUs 15

(xm,ym) and two side-peaks at (xs,ym) and (xm,ys) where xs = (xm ± 1)%B and ys = (ym ±
1)%B, the sub-pixel offset (∆xp,∆yp) are decided by linear weighting such that

(6)

For a single PCS, the major computing task lies in searching for the main peak,
which is a linear process and shows greater advantage when processed on CPU. In
spite of this, we distribute the computing task to GPU. The reason is that a Npar times
parallelism not only can offset the inferiority on GPU, but also performs far more
efficiently than a sequential process on CPU. Afterwards, the disparity(dx,dy) is de-
cided such that

dx = xg + xm + ∆xp ,dy = yg + ym + ∆yp . (7)

Repeat the above steps, we extract the disparity information for each pixel. In ad-
dition, small disparity outliers are filtered using a median filter, resulting in the dis-
parity map shown in Fig. 2(b) and the absolute final reconstruction result in Fig. 2(c).

4 Experiments

The hardware environment is based on Intel CoreI5-3470 CPU @ 3.2 GHz and
NVIDIA GTX770 graphics card. In order to evaluate the efficiency, the proposed
method was compared against both the single-threaded and 4-threaded CPU imple-
mentation. We have used stereo pairs of different sizes with image-block size set to
16 × 16 and 32 × 32 respectively. The timing results are summarized in table 1.
Our results demonstrate that the proposed method outperforms the CPU based im-
plementation by a huge factor. For a stereo pair of size 1024×768 with image-block
size set to 16 × 16, the new method takes 0.6 seconds, bringing an impressive 64×
speedup with respect to the single-threaded CPU implementation. Even compared to
the 4-threaded CPU implementation, our method can

Table 1. Timing results for stereo matching

CPU-1 thread(s) CPU-4 threads(s) This method(s)

Image Size
16 × 16 32 × 32 16 × 16 32 × 32 16 × 16 32 × 32
320 × 240 3.2 5.5 1.1 2.2 0.2 0.8
640 × 480 14.0 29.5 5.0 10.4 0.3 1.6
1024 × 768 38.6 78.3 14.9 29.5 0.6 2.7
1600 × 1200 91.0 193.0 30.7 75.5 1.5 4.8
2048 × 1536 150.9 345.1 58.4 121.1 2.6 8.0
3024 ×2016 332.7 756.8 126.4 276.5 5.6 19.4
16 T. Chen et al.

Fig. 5. Plot of the speedups achieved compared to the two CPU implementations

perform 24 times faster. Fig. 5 shows a detailed plot of the speedups achieved com-
pared to the two CPU implementations. Not surprisingly, the speedup ratio increases
along with the increase in image size. Theoretically, it can be explained that a larger
image size means more image-block pairs parallelized at a time, with the relationship
of . Then the speedup ratio comes to fluctuate in a small scope, cor-
responding to the full capacity for our NVIDIA GTX770 GPU. It is also obvious that
reducing the image-block size helps to increase the parallel number. Nevertheless, the
interval [16,32] for the side length of image-block has been empirically proved to be
suitable for the narrow-baseline scenario, with regard to matching accuracy.
Here, we see that the excellent performance on efficiency of our method lies
in a high-level parallelization, not in a common speed-accuracy tradeoff. Hence the
quality of PC in the narrow-baseline scenario is well maintained. With high resolution
stereo image pairs, our method has the ability to provide disparity information
instantly with high accuracy.

5 Conclusion
In this paper, a novel stereo matching framework based on CUDA especially optimized
for narrow-baseline scenario is proposed. We employed global correlation to improve the
estimation accuracy while reducing the computational cost. Via a crucial block-cut pro-
cedure, we carefully divide the task among multiprocessors of the GPUs in a high paral-
lel level. Texture memory is also used, providing a great scope for accessing images.
Experimental results demonstrate that the proposed method outperforms the CPU based
implementation by a huge factor, which is capable of instantly and precisely measuring
the fractional disparities in narrow-baseline scenario.

