Icon Aquatic-GS:A Hybrid 3D Representation for Underwater Scenes

Beihang University

3DGS vs Aquatic-GS

With Water vs Without Water (Aquatic-GS)

Abstract

Representing underwater 3D scenes is a valuable yet complex task, as attenuation and scattering effects during underwater imaging significantly couple the information of the objects and the water. This coupling presents a significant challenge for existing methods in effectively representing both the objects and the water medium simultaneously.

To address this challenge, we propose Aquatic-GS, a hybrid 3D representation approach for underwater scenes that effectively represents both the objects and the water medium. Specifically, we construct a Neural Water Field (NWF) to implicitly model the water parameters, while extending the latest 3D Gaussian Splatting (3DGS) to model the objects explicitly. Both components are integrated through a physics-based underwater image formation model to represent complex underwater scenes. Moreover, to construct more precise scene geometry and details, we design a Depth-Guided Optimization (DGO) mechanism that uses a pseudo-depth map as auxiliary guidance. After optimization, Aquatic-GS enables the rendering of novel underwater viewpoints and supports restoring the true appearance of underwater scenes, as if the water medium were absent.

Extensive experiments on both simulated and real-world datasets demonstrate that Aquatic-GS surpasses state-of-the-art underwater 3D representation methods, achieving better rendering quality and real-time rendering performance with a 410x increase in speed. Furthermore, regarding underwater image restoration, Aquatic-GS outperforms representative dewatering methods in color correction, detail recovery, and stability.

Method

Aquatic-GS employs a hybrid manner to represent underwater 3D scenes

Aquatic-GS's Hybrid Scene Representation Manner

The pipeline of Aquatic-GS

Aquatic-GS Pipeline

Results

Results of Underwater Novel Viewpoint Synthesis

Below, you can choose different scenes for comparison. On the left, you will see the comparison between 3DGS and Aquatic-GS; on the right, you will see the comparison between SeaThru-NeRF and Aquatic-GS. Please select a scene from the dropdown menu:

3DGS vs Aquatic-GS

SeaThru-NeRF vs Aquatic-GS

Results of Underwater Image Restoration

Below, you can choose different scenes for comparison. On the left, you can see our Aquatic-GS rendering of the underwater scene (with water) alongside the restored scene (without water). On the right, you can see the comparison between SeaThru-NeRF and Aquatic-GS in underwater scene restoration (de-water). Please select a scene from the dropdown menu:

With Water vs Without Water (Aquatic-GS)

SeaThru-NeRF vs Aquatic-GS

BibTeX

@article{liu2024aquatic,
  author    = {Shaohua Liu, Junzhe Lu, Zuoya Gu, Jiajun Li, and Yue Deng},
  title     = {Aquatic-GS:A Hybrid 3D Representation for Underwater Scenes},
  journal   = {xxxx},
  year      = {2024},
}