A tutorial on Afne and Projective Geometry, applications

to Pose estimation
Snehal I. Bhayani
1 Introduction
Pose estimation in the language of computer
vision is dened as The specic task of deter-
mining the pose of an object in an image (or
stereo images, image sequence). This problem
can be solved in different ways depending on
the image sensor conguration, and choice of
methodology. Three classes of methodologies
can be distinguished:
1. Analytic or geometric methods: Given
that the image sensor (camera) is calibrated
the mapping from 3D points in the scene and
2D points in the image is known. If also the
geometry of the object is known, it means that
the projected image of the object on the camera
image is a well-known function of the objects
pose. Once a set of control points on the object,
typically corners or other feature points, has been
identied it is then possible to solve the pose
transformation from a set of equations which
relate the 3D coordinates of the points with their
2D image coordinates.
2. Genetic algorithm methods: If the pose
of an object does not have to be computed in
real-time a genetic algorithm may be used. This
approach is robust especially when the images
are not perfectly calibrated. In this particular
case, the pose represent the genetic representa-
tion and the error between the projection of the
object control points with the image is the tness
function.
3. Learning-based methods: These methods
use articial learning-based system which learn
the mapping from 2D image features to pose
transformation. In short, this means that a
sufciently large set of images of the object, in
different poses, must be presented to the system
during a learning phase. Once the learning phase
is completed, the system should be able to present
an estimate of the objects pose given an image
of the object.
In this tutorial we would talk about the analytic
and geometric methods of pose estimation.
Another denition as given in [3] considers there
is a collection of geometric models of the objects
that should be recognized. This collection is
usually referred to as the modelbase. We shall
assume that, if information about an object turns
out to be useful in an algorithm, we can ensure
it is in the modelbase. Here the algorithms for
object recognition hypothesize a correspondence
between a collection of image features and a
collection of object features, and then use this to
generate a hypothesis about the projection from
the object coordinate frame to the image frame.
There are a variety of dierent ways of generating
hypotheses. When camera intrinsic parameters
are known, the hypothesis is equivalent to a
hypothetical position and orientation pose for
the object. Thus a pose of an object ideally would
comprise of the the relative orientation of an
object with the co-ordinate frames of the sensor.
And hence we have 4 types of pose estimation
problems as mentioned in [8] :
2-D to 2-D ESTIMATION: We are given N
two-dimensional coordinate observations from
the observed image: x
1
, ..., x
N
These could
correspond, for example, to the observed cen-
ter position of all observed objects. We are
also given the corresponding or matching N
two-dimensional coordinate vectors from the
model:y
1
, ..., y
N
1
2 Motivation for a study of
different geometries
Lets consider a practical example of a pin hole
camera model. Here we can see two co-ordinate
systems. One is centered at C with an orthonor-
mal system of basis axes, X, Y and Z. This is the
camera co-ordinate system. The other is the reti-
nal or image plane system. It is centered at c ob-
tained by the intersection of a normal line drawn
through C to the retinal or image plane. This is
known as the principal point. And the two axes of
this retinal plane R, u and v are parallel to axes X
and Y of the camera co-ordinate axes. The third
axes normal to the retinal plane is also known as
optical axis. The distance f between C and R is
taken to be 1 here for simplicity. With this system
in place lets consider an arbitrary point M with
co-ordinates [X, Y, Z]
T
and its projection as ob-
tained on the retinal plane R at point m, [u, v].
This projection is obtained by obtaining point m
as the point of intersection of the line joining C
and M with the retinal plane R. With elementary
trigonometry, we can nd a relationship between
M and m as
u = X/Z, v = Y/Z
This is the most fundamental relation between
points in world or camera setup and the retinal or
image plane. As mentioned in [4], this relation is
a non-linear one. And hence not so easy to work
with. A signicant area is reverse mapping from
a point in image to a point in 3-D camera system.
This is a much harder problem as we can see from
gure 1 above that a point m in the retinal plane
can be mapped to innitely many points lying on
the straight line joining the camera center C and
the image point m. Hence this ambiguity adds to
the problem of reverse mapping. For this we can
consider more than one images taken of the same
object but from different perspectives. And from
multiple views we can Another issue is the not
so rich geometry of afne spaces as we have at
hand. To convert the above non-linear operation
we can introduce an extra dimension to both the
camera co-ordinate system and the retinal plane.
This representation is known as homogeneous
co-ordinate system. Hence with some algebra we
see the above non-linear relation is converted to
m =