Acknowledgments. The authors thank the editors and anonymous reviewers for their insights.
This work is supported by NSFC under grants 61173182 and 613111154, funding from Sichuan
Province (2014HH0048, 2014HH0025) and the Science and Technology Innovation seedling
project of Sichuan (2014-033, 2014034, 2015-046, 2015-095).
 Fast Narrow-Baseline Stereo Matching Using CUDA Compatible GPUs 17

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Another random document with
no related content on Scribd:
gray whiskers, while two of the others were Black Elrich and the man
who had first caught the big dog by the collar in the Hotel Metropole.
Elrich was at the head of the party, and he advanced straight toward
the diamond. As he drew near, he loudly said:
“So this is your team, Merriwell? I’m glad I found you here. I’ve
brought Dave Morley, manager of the Reds, along. This is Mr.
Morley.”
A short, stout, thick-set man came forward. He had a smooth-shaven
face of the bulldog cast, and he was smoking a black cigar. His first
words were:
“Mr. Merriwell, I see you are a squealer.”
 CHAPTER XXVI.
A DESPERATE ATTEMPT.

The man’s manner was quite as offensive as his words, but Merry
looked at him calmly, betraying no emotion, as he asked:
“What do you mean, sir?”
“Your acceptance of my challenge was a squeal,” declared Morley.
“How?”
“My challenge was to play for a purse and the entire gate-money.”
“And I accepted, stating my reasons for declining to play for a purse.”
“Which was a squeal.”
“Which was nothing of the sort! I have not started out with the
intention of running this ball-team to make money. We are out for
sport, and nothing else. I am not a gambler, and I take no
satisfaction in playing ball for purses.”
“Oh, I don’t suppose you ever did such a thing in your life?” sneered
Morley.
Merry flushed.
“It makes no difference what I have done.”
“But you can’t deny that you have played for purses.”
“Never without protest—never unless practically forced to do so. In
this case, I refuse to be forced. The gate-money should be sufficient
to pay well the winning team.”
“My team is run under heavy expense, and there is no assurance
that your aggregation of amateurs will prove a drawing card.”
Hodge was at Frank’s elbow, scowling like a thundercloud, his heart
filled with hot anger over the insolent words of the man. Bart’s
fighting blood was being stirred, and he longed to give Mr. David
Morley just what he deserved.
“Then you have the privilege of declining to meet us,” said Frank.
“That will settle the whole matter in short order.”
“He knows we’ll draw!” exclaimed Hodge. “Your name alone,
Merriwell, will turn out a crowd.”
“I think you are mistaken,” said the manager of the Reds. “In the
East, Frank Merriwell may be regarded as something of a wonder,
but out here he does not count. We have plenty of better men.”
“I’ll bet you——” began Bart hotly.
“Ah!” grunted Morley; “at least this member of your team is not
adverse to making a little gamble, Mr. Merriwell.”
“That has nothing to do with him,” said Bart. “I’ll bet you ten dollars
we get more hits off your pitcher than you do off Merriwell.”
“Ten dollars!” came scornfully from the manager of the Denver team.
“Why don’t you make it ten cents? You’re putting the figures too high,
young man.”
His words and manner were calculated to enrage Bart still more.
Frank’s fingers fell with a firm grip on the arm of his friend, and he
quietly said:
“I do not think we’ll do any betting over the game. If you wish to play
us on the terms stated by me in my acceptance of your challenge,
well and good. If you do not, we’ll let the matter drop.”
“It’s plain enough, Morley,” put in Elrich, “that the young chap knows
which side his bread is buttered on.”
“He must think me a mark to put my salaried team against his
collection of non-salaried kids,” sneered the baseball man, “unless
there is something more than glory in it. It’s mighty little glory we’d
get defeating his team.”
“That’s right!” exclaimed Bart; “for you’d never defeat it.”
“Then we’ll have to call the game off,” said Frank, remaining
perfectly calm.
“That’s a shame!” muttered Berlin Carson, who had heard some of
the talk. “I’m a Colorado man, but I think I know what Merriwell’s
team can do, and——”
“We cuc-cuc-can do those fellows,” said Gamp, who also was
