# Refractive COLMAP: Refractive Structure-from-Motion Revisited

arXiv: https://arxiv.org/abs/2403.08640 · HTML: https://mlsanity.com/paper/2403.08640/

## Key facts

- Cited by 6 papers in the map (data through 14 Oct 2026).
- Builds on 4 of its 42 references that are in the map.
- First posted on arXiv 13 Mar 2024.

## Builds on (most cited first, 4 of 4)

- [Why Having 10,000 Parameters in Your Camera Model is Better Than Twelve](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1912.02908/) (2019)
- [Refractive Geometry for Underwater Domes](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2108.06575/) (2021)
- [Hybrid Visual SLAM for Underwater Vehicle Manipulator Systems](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2112.03826/) (2021)
- [Semihierarchical Reconstruction and Weak-area Revisiting for Robotic Visual Seafloor Mapping](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2308.06147/) (2023)

## Built on by (most cited first, 6 of 6)

- [Gaussian Splashing: Direct Volumetric Rendering Underwater](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2411.19588/) (2024)
- [Relative Illumination Fields: Learning Medium and Light Independent Underwater Scenes](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2504.10024/) (2025)
- [3D Reconstruction via Incremental Structure From Motion](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2508.01019/) (2025)
- [Swimm3R: Splatting with Medium-aware SfM for Underwater 3D Reconstruction](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2608.00950/) (2026)
- [A Calibration Tool for Refractive Underwater Vision](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2405.18018/) (2024)
- [Long-Term Multi-Session 3D Reconstruction Under Substantial Appearance Change](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2602.20584/) (2026)

## Abstract (arXiv)

In this paper, we present a complete refractive Structure-from-Motion (RSfM) framework for underwater 3D reconstruction using refractive camera setups (for both, flat- and dome-port underwater housings). Despite notable achievements in refractive multi-view geometry over the past decade, a robust, complete and publicly available solution for such tasks is not available at present, and often practical applications have to resort to approximating refraction effects by the intrinsic (distortion) parameters of a pinhole camera model. To fill this gap, we have integrated refraction considerations throughout the entire SfM process within the state-of-the-art, open-source SfM framework COLMAP. Numerical simulations and reconstruction results on synthetically generated but photo-realistic images with ground truth validate that enabling refraction does not compromise accuracy or robustness as compared to in-air reconstructions. Finally, we demonstrate the capability of our approach for large-scale refractive scenarios using a dataset consisting of nearly 6000 images. The implementation is released as open-source at: https://cau-git.rz.uni-kiel.de/inf-ag-koeser/colmap_underwater.