Z u
Z v
Z

1 0 0 0
0 1 0 0
0 0 1 0

X
Y
Z
W

= P
0
M
Where we dene the newer representation
[u, v, 1] = [u, v, ] for all non-zero real val-
ues of scalar . Thus they all denote the same
point in the projective plane (though they rep-
resent distinct vectors in the R
3
vector space).
Hence from the above linear representation if
[Zu, Zv, Z] = [X, Y, Z] then u = X/Z, v =
Y/Z. Here we have considered f = 1 else it
would simply lead to scaling and still represent
the same point. This discussion leads us to a kind
of representation of points that leads us to projec-
tive geometry. And there are many advantages of
this more general projective geometry. Far richer
than the conventional afne one. For a detailed
study of different geometries and their hierarchies
one can refer to [4], [6], [9], [10], [11] and [7]
. [7] ,[6] and [10] have quite an involved dis-
cussion about the shortcomings of afne and eu-
clidean geometries and howcan these are rectied
in projective geometry. And the hierarchy of ge-
ometries is an interesting concept. Many books
on geometry of computer vision have discussions
on various geometries and their properties. From
this discussion and the literature survey, we see
that a complete denition and description of var-
ious geometries ease our study of computer vi-
sion and specically pose estimation. As seen in
the previous section, a problem of pose estima-
tion is best described as given a view or multi-
ple views of an object, pose estimation is the
estimation of an object orientation and posi-
tion relative to a model reference plane or rela-
tive to the object position and orientation itself
but a previous time instance Here the views are
the co-ordinates of either 3-D world references
or the perspective projections of the objects or
a combination of them. Thus we have different
kinds of pose estimation problems based on what
kind of point data sets are available. And in the
most difcult pose estimation problem, one data
set consists of the 2-D perspective projection of
3-D points and the other data set consists of a sec-
ond 2-D perspective projection view of the same
3-D point data set, known as the relative orien-
2
tation problem. For this problem a study of in-
variant and variant problems when 3-D points are
projected onto 2-D plane. And hence the need
to study this form of geometry. Again there are
many ways of looking at a set of geometries. One
is the axiomatic structure. Like the one mentioned
in [2] we have a set of axioms that dene a pro-
jective plane and further a space. They result in
certain properties of the projective geometry. An-
other approach would be the one mentioned in [1]
where a geometry is seen as a set of of fundamen-
tal elements together with an incidence structure
that denes which element is incident to which
element. This approach is known as synthetic
geometry. Further the authors consider another
viewpoint of a geometry and that is the analytic
approach which sees geometries using results of
vector spaces and linear algebra. Here are the
concept of co-ordinates introduced. And many
results pertaining to projective geometry follow,
nally a connection between both the forms of
geometries. To summarize, quite a lot of mate-
rial is available for one to delve into the struc-
ture of projective and hence an afne geometry.
In this tutorial we will consider only the analyti-
cal viewpoint. As we see from the basic camera
model, our need is to consider the homogeneous
co-ordinate system. [9] and [11] have described
synthetic geometry as a study of groups of trans-
formations that leave certain properties invariant.
This denition would serve as a push into study of
projective geometry and its invariants but using
the concept of homogeneous co-ordinates. Before
we look into projective geometry and the prop-
erties invariant in a projective transformation, I
would suggest an interested reader into elemen-
tary study of the various transformations and their
groups. Again [11] has a basic yet essential ingre-
dients for treatment of rigid body transformations.
Taking them further we have smilarity transfor-
mations and nally the most generic ones known
as projective transforms.
Projective transforms are what project a 3D ob-
ject into an image on the retinal or image plane.
Hence those properties that remain invariant in
these projective transforms help us to not only de-
ne our projective planes and spaces, but also nd
out various point-point correspondences. These
further help us to estimate the pose of an object
from multiple views. With enough motivation on
board for studying projective geometry from an-
alytical point of view we start with a bit more
constrained geometry of Afne spaces and then
generalize to projective geometry. Finally end-
ing with an insight into the denitions of multiple
view geometry and camera models.
3 Afne Geometry
3.1 Afne spaces
Firstly we would need afne spaces. An afne
space is a set Atogether with a vector space Vand
a faithful and transitive group action of V (with
addition of vectors as group action) on A. Explic-
itly, an afne space is a point set A together with
a map
l : V XA A, (, a) + a with the follow-
ing properties:
Left identity
a A, 0 +a = a
Associativity
, w V, a A, + (w +a) = ( +w) +a
Uniqueness
a A, V A : ( +a) is a bijection.
The vector space V is said to underly the afne
space A and is also called the difference space.
Thus we have the operator + ( dened as l) de-
ned between a point and a vector. Equivalently
we can dene an afne space in another way.
Here we can see it as some results that come from
the above denition:
We are given an afne space A and the underlying
vector space is V.
3.1.1 Result 1
Statement: We can have a subtraction map
dened as :
: AXA V such that a, b A,
(a, b) for a unique V
and we write (a, b) b a

