METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR USING A VIRTUAL CAMERA TO DYNAMICALLY REFOCUS A DIGITAL IMAGE

One embodiment of the present invention provides a system that dynamically refocuses an image to simulate a focus plane and a depth-of-field of a virtual camera. During operation, the system receives an input image, wherein the input image includes depth information for pixels in the input image. The system also obtains parameters that specify the depth-of-field d and the location of the focus plane for the virtual camera. Next, the system uses the depth information and the parameters for the virtual camera to refocus the image. During this process, for each pixel in the input image, the system uses the depth information and the parameters for the virtual camera to determine a blur radius B for the pixel. The system then uses the blur radius B for the pixel to determine whether the pixel contributes to neighboring pixels in the refocused image.