Apparatus and method for performing 3D estimation based on locally determined 3D information hypotheses

According to embodiments, an apparatus for performing 3D estimation on the basis of pictures of at least two different views comprises a hypotheses provider, a similarity measure calculator, and a 3D information determiner. The hypotheses provider is configured for locally determining 3D information hypotheses for positions of a current picture of a first view of the at least two different views on the basis of a pre-estimate which associates a 3D information estimate to each position of a picture of the first view. The similarity measure calculator is configured for calculating, for each position of the current picture of the first view, a similarity measure for each of the 3D information hypotheses of the respective position by measuring a similarity between a region of the current picture of the first view at the respective position and a corresponding region of a second view of the at least two different views located at a position displaced relative to the respective position by a respective 3D information hypothesis. The 3D information determiner is configured to select, for each position of the first view, the 3D information hypothesis of highest similarity measure.