ab.
Adding to it we see that this map is onto V and
also many-to-one.
3.1.2 Result 2
Statement: a, b, c A, (a, b) + (b, c) =
(a, c) where is what we have dened in result
3
1 above.
Here though one point needs to be checked:
- (dened as ) is well dened. And any set of
points with such a vector space forms an afne
space and it is represented as (A, V, ) as well
where V is the underlying vector space or also
as (X,

X, ) where

X is the underlying vector
space. And henceforth in this literature we will
use either of these notations for an afne space.
We can also see that if for two points a and b in A
(a, b) = , V,
then (b, a) = v.
3.2 Basis of afne spaces
We knowthat given a vector space V, a linearly in-
dependent set of vectors m
i

1<i<n+1
V form a
basis if w V we have w =
n
i=1
(
i
m
i
). A
similar parallelism is obtained in the case of afne
spaces.
Let given an afne space (A,V,). Consider-
ing the linear combination of a
i1<i<n+1
A, as
w =
n
i=1
(
i
a
i
) where
i

1in
R and
a
i

1in
A. Ideally any combination like this
is not dened. But under a special case where

n
i=1
(
i
) = 1 we can dene this notation to be
o A, w =
n
i=1
(
i
(a
i
o)) + o. This is
well dened as (a
i
o) =

oa
i
V .
Thus o
1
, o
2
A, w =
n
i=1
(
i
(a
i
o
1
))+o
1
=

n
i=1
(
i
(a
i
o
2
)) + o
2
. Thus w is the same
whatever point of A we select as our center. And
hence we can think of
n
i=1
(
i
a
i
)as a valid
point and thus we can say afne combinations
are preserved in an afne space.
This discussion leads to the denition of a ba-
sis for an afne space. Given an afne space
(A, V, ) , we can dene a set of points m
i

1in+1
to be a basis for n-dimensional afne
space iff m
i
A,

m
i
m
j

1jn+1,i=j
form a
basis for V.
We can see that these n + 1 points are said to be
afnely independent. And given an afne ba-
sis of points for afne space (A,V,), we have the
following result.
3.2.1 Result 3
Statement: a A we can represent uniquely a
=
n+1
i=1
(
i
m
i
),
n+1
i=1
(
i
) = 1.
Proof:
Lets assume, we are given a basis

m
i
m
j

1jn+1,i=j
. If we x a point m
i
A,
1in
then
by denition (m
i
, a)

m
i
a = , V is a
bijection. Hence a A, we have

m
i
a V and
hence

m
i
a has an unique linear combination in
the form of

m
i
a =
n+1
j=1,j=i
(
j


m
i
m
j
) where

j
form a set of scalars not all zero.
Hence using the denition of the - operator,
a =
n+1
j=1,j=i
(
j

m
i
m
j
)+m
i
=
n+1
j=1
(
j

om
j
)+o,
for any o A.
By our denition of a barycenter
a =
n+1
k=1
(
j

m
k
)
where
n+1
= 1
n
k=i

k
Thus a is uniquely
represented as a barycenter of the family of points
((m
k
,
k
))
1kn+1
A.
3.3 Afne morphism
Given two afne spaces (X,

X, ) and
(X

, ), a map X X

is said to be
an afne morphism if and only if we can nd a
linear application

f such that

f :

X

we
have :
X

-
f
-

f
6

X
such that

f(b) f(c) =

f (

bc),
b,cX
. But as we
know that is many-one, we can x one of b and
c; thus given a X and hence f(a) X

f is
known as afne morphism if and only if we can
nd

f such that
bX
, f(b) = f(a) +

f (

ab).
This denition brings us to a result which comes
from a book by Jean Gallier ([5]) where a map
f : X X

is known as afne morphism if and

only if for every family of ((a
i
,
i
))
iI
weighted
points in X, the afne combination or barycenter
is preserved or :
f (
iI

i
a
i
)
Here is dened X X X

such as
dened in section 2.1.
4
3.4 Afne subspaces
Gallier in [5] denes an afne subspace as :
Let an afne space (X,

