Segmentation of Moving Objects During Camera Motion Using the OWL Function

Overview & Synopsis

We present a principled, analytical framework for segmenting multiple independently moving rigid objects during single camera motion, built directly upon the OWL perception function. OWL encodes two fundamental visual motion cues, perceived looming $L$ and perceived rotation $ω$, into a single closed-form representation of relative 3D structure. A key consequence of this structure is that the unit direction of relative translation $\hat{t}$ is analytically recoverable per image point from $L$ and $ω$ alone. All points belonging to a non-rotating rigid body share the same $\hat{t}$, whereas points on different rigid bodies generally yield distinct values. This furnishes a natural segmentation criterion: clustering per-point $\hat{t}$ estimates partitions the visible scene into independently moving rigid bodies. Building on the 2D complex form of OWL, we derive the framework in 3D using quaternions, for a single moving camera. The approach is parallel, camera rotation-invariant, and requires no training data, no depth information, and no semantic priors.