aroused.
“Why, it would be a snap!” chuckled Jack Ready. “All we wanted the
game for was to get a little practise.”
“You’re a lot of bluffers!” roughly declared Morley.
“I told you there was nothing in it, Dave,” said Elrich, with an air of
weariness. “The boys have not money enough to put up a purse.”
Then Frank felt some one tugging at his elbow, and he looked round
to see Dick there, his eyes gleaming and his face flushed with
indignation.
“Bet him, Frank!” palpitated the lad. “I wouldn’t stand it to have him
talk that way to me! You know father was dreadfully rich, and all his
money was left to us. I’ll bet every cent of my part that your team can
beat his!”
“Ho! ho!” laughed Morley. “And how much might your part be, kid?”
“Oh, a little trifle of eight or ten million dollars, that’s all,” said Frank,
who could not help being somewhat nettled by the insulting manner
of the man. “I think it would be quite enough to accommodate you, in
case it was staked against anything you could raise at twenty to
one.”
It was not often Merriwell said anything like this, but just now he had
been provoked to the limit, and he could not refrain.
“You don’t mean to say the kid is worth eight or ten million dollars, do
you?” asked Elrich, as if incredulous.
“He will inherit something like that amount when he comes of age,”
answered Merry, as he carelessly toyed with the ball he had held
throughout this conversation.
A swift look passed between Elrich and the man with the gray
whiskers, who stood slightly apart from the group.
“And you’re his brother?” Elrich questioned further.
“I am,” bowed Merry.
“Where do you come in?”
“What do you mean?”
“What part of this snug little fortune do you get?”
“Really, sir, I do not know as that is of any concern to you. Still, it is
no secret that I, also, will inherit a similar sum when he comes of
age.”
“When he does? That’s odd. You’re of age now. How does it happen
that——”
“I decline to speak of this matter further, sir, as I——”
“You’re a big bluffer, Merriwell. I do not take any stock in your
romance of millions.”
“And I care not a snap whether you do or not.”
“If you had so much money at your command, you’d not hesitate to
put up a few hundred to back your ball-team—that is, if you really
believe your team capable of playing ball.”
“I have reasons for not gambling in any way,” said Frank. “I do not
expect men like you to respect my scruples, so all this talk is
wasted.”
“Well, we can’t fool with you!” angrily sneered Morley. “I’ll bet you five
hundred dollars, even money, that the Denver Reds can defeat your
ball-team. If you will not cover the money, we’ll fool away no more
time.”
“If he will not cover your money, I reckon I will!” exclaimed a voice,
as a man, who had approached without attracting notice, pushed into
the excited group.
“Father!” exclaimed Berlin Carson.
“Mr. Carson?” came from Merry’s lips.
“That’s me!” nodded the rancher, extending his hand and giving
Merry a hearty grip. “Forgot to tell Berlin to attend to one little piece
of business while in the city, so I decided to follow him. Heard over at
the hotel that you were here, Merriwell, with a ball-team. They told
me where to find you, and I came right out. What sort of a game of
talk was this man giving you?”
“He was trying to force me into wagering money with him over a ball-
game to which he has challenged me. He is the manager of the
Denver Reds.”
“Well, I don’t often bet against a home team, but I know you, and I’ve
seen your men play ball, so, if he wants to plank down five hundred,
I judge I can accommodate the gentleman. I believe I have that
amount of money about my clothes.”
“Then you’re the man I’m looking for!” exclaimed Morley. “Mr. Elrich
is my backer, and he will put up the money.”
“Who’ll hold the stakes?”
“Why, Mr. Jordan here is a good man to——”
“I allow I don’t know anything about Mr. Jordan, but I do know
Charley Gans, down at the Metropole, and he’ll suit me to a T.”
“Gans is all right,” nodded Elrich, who seemed eager to get the bet.
“Then I’ll meet you there at six this evening, and we’ll put up the
dust,” said Mr. Carson, with a dismissing wave of his hand. “Good
day till later.”
“Hurrah!” cried Dick, flinging his hat into the air. “That’s the stuff!”