X, ) be given. Then U
X is an afne subspace if and only if for every
family of points
((a
i
,
i
))
iI
, a
i

1in
U, n is the size of I
, the corresponding afne combination or a
barycenter,
iI
(
i
a
i
) also lies in U. We can
also dene an afne subspace in terms of corre-
spondence vector subspace. For the above afne
space, U is its subspace if and only if we can
nd a unique vector subpsace

U of

X, such that
(U,

U , ) is also an afne space as dened in
section 2.1. Note: Here is the same function
as dened in the denition of the parent afne
space (X,

X, ) as : X X

X, a, b
X, (a, b) , for a unique . For the subspace
we replace X with U and

X with

U .
This denition leads to many results :
3.4.1 Result
Statement: Given an afne space (X,

X, ), a
non empty set U of X is an afne subspace if and
only if for every point a in U,

U
a
=

ax =
(a, x) [x U is a subspace of

X and more so

U
a
=

U
b
for any b in

U and

U
a
=

U for all a
in U. Seen in another way we can see that U can
be generated from

U
a
as u = + a for a unique
vector in

U for every u in U. Author Gallier
names

U as the direction of U in [5].
3.4.2 Result
Statement: Given an afne space (X,

X, ) for
any family of points, (a
i
)
iI
in X, the set V of
all possible barycenters
iI
(
i
a
i
), for a family
of scalars (
i
)
iI
is the smallest afne subspace
containing (a
i
)
iI
. We can see how this is possi-
ble using denition of afne subspaces. As seen
previously, if (a
i
)
iI
belong to an afne subspace
V then all barycenters
iI
(
i
a
i
) also have to be-
long to V where
iI
(
i
) = 1. Now we only
have to show that V is the smallest subspace con-
tainning (a
i
)
iI
. This is evident as any barycenter
of set of points which themselves are barycen-
ters of (a
i
)
iI
, are also barycenters of (a
i
)
iI
.
Hence V has to contain all of these barycenters
and thus is the smallest afne subspace contain-
ing the points (a
i
)
iI
of X.
Thus given any set of points S we can denote the
smallest afne subspace containing S as < S >.
We can say that S spans <S>
3.5 Invariants of Afne morphism
As mentioned earlier one of the motives of den-
ing geometries as groups of transformations that
leave certain properties invariant is that our pri-
mary interest lies in capturing the invariant prop-
erties and thus dene the transformations based
on point correspondences. In afne geometry the
three properties that remain invariant across afne
morphism are parallelism, incidence and cross
ratio as seen in [4].
3.5.1 Parallelism invariance
We can consider various gures in an afne space
(X,

X, ) as afne subspaces of A denoted by U.
Hence given two afne subspaces U and V , they
are dened to be parallel if and only if

U

V
or

V

U . Here (V,

V , ) and (U,

U , ) are
the afne subspaces of (X,

X, ). With some
simpler algebra we can see that this condition
is equivalent to saying that U is parallel to V
(denoted as U//V ) iff U V or V U or
U V = .
Hence the condition of parallelism invariance can
be stated as:
Given an afne morphism f : X X

between
two afne spaces (X,

X, ) and (X

, )
if U, V be the afne subspaces of X such that
U//V then the corresponding afne subspaces in
image of f, U

= f(U) and V

= f(V ) follow
the property U

//V

.
Proof: We have seen in the section on afne
morphism, that

f denes the corresponding
mapping between the underlying vectors spaces

X and

X

. Hence by denition of parallel

subspaces,

U

V or

V

U .
Let

U

V .
a

f (

U ) = a

=

f (a), a

U
= a

=

f (a), a

V ( assumed that

U

V )
5
= a

f (

V )
Thus a

f (

U ) = a

f (

V ). Hence

f (

U )

f (

V ). Similarly we can show the
other way round if we assume

V

U . Hence
now all that we need to show is that f(U) and
f(V ) are afne subspaces of X. For that we need
to show that

f (

U )and

f (

V ) are corresponding
vector spaces of f(U) and f(V ).
4 Projective Geometry
4.1 Denition of a projective space
The projective space of dimension n, denoted
P(E
n+1
) is obtained by taking the quotient of an
n+l-dimensional vector space E
n+1
0 with re-
spect to the equivalence relationship
x x

x = x

, x, x

E
n+1
R0
Here we assume E
n+1
is the vector space over R.
In some cases we might generalize to the com-
plex eld C and mentioned as required. Also do
we see that is an equivalence relation.
Many other equivalent denitions are also found
in literature for P(E
n+1
). One might be inter-
ested in looking at an equivalence relation as a
1-dimensional subspace of E
n+1
, thus P(E
n+1
)
can be seen as the set of all 1-dimensional sub-
spaces of E
n+1
, or also the set of all lines passing
through origin in E
n+1
. Different ways of looking
at the denition, but essentially the same.
4.2 Basis of a projective space
With the denition of a projective space in place,
we can talk of its basis. And thus, a basis of a
projective space, P(E
n+1
) is dened as a set of
points a
i

