Basic concepts for 3D containers

Container. A MIL object that contains one or more buffers, called its components.

3D Container. A container that stores 3D data in a format supported by MIL.

Component. A buffer that has been allocated in a container.

Child container. A container that references a subset of the components of a parent container. The contents of a child container are determined dynamically when the parent container changes by applying a filter to its components based on a list of criteria, specified when the child container is allocated.

3D settings. The component settings that affect how 3D data in a range or disparity component is interpreted during conversion to a 3D-processable or 3D-displayable container. These settings are listed in For inquiring about settings that apply only to components.

Component type. The component setting which indicates what type of information the component stores.

Point cloud container. A container that stores a point cloud in a format supported by MIL (either for 3D-processing, 3D-display, or conversion).

3D-processable container. A 3D container that can be passed as a source to MIL 3D processing functions. You can inquire if a container is 3D-processable using MbufInquireContainer() with M_3D_PROCESSABLE.

3D-displayable container. A 3D container that can be selected to a MIL 3D display. You can inquire if a container is 3D-displayable using MbufInquireContainer() with M_3D_DISPLAYABLE.

Range Component. A component with the component type M_COMPONENT_RANGE. A range component stores the coordinates of the points of a point cloud, or the depths of the pixels of a depth map.

Disparity Component. A component with the component type M_COMPONENT_DISPARITY. A disparity component stores the apparent distance (typically measured in pixel units) between where an object appears in the left and right images captured by a stereoscopic camera.

Intensity Component. A component with the component type M_COMPONENT_INTENSITY. An intensity component stores a standard image.

Reflectance Component. A component with the component type M_COMPONENT_REFLECTANCE. A reflectance component stores the intensity of reflected light for each point or pixel of the range or disparity component.