“Slang, my boy—slang!” said Ready, severely. “You’re catching on
altogether too quick. I’m afraid you have been associating with bad
company lately.”
“You’re a regular young sport!” said Elrich, with apparent admiration,
his words being intended to flatter the boy.
“Are you a sport?” asked Dick.
“Well, I allow I have some sporting blood in me.”
“Then I’m no sport!” the lad quickly asserted. “I don’t want to be like
you.”
Elrich’s smile turned to a frown, but he said:
“You’re pretty sharp with your tongue, but you may have some of
your flipness taken out of you some day. All the same, I like you, and
I’ll give you a drive back to the hotel in my private carriage, if you’ll
go.”
“Hardly,” said Merry. “He can have all the drives he likes at his own
expense.”
“Oh, very well!” said the gambler, turning away and starting to talk in
a low tone to Morley.
Mr. Carson was speaking with those of Frank’s friends whom he had
met before. Now he turned to Merry once more.
“I reckon I’ve got you to thank for getting my boy onto the Yale ball-
team,” he said. “Berlin said it was through you he got a chance to
show what he could do.”
“It was because I knew he had the right stuff in him,” asserted
Merriwell. “I presume you’ll let him play with us against the
Denvers?”
“Sure as you’re shouting! And I’ll disown him if he doesn’t put up a
good game.”
At this moment there came a sudden cry. They turned to see Dick
Merriwell, caught up by the man with the gray beard, being carried
swiftly toward the gate, which was standing open. The man was
running, holding the struggling lad under his arm.
For an instant every one seemed paralyzed with astonishment. Then
Frank Merriwell sprang out, his arm went back, and, with all his
strength, he threw the ball in his hand.
Straight as a bullet from a rifle flew the ball, and it struck the running
man fairly on the back of the head, knocking him forward on his face.
This caused him to drop the boy, and, quick as thought, Dick
scrambled up and leaped, like a young panther, on the back of the
man.
When Merriwell leaped forward, Black Elrich suddenly stepped into
his way, and there was a collision. Elrich staggered and caught hold
of Merriwell’s arm, to which he tried to cling.
Instantly Frank beat off the hand of the man, sprang round him, and
dashed to the aid of Dick. But the man had flung the boy off, and
now he rose to his feet, casting one quick look over his shoulder.
A surprising thing had happened, for the man was beardless now,
his gray whiskers being grasped in the fingers of the plucky lad.
Frank saw the face of the man.
“Mescal!” he cried.
It was Mescal and again he had made a desperate play to get
possession of Dick Merriwell, for Frank was confident it had been the
intention of the fellow to abduct the boy.
Mescal now fled like a deer out through the gate, sprang into the
carriage standing there, tore the reins from the hands of the driver,
snatched out the whip, cut the horses, and was carried away just as
Frank came up.
For a moment Merry contemplated pursuing the desperado, but he
quickly decided that it would be folly to make the attempt.
Black Elrich came rushing out through the gate, shouting:
“Stop! stop there! By heavens! he’s running off with my team!”
Frank faced the gambler, his eyes flashing.
“The job failed, Elrich,” he said cuttingly. “It was a daring attempt,
and rather foolish, I think.”
“The man is crazy!” said Black Ben.
“Crazy to make a play for ransom-money,” said Merry. “I know him,
and I’ll see that the police of Denver are put on his track. If he is
caught, he may squeal and expose his pals. In that case, Mr. Elrich,
you are liable to feel rather uncomfortable.”
“Do you mean to insinuate——”
“My words are plain. I saw the look that passed between you and
that man a short time ago. My eyes are pretty wide open.”
“Why, I don’t know the man. He came along to the gate as we were
entering, and walked in with us.”
“By appointment?”
“Nothing of the sort! I tell you I don’t know him. And anybody who
knows me will swear that my word is good.”
“In a matter of cards or other gambling it may be. But I wish you to
inform Anton Mescal that I shall be better prepared for him next time.
The ball that brings him down then will be of lead, and not a common
baseball.”
 CHAPTER XXVII.
A DASTARDLY TRICK.