1in+2
, such that we can nd vectors
v
i

1in+1
and:
p(v
i
) = a
i
,
i,1in+1
and p(
n+1
i=1
(v
i
)) = a
n+2
.
(1)
we can see with some algebra that to specify a
point in P(E
n+1
) we need n+2 points and due to
the constraint for a
n+2
in (1), if we select two sets
of vectors v

1in+1
and v

1in+1
satisfy-
ing the conditions in (1) then
v

i
= v

i

i,1in+2
.
And hence every point a in P(E
n+1
) represented
by one set of co-ordinates in one basis would also
represent the same projective point in the other
basis.
4.3 Projective transformation
With parallels of the vector spaces we can talk
of transformations of projective spaces. Lets
assume P(E
n+1
) is an n-dimensional projective
space on R, with the associated vector space be-
ing E
n+1
and P(E

n+1
) over E

n+1
.
Hence a map f : P(E
n+1
) P(E

n+1
) is de-
ned to be a projective transformation iff we
can nd a linear map,

f : E
n+1
E

n+1
such
that
v

E, fp(v) = p

f (v), P(E
n+1
) = p(E
n+1
), P(E

n+1
) = p

(E

n+1
).
(2)
Thus we see p and p

are canonical projections

of the vector spaces onto the set of respective pro-
jective spaces as dened in previous subsubsec-
tions.
And when

f : E
n+1
E

n+1
is an iso-
morphism(implicitly the dimensions of E
n+1
and
E

n+1
being the same), the corresponding f :
P(E
n+1
) P(E
n+1
) is known as Homogra-
phy. The set of all homographies are denoted by
C(E, E). Some results follow.
4.3.1 Result
Statement:Given a mapping f : P(E
n+1
)
P(E

n+1
) , there is a unique

f : E
n+1
E

n+1
upto a non-zero scalar multiplication.
4.3.2 Result
Statement:Given a mapping

f : E
n+1
E

n+1
,
there is a unique f : P(E
n+1
) P(E

n+1
).
4.3.3 Result
Statement:If a mapping f : P(E
n+1
)
P(E

n+1
) is bijective , the mapping

f : E
n+1
E

n+1
is one-one in a sense
that u, v E
n+1
, u ,= v, for any R,
then

f (u) ,=

f (v), for any

R. Also

f being linear, we see that

f is onto as well.
6
Thus these three results tell us, we can uniquely
identify a projective mapping between two pro-
jective spaces with a unique linear mapping be-
tween their corresponding vector spaces. And we
know well any linear mapping,

f : E
n+1

E

n+1
can be represented as multiplication by a
matrix.
v Ef(p(v)) = p

(A v) (3)
Hence for an homography, we have matrix A
to be an invertible matrix. In other words an
homography is dened as the on where

f is an
isomorphism. And the set of all homographies,
PLG(E
n+1
), that can be represented by the set
of all such invertible matrices, A, form a group,
and the group action being the composition of
maps. As, f, g C(P(E
n+1
), P(E
n+1
))
f g C(P(E
n+1
), P(E
n+1
)) and the identity
element is seen as an identity homography,
v E
n+1
,

f (v) = A v = v implying
a P(E
n+1
), f(a) = a. And as the mapping

f : E
n+1
E
n+1
and hence f : E E are
bijective, the inverse homography must exist such
that f f
1
is an identity homography. Thus
PLG(E
n+1
) is a group.
4.3.4 Result
Statement(First fundamental theorem of pro-
jective geometry): Let P(E
n+1
) and P(E

n+1
)
be two projective spaces of n dimensions and
let their associated vector spaces be E
n+1
and
E

n+1
. Also we have to assume m
i

1in+2
and m

1in+2
be the basis of P(E
n+1
) and
P(E

n+1
) respectively. Then the theorem says,
there is a unique homography g : P(E
n+1
)
P(E

