DeepDetect: Learning All-in-One Dense Keypoints

Abstract

Keypoint detection is the foundation of many computer vision tasks, including image registration, structure-from-motion, 3D reconstruction, visual odometry, and SLAM. Traditional detectors (SIFT, ORB, BRISK, FAST, etc.) and learning-based methods (SuperPoint, R2D2, QuadNet, LIFT, etc.) have shown strong performance gains yet suffer from key limitations: sensitivity to photometric changes, low keypoint density and repeatability, limited adaptability to challenging scenes, and lack of semantic understanding, often failing to prioritize visually important regions. We present DeepDetect, an intelligent, all-in-one, dense detector that unifies the strengths of classical detectors using deep learning. Firstly, we create ground-truth masks by fusing outputs of 7 keypoint and 2 edge detectors, extracting diverse visual cues from corners and blobs to prominent edges and textures in the images. Afterwards, a lightweight and efficient model: ESPNet, is trained using fused masks as labels, enabling DeepDetect to focus semantically on images while producing highly dense keypoints, that are adaptable to diverse and visually degraded conditions. Evaluations on Oxford, HPatches, and Middlebury datasets demonstrate that DeepDetect surpasses other detectors achieving maximum values of 0.5143 (average keypoint density), 0.9582 (average repeatability), 338,118 (correct matches), and 842,045 (voxels in stereo 3D reconstruction).