Frank went directly from the ball-grounds to police headquarters,

where he told of the attempted abduction of Dick, giving a full
description of Anton Mescal, and entering complaint against the
man. The police fancied Mescal was an old offender under another
name, and promised to do their best to lay hands on him.
When Merry reached the Hotel Metropole he found that something
had happened. Mr. Carson had again encountered Black Elrich, who
had expressed a doubt concerning his sincerity in the assertion that
he would back Merry’s ball-team. As a result, Carson had deposited
the money at once, and Elrich had covered it, with the understanding
that the game was to take place within two days.
“Two days!” exclaimed Frank, as the cattleman reached this point in
his report of what had taken place.
“Yes,” nodded Carson. “He said he would not object if you wished to
play to-morrow, but would prefer that the game take place on the day
following.”
“And you put the money up under such conditions?”
“I did.”
“The first trick!”
“What do you mean?”
“He knows my team has not played together yet this summer, and
has not obtained much practise. He wished to get the game before
we could put ourselves in the best condition.”
“Why, he led me to believe that you wished to play to-morrow, but
that he wanted another day for advertising-purposes.”
“Which was his way of working the trick. Never mind, Mr. Carson;
we’ll meet him.”
“And we’ll beat him,” put in Hodge.
“In that case, he will lose a good round sum of money,” said the
cattleman.
“Five hundred does not seem much to a man like him,” said Bart.
“But five hundred is far from being all he will lose. It’s the smallest
part.”
“How is that?” asked Frank.
“Why, another gambler happened to be present, and he seemed to
know something about you. When I had covered Elrich’s money, this
other man asked me if I was dead sure that the fellow who was
going to pitch against the Reds was Frank Merriwell, of Yale. I told
him I was. He wanted to know how I was sure. I explained that my
son attended Yale, and would play with Merriwell’s team. Then what
do you suppose happened?”
“Go on,” urged Merry.
“This man turned on Elrich and offered to bet all sorts of money on
you, Merriwell. He said he would bet a thousand dollars even that
you struck out no less than eighteen men. Elrich took him, and the
money went up. Then he offered another thousand dollars even that
the Reds would not get more than five hits off you. Elrich took that.”
“Whew!” whistled Frank, while Bart Hodge simply said:
“He’ll win.”
“When the second bet had been covered, the man offered to put up
one thousand against two thousand that the Reds did not score at
all.”
“And the offer was taken?”
“Yes.”
Bart actually laughed.
“Whoever he is, that man knows you, Merry.”
“Then,” said Mr. Carson, “he offered a bet of two thousand to one
that the Reds would be beaten, and that wager was taken.”
“Five thousand dollars each!” exclaimed Frank. “That is big money
on a ball-game.”
“Who was the man?” asked Hodge. “Didn’t you find out, Mr.
Carson?”
“Of course, I was curious to know, and it seemed that he was no
stranger to Elrich. They had met before, and Elrich called him Lake.”
“Lake?” said Frank. “I do not think I have a friend by that name.”
“I asked Charley Gans, the stakeholder, about him,” said the
cattleman, “and he said the man was a race-track gambler, and that
his full name was Justin Lake.”
“Justin Lake?” cried both Frank and Bart.
“That was his name,” nodded Mr. Carson.
“Well, that beats anything,” came from Hodge. “To think he’d bet on
you, Frank!”
Merry laughed.
“Perhaps he did it to recoup, for he has lost enough in his time
betting against me.”
“Then you know him?” questioned Mr. Carson.
“I should say so. I have had two very serious encounters with the
fellow, who is just as much a rascal as Black Elrich. Last year he
plotted against Yale and bet money on her defeat, but I baffled his
plots. Again this year he tried the trick, carrying me out to sea on his
steam-yacht, where he originally meant to leave me in an open boat,
so that I would not be on hand at the New London boat-race. But
once more I defeated him, and he lost a large amount of money.”
“Well, he’s betting on you this time, and he finally had Elrich at a
stand, for he proposed several other wagers, which the man would
not accept. He also asked me if Hodge was to catch in the game. I
told him so, and, finding he could get no more bets, he politely called
Elrich a mark. He declared that, with Hodge catching, there was no
possible show for any team outside the big leagues to defeat you.
Some reference was made to your ball called the double-shoot.
Elrich sneered and laughed at it. Lake said you could throw the
double-shoot, but that there was no other catcher, save Hodge, who
could hold it well.”
“Compliment from a rascal!” said Bart. “No thanks for it.”
“I hate to help Justin Lake to make a winning,” said Frank; “but it
can’t be helped now. There is no way out of it.”