n+1
), g(m
i
) = m

i
,
i,1in+2
. Proof:
Given the basis of a projective space, m
i

1in+2
lets assume

m
i

1in+1
form the basis
of the vector space associated.Thus

m
i

1in+1
and

1in+1
are the bases of vector spaces
of P(E) and P(E

) as dened in the previous

section on bases of projective spaces where using
canonical projection functions,p : E
n+1
0
P(E
n+1
), p(

m
i
) = m
i
and p

: E

n+1
0
P(E

n+1
), p

i
) = m

i
g(m
i
) = m

i
,
i,1in+2
g(p(

m
i
)) = g(m
i
) = m

i
= p

i
) = p

(

g (

m
i
)),
i,1in+2

i
=
i

g (

m
i
),
i
R,
i,1in+1
(4)
Also let,

n+2
=

g (

m
n+2
)
But

m
n+2
=
n+1
i=1
(

m
i
)
and

n+2
=
n+1
i=1
(

i
)
From (3),

n+1
i=1
(
i

g (

m
i
)) =

g (
n+1
i=1
(

m
i
))
Simplifying, we get

i
= ,
i,1in+1

g (

m
i
) =

i
,
i,1in+2
(5)
Assuming if there are two homographies, g
1
and
g
2
then we can see

g
1
(

m
i
) =

i
,
i,1in+2
and

g
2
(

m
i
) =

i
,
i,1in+2
, , R 0
Hence from result 3.1.1, we know if

g
1
=

g
2
(here =

), there is a unique homography as-

sociated with them. Hence g
1
= g
2
.
4.4 Projective subspaces
Let V

be a subset of a given projective space

P(E
n+1
) P(E) and its associated vector
space E
n+1
, then it is a projective subspace of
P(E
n+1
) iff we can nd a vector subspace V
of E
n+1
such that P(V ) = V

. Thus if

V is
an m-dimensional subspace(m n + 1) of

E,
then V is known as m-1-dimensional Projective
subspace of P(E).
4.4.1 Result
Statement: A projective transformation f :
E
n
E

m
transforms an k dimensional projec-
tive subspace(k < n) into l dimensional projec-
tive subspace where l k. In other words, a
7
plane in E
n
would be transformed into either a
plane, a line or a point in E

m
.
Whereas an homography would preserve the di-
mensions,hence line is transformed into a line,
and a plane transformed into a plane. Here a
projective line is dened as a 1-dimensional sub-
space of the projective space and a plane as 2-
dimensional subspace, a point as a 0-dimensional
subspace of a projective space, and so on so forth.
The reason for homography preserving the di-
mensions is a point to note. As homography or
collineation(a term used for homography in cer-
tain literature) is a projective mapping associated
with an isomorphism of

f : E
n+1
E

n+1
, each
of the vectors of a basis of any subspace of E
n+1
would be uniquely mapped to a unique vector in
E

n+1
, and a set of of linearly independent vectors
m
i

1ik
would be mapped to a set of linearly
independent vectors m

1ik
. Hence a sub-
space of k-dimensions spanned by m
i

1ik
is
uniquely mapped to a subspace of k-dimensions
spanned by m

1ik
.
4.4.2 More on subspaces:
Given two subspaces U and V of P(E
n+1
), we
have a span of U and V , < U V > as the
smallest projective subspace containing U V
(or seen as the intersection of all subspaces of
P(E
n+1
) containing U V ). Then we can easily
show that U V has the vector subspace F + G
of E
n+1
, when F, G are the subspaces associated
with U, V .
4.5 Afne completion
Generalizing the afne geometry we obtain the
projective geometry. Specically we show here
the extension of the afne space to obtain a pro-
jective space. Consider an afne space (X,

X, ).
Now assuming m
i

1in
to be a basis of X, we
can denote every point m X by taking the vec-
tor

m
1
m =

m = (x
1
, ..., x
n
) and representing
it with its co-ordinates in the given basis. Thus
extending this co-ordinate representation by ap-
pending 1 we have

m
p
= p((x
1
, ..., x
n
, 1)) =
p([

m, 1]). Hence as there is a one-one correspon-
dence

m

m
p
we can represent many a
P(E
n+1
) by a unique point m X. And for ev-
ery m X we have a unique point a P(E
n+1
).
Hence we can validate X P(E
n+1
).
Also do we see that P(E
n+1
) has those points
a = p((x
1
, ..., x
n
, 0)) = p([

m, 0]). Hence these
points lying at innity can be seen to correspond
uniquely to projections of vectors

m

X. Thus
these points project onto the set
X
P(E
n+1
)
X. Thus we have
P(E
n+1
) = X .
X
= X . P(

X)
Recursively we can write the same as
P(E
n+1
) = X.P(

X) = E
n
+P(E
n
) = E
n
+E
n1
+P(E
n1
) and so on
(6)
In short an afne space can be completed by
adding points (and lines, planes etc.) at innity
to form a projective space.
4.5.1 Afne and projective basis
In the previous section we have afne completion
to obtain a projective basis. Assume (X,

