Abstract: Methods and apparatus for illuminating scene areas to facilitate depth determination are described. A sequence of frames is displayed, e.g., projected, onto a scene area to illuminate the area for image capture. The sequence of frames includes a patterned frame followed by a concealing frame. The patterned frame and concealing frame are each displayed for no more than 1/60 of a second. The concealing frame maybe and sometimes does display a complementary pattern to the preceding patterned frame. When viewed sequentially by a human viewer the human sees a non-distracting uniformly illuminated scene area as a result of the effect of the concealing frame. One or more cameras are used to capture images of the illuminated area during a time in which the pattern is displayed and the scene area is effectively painted with a pattern that can facilitate depth determination based on one or more captured images.

Abstract: Camera arrays including multiple cameras which are spaced at various distances from one another are implemented and used. Multiple camera pairs with very different camera baselines between the cameras allows for reliable depth determinations to be made. Disparity information obtained by comparing images of a closely spaced camera pair are used to limit the search for matching image portions of images of a more distantly spaced camera pair. This allows searching for matching image portions to be constrained in a way that the complexity of searching for matching image portions can scale at a lower rate than the rate at which the baselines between cameras increases. This allows depth determinations to benefit from the accuracy obtained from using large camera baselines in a manner that is efficient from a processor utilization perspective since comparing image portions can be processor intensive if implemented without the benefit of constraints.