“But I’ll agree to take something out of his hide in case I meet him,”
Hodge declared. “I’ve been wanting to get my hands on him for
some time.”
Lake, however, was not found around the hotel.
The story of the great betting on the ball-game that was to take place
within two days spread swiftly through the city, so that it became the
talk in sporting circles.
Frank was very sorry that anything of the sort had happened, but still
his conscience was clear, as he had rigidly refused to be driven into
wagering money with a man like Elrich. When the other members of
Frank’s team heard about it, they all expressed satisfaction.
“Why, it’s the greatest ad we could have had!” laughed Jack Ready.
“I’ll wager my loveliest pair of drop-stitch hose that we draw the
biggest crowd ever seen at a ball-game in this city. And how I will
surprise the populace. La! la!”
“Jiminy!” gurgled Gamp. “Th-th-th-things are beginning to git lively
right off!”
“Money! money!” sighed Carker, shaking his head dolefully. “It is the
root of all evil! It stirs up contention and strife! It arouses greed and
envy! Ah, will the day ever come when all men shall be equally rich
and equally poor?”
“Lot on your knife—I mean not on your life!” exclaimed Rattleton
promptly.
That evening Hodge and Ready were walking along one of the
principal streets of the city when an old woman stopped them at a
corner, croaking:
“Young gentlemen, I can tell your past and future. I am Gipsy Mag,
the seventh daughter of a seventh daughter. Let me read your
palms, and all the mysteries of your lives shall be revealed to you.”
“Tell me, pretty maiden, are there any more at home like you?”
warbled Ready.
“I have no home,” she answered. “My home is the whole world. For a
quarter I will reveal to you many things.”
“That’s cheap enough,” nodded Jack. “Here is your fourth part of an
honest American dollar. Now, go ahead and tell me lots of lovely
things.”
The old woman’s eyes were fastened on Bart.
“Let me tell his fortune first,” she urged.
“Nonsense!” exclaimed Hodge. “I do not care for it.”
“It’s a mash, old man,” chuckled Ready. “You’ve hit her hard, my boy.
If you don’t submit to her demands, I’ll tell the gang about your
mash. Put up your fin and let the fair lady read your palm. Come on.”
He playfully grasped Bart’s wrist and held up his hand for the old
fortune-teller to examine.
Not wishing to appear grouty, Hodge submitted.
The old woman firmly grasped the back of Bart’s hand, over which
she bent, mumbling something. Then of a sudden she poured from a
small vial something upon Hodge’s hand that immediately began to
smart and burn like fire.
Bart gave an exclamation of surprise and anger, snatching his hand
away. The old woman flung aside the vial.
“It’s the oil of success!” she cried. “Hereafter you will succeed in
everything you undertake.”
“It’s a trick!” exclaimed Hodge hoarsely. “The stuff burns.”
“That will stop in a moment,” laughed the gipsy. “It will do you good.”
“Grab her, Jack!” exclaimed Bart. “She has done something to put
my hand out of commission.”
But the old woman turned and ran with surprising speed through a
doorway and disappeared into a saloon. Ready jumped after her,
but, as he entered the saloon by one door, he saw her disappear
through another that led onto a side street. He rushed after her, but
she had vanished when he reached the street.
“Well, by the powers!” gasped Jack. “She’s vanished like a witch!”
When he returned to the point where he had left Bart, he saw the
latter just disappearing into a drug store. Jack hurried after. As he
entered, he heard Hodge saying to the druggist:
“An old woman threw something on my hand that burns like fire. I
believe it was acid. Give me something quick to relieve me.”
The druggist sprang to obey, after taking a single look at Bart’s hand.
“Vitriol, or something like it,” declared the druggist, as he quickly
applied to the hand something to soothe it. “But it’s queer she threw
it on your hand. Vitriol-throwers usually aim at the face.”
Bart saw Jack at his side.
“Did you catch her?” he eagerly asked, although it was plain from the
expression of his face that he was in pain.
“She got away,” confessed Ready humbly. “Hodge, I’m to blame for
this! I’m a chump—a blundering chump!”
“If it hadn’t been for you——” began Bart, but he suddenly checked
himself, controlling the impulse to reproach his companion for what
had happened.
“I know—I know!” muttered Ready. “Oh, I’d like to kick myself! But
who ever thought that old hag was up to anything of the kind?”
“Why did she do it?” asked the druggist, as he continued to apply the
lotion to Bart’s hand.
“That’s a mystery,” said Ready.
“No mystery at all,” said Hodge, at once. “It was so that I may be
unable to catch in the game against the Reds. That was the trick.
With a raw hand like this, I’ll be knocked out. And I know the
miserable gambler who is behind the whole deal. His name is Black
Elrich!”
 CHAPTER XXVIII.
ON THE FIELD.