X, ) be
a given n-dimensional afne space and its projec-
tive completion, X

= P(E
n+1
) = X . P(

X).
Further lets assume m
i

1in+1
be a basis
for X and then correspondingly assume

m
1
m
i

1in+1,i=1
to be the basis of

X. Thus we see
that the extension of the basis of

X being p
1
=
p ([

m
1
m
2
, 0]) , p
2
= p ([

m
1
m
3
, 0]) , ..., p
n
=
p ([

m
1
m
n+1
, 0]). These points lie on
X
and
they represent a part of the basis of X

=
P(E
n+1
). Also can we nd another point p
n+1
=
p

0
n
, 1

. Adding all of them, we get p

n+2
=
p

(
n+1
i=2

m
1
m
i
), 1

. Thus the set of points

p
i

1in+2
forma projective basis of X

. This is
not an unique basis but one we can always relate
the afne space and its corresponding projective
space with.
Thus we see that given a point, y in X with
its co-ordinate vector [Y
1
, ..., Y
n
] in the afne ba-
sis m
i

1in+1
, the corresponding point in the
corresponding projective basis as extended above
would be represented by the vector [Y
1
, ..., Y
n
, 1]
in the basis p
i

1in+2
of E
n+1
.
4.5.2 Relation between PLG(E
n+1
) and
AG(X)
Given an afne space (X,

X, ) and a projective
space which is the completion of X, P(E
n+1
) =
8
X = X . P(

X), we can see that PLG(E
n+1
)
is the group of all homographies or collineations
onto P(E
n+1
) and AG(X) is the group of all in-
vertible afne morphisms f : X X. Then it
can be easily shown that:
A homography can be an invertible afne mor-
phism if and only if it leaves the points at innity
invariant at innity only.
4.5.3 Results on Hyperplanes
A projective hyperplane is dened as a subspace
of a projective space of dimensions n-1 where n is
the dimension of the specied projective space.
Also we can talk of vector hyperplanes in the
sense that they are the vector subspaces of dimen-
sion n-1 where the vector space is of dimension
n. Thus a projective line is a hyperplane in 2-
dimensional space and a plane is a hyperplane in
3-dimensional space.
Thus we can easily see that a projective hyper-
plane is obtained by projection of a vector space
hyperplane.
Statement: Consider a set H(E
n+1
) of hyper-
planes of a vector space E
n+1
, and a set of pro-
jective hyperplanes, H(P(E
n+1
)); then there is
a one-one correspondence between H(E
n+1
) and
H(P(E
n+1
)). We see how it is so from the de-
nition of a projective subspace of dimension n-1,
that every proojective subspace is obtained by the
application of the canonical projection p : E
n+1

0 P(E
n+1
) on a vector subspace of E
n+1
,
thus giving us a projective subspace of P(E
n+1
).
Also every projective subspace can be obtained
from a unique vector subspace. Thus we see a
one-one correspondence between H(E
n+1
) and
H(P(E
n+1
)).
H(E
n+1
) H(P(E
n+1
)) (7)
Also we see that any hyperplane in E
n+1
can be
represented as

