1. A method for developing a scene model from a visual image sequence containing a sequence of visual image frames, the visual image sequence including a visual representation of one or more visual objects, the method comprising the steps of: (a) analyzing portions of the visual image sequence in accordance with input parameters using a machine vision process by performing the steps of: (i) defining an image-based data object in an image-based model of the visual image sequence containing a pixel representation corresponding to a portion of at least one frame of the visual image sequence; (ii) defining an abstraction-based data object in an abstraction-based model of the visual objects containing an abstract representation of at least a portion of one of the visual objects represented by the visual image sequence; and (iii) storing a link data object in a correlation mesh data structure indicating a correspondence between the image-based data object and the abstraction-based data object; (b) refining an abstraction-based model of the visual imago sequence by performing the steps of: (i) accepting input parameters to define in the abstraction-based model of the visual objects a new abstraction-based data object containing a new abstract representation of at least a portion of one of the visual objects contained in the visual image sequence that differs from the abstract representations contained in abstraction-based objects defined in the analysis step (a); and (ii) adding a link object in the correlation mesh data structure indicating a correspondence between the new abstraction-based data object and another data object defined in the scene model; and (c) iteratively improving the scene model by performing certain selected ones of steps (a) through (b) in an order as specified by user input until a desired level of refinement is obtained in the scene model such that selected link objects in the correlation mesh data structure added in iterations of the refining step (b) are used to provide additional input parameters to subsequent iterations thereby allowing the scene model to converge.
2. A method as in claim 1 wherein the abstraction-based objects comprise motion path models of the motion of a visual object from frame to frame.