No baseball-game in Denver had ever turned out a larger crowd. The

story of the betting had been told by the newspapers, and that,
together with the fact that the great college man, Merriwell, was the
manager, captain, and pitcher for the team pitted against the Reds,
served to bring the people swarming to the ball-grounds.
The story of the strange injury of Bart Hodge had also been told by
the papers, and they had said that Merriwell could not do his best in
the box without Hodge for a catcher. This being the case, the
majority of the public felt convinced that the Denver team would win.
Of course, the papers had scouted the idea that Bart’s hand had
been injured to keep him from catching, even though Hodge himself
hotly declared that as his firm belief. Merriwell, also, believed such to
be the case, as did the other members of the team.
At first it had seemed that the nine was disastrously crippled, but
Hodge had said:
“It’s my left hand. In her haste, the old hag did not stop to see if it
was my throwing-hand. Had she put the stuff on my right hand it
would have knocked me out. Now, I am going to catch.”
“But you can’t do it!” exclaimed Rattleton.
“I will!” grated Hodge. “I’ll catch, if it takes my life!”
Frank shook his head.
“I’m afraid you can’t,” he confessed. “The doctor says not.”
“Doctors do not know everything.”
“But I’d rather lose the game, and Mr. Carson says he’d rather lose
his money than have you permanently injure your hand.”
“I’ll not injure it permanently. The catcher’s mitt will protect it, and I’ll
be behind the bat.”
Frank admired this kind of grit, but he feared that Hodge might find
himself seriously handicapped in the game.
When the afternoon of the game came, Bart got into his new suit
with the others, although his hand was in a bandage.
The Reds were first to appear on the field, and the admirers of
Denver’s lively independent team rose up and gave them a warm
greeting. They went out at once for practise, and their work was
sharp, snappy, and professional.
Just as the regular time for the practise of the home team had
expired, Merriwell and his men entered the field. They made a
handsome appearance in their new suits, with a large white M on the
bosom of every shirt, and the spectators generously gave them a
hearty hand.
“Where’s Merriwell?”
“Where’s Hodge?”
“That’s Hodge with the bandage on his hand.”
“Is he going to catch?”
“He says he will.”
“I don’t believe he was hurt at all. It was a trick to fool the Reds.”
“Can’t fool them that way.”
“Merriwell will fool them with his double-shoot.”
“Double-shoot be jiggered! No man ever threw such a thing.”
“Wait and see.”
Such was the talk on the bleachers.
“Take the field,” said Merry, and the men trotted out.
Then practise began. Two of the Denver men batted the balls out,
while Bart and Frank made ready to do some warming up on the
side.
The work of the Reds had been almost flawless in practise, but such
could not be said of Merry’s team. They showed their want of
practise, although they went after everything with a will. Rattleton
had not been playing ball for some time, and he was not used to the
ground around second, which caused him to make two bad fumbles
of hot grounders.
“He’s a dead one,” declared the crowd.
Out in left field, Swiftwing misjudged the first ball he went after and
failed to touch it when he should have done so.
“The Indian is no good,” decided the bleachers.
Browning had not aroused himself, and he had a supremely weary
air at first.
“First base is too lazy,” said the spectators.
In this manner almost the entire team was condemned.
Bart had pulled on a mitt and Frank was throwing him some easy
ones. If they hurt Bart’s hand, he made no show of it; but Merry
would be compelled to use different speed than that in a game.
Black Elrich and Dan Mahoney were sitting on the bleachers.
Mahoney observed:
“It’s a cinch!”
“I think so,” said Elrich.
“No need to have gone to all that trouble about the catcher,”
muttered Mahoney.
“But I wanted to make sure. You know Lake said he is the only man
who can hold Merriwell.”
“You’re five thousand in, with the five hundred added.”
“I reckon. But what’s this? There’s the boy Mescal was after, and
he’s got a companion. Look at them! What are they going to do?”
Dick Merriwell and Old Joe Crowfoot were advancing toward the
home plate.
 CHAPTER XXIX.
HITS THAT DID NOT COUNT.

Frank Merriwell made a signal, and his men came trotting in from the
field.
But the eyes of the spectators were on the strangely handsome boy
and the wrinkled old Indian, the latter having his dirty red blanket
wrapped about his shoulders. At the home plate, to which the boy
seemed to lead the Indian, they stopped.
Some boys on the bleachers began to whoop like a whole pack of
redskins. Unheeding everything, Old Joe slowly walked round the
rubber plate, then stopped, extended his hands over it and made
some queer signs, as if he were weaving a spell. A hush had fallen
on the curious crowd.
Finally the aged Indian stooped and solemnly placed the flat of his
hand upon the plate, as if blessing it. This done, he turned, and,
accompanied by the boy, walked toward the bench. Again the
urchins began to whoop, and the crowd laughed.
The umpire appeared and advanced onto the field. The Reds, of
course, had their choice of innings, and they decided to go to bat
first.
Merriwell’s men were bunched about their leader, who was speaking
to them in low tones.
“All ready,” called the umpire.
Immediately, the Merries turned and trotted out onto the field once
more, while the first batter of the home team picked out his stick and
advanced toward the plate.
“Light on him right off the reel,” said Dave Morley, who was sitting on
the home bench. “Break his heart in the first inning.”