n+1
i=1
(h
i
x
i
) = 0, x E
n+1
, x (x
1
, ..., x
n+1
), h E
n+1
, h (h
1
, ..., h
n+1
).
h as described above uniquely denes the hyper-
plane, upto multiplication by a non-zero scalar.
Thus a hyperplane can be uniquely represented
by a projective point a = p(h), a P(E
n+1
).
And vice versa, every point h P(E
n+1
)
uniquely gives us a hyperplane, as one from
H(E
n+1
). Hence from (7)
H(E
n+1
) H(P(E
n+1
)) P(E
n+1
) (8)
e.g. the hyperplane x
n+1
= 0 corresponds to mul-
tiples point h (0, ..., 1)
n+1
and hence to the pro-
jective point (0, ..., 0)
n
.
4.6 Action of Homographies on sub-
spaces and study of invariants
We know that parallelism and incidence are in-
variant in any afne transformation. And this can
be seen from the previous sections on afne in-
variants. Similarly here in projective geometry
we can talk about invariants. And the most im-
portant is the cross-ratio.
Given four points a, b, c, d on P(E
2
) such that the
rst three points are distinct, and denoting h
a,b,c
as
the homography on P(E
2
) such that h
a,b,c
(a) =
, h
a,b,c
(b) = 0 and h
a,b,c
(c) = 1. Then the
cross-ratio, denoted as a, b; c, d is the element
h
a,b,c
(d).
4.6.1 Result
Given four points a
1
, a
2
, a
3
, a
4
on P(E
2
) where
a
i
(
i
,
i
) for all i, the cross-ratio
a
1
, a
2
, a
3
, a
4
is given by:
4.7 Duality
4.7.1 Result
Pencil of hyperplanes:
Consider a projective space P(E
n+1
) associated
with E
n+1
and its dual P(E

n+1
) associated with
E

n+1
. Then let be a line in P(E

n+1
). Hence
P(E

n+1
). Let V be n-2 dimensional
subspace of P(E
n+1
), such that = H
H(P(E
n+1
)) : V H. Thus we see as either
a line in P(E
n+1
) or in P(E

n+1
) (we can note
that there is a one-one correspondence between
P(E
n+1
) and P(E

n+1
)); or a pencil of hyper-
planes H, such that all of them contain V . Now
if we consider another line D in P(E
n+1
) such
that it doesnt intersect with V , then we have a
Homography, D : H H D. Proof: We
are given the application D : H H D.
Hence to show it is homography we consider the
9
corresponding map between the respective vector
spaces.
= P(F

), D = P(D

), F

n+1
, D

E
n+1

f : F

is the corresponding map which we show is

linear.
Now g F

, g =
n
i=1
(h
i
f
i
) where f
i

form the basis of E

n+1
. Thus h
i
are the
co-ordinate vectors of g. We see from the
sections on hyperplanes, any hyperplane H

in E
n+1
is n-dimensional subspace. Hence
it is denoted by the condition the matrix
(m
1
, ..., m
n
, x)
n+1n+1
= 0, x H

, m
i

is the basis of H

. Hence writing in the

matrix form, we see that it is equivalent to

n+1
i=1
(h
i
x
i
) = 0, where x (x
1
, ..., x
n+1
)
and h
i
is a function of the co-ordinates of basis
vectors m
j
,
j,1jn+1
.
Going back to the map

f : F

for every g in F

, we have a unique hyperplane

H

such that H

n+1
i=1
(h
i
x
i
), where g has
coordinates h
i
in some basis f
i
in P(E

n+1
).
Also we can show that x P(E
n+1
), x / V,
then there is a unique H , H =< x, V >.
And if l is a 1-dimensional subspace of E
n+1
,
x = P(l) then H H

= l +F.
Now d D, d / V = d D there is a
unique H and hence a unique H

. And d lies on
H. This accounts for the given that f : D :
H H D is a bijection.
Nowlet F

have basis as m
i

1in1
and . Thus
considering H

= l +F, we can select any vector

v in l D

as a basis of l(l is a 1-dim subspace

of D

) and hence (m
1
, ..., m
n1
, v) form the ba-
sis of H

in E
n+1
. Hence we can show that h
i
are functions of m
1
, ..., m
n1
, v. where all vec-
tors except v being constant, g (h
1
, ..., h
n+1
)
becomes a linear function of v (v
1
, ..., v
n+1
).
As we have n+1 variables and n+1 equations, and
(m
1
, ..., m
n1
, v) being linearly independent vec-
tors we can also write v as a linear function of
h. Thus every g in F

linearly maps to v in D

.
Which can be expressed as
v
j
=
n+1
i=1
(h
i

ij
),
j,1jn+1
(9)
where
ij
are constant scalars dependent only on
m
1
, ..., m
n1
.
Thus this transformation is a linear one which can
be easily veried using the denition of a linear
map and the transformation

f : F

: g
v.
Seeing that this transformation gives us the re-
quired f : D : H H D, such that
a homography is formed:

D
-

f
-
f
6
p
6
p

where f p = p

f .
4.7.2 Result:
From (6)
a
1
l
m
1

2
t
a
2 t
a
3
t
b
1
t
b
2 t
b
3
t
m

5 Camera models
6 Camera calibration
7 Some algorithms for camera
calibration
8 Epipolar geometry
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