  Motion estimation for highly dynamic phenomena such as smoke is an open
challenge for Computer Vision. Traditional dense motion estimation algorithms
have difficulties with non-rigid and large motions, both of which are
frequently observed in smoke motion. We propose an algorithm for dense motion
estimation of smoke. Our algorithm is robust, fast, and has better performance
over different types of smoke compared to other dense motion estimation
algorithms, including state of the art and neural network approaches. The key
to our contribution is to use skeletal flow, without explicit point matching,
to provide a sparse flow. This sparse flow is upgraded to a dense flow. In this
paper we describe our algorithm in greater detail, and provide experimental
evidence to support our claims.
