Analog hardware for detecting discontinuities in early vision

The detection of discontinuities in motion, intensity, color, and depth is a well-studied but difficult problem in computer vision [6]. We discuss the first hardware circuit that explicitly implements either analog or binary line processes in a deterministic fashion. Specifically, we show that the processes of smoothing (using a first-order or membrane type of stabilizer) and of segmentation can be implemented by a single, two-terminal nonlinear voltage-controlled resistor, the “resistive fuse”; and we derive its current-voltage relationship from a number of deterministic approximations to the underlying stochastic Markov random fields algorthms. The concept that the quadratic variation functionals of early vision can be solved via linear resistive networks minimizing power dissipation [37] can be extended to non-convex variational functionals with analog or binary line processes being solved by nonlinear resistive networks minimizing the electrical co-content. We have successfully designed, tested, and demonstrated an analog CMOS VLSI circuit that contains a 1D resistive network of fuses implementing piecewise smooth surface interpolation. We furthermore demonstrate the segmenting abilities of these analog and deterministic “line processes” by numerically simulating the nonlinear resistive network computing optical flow in the presence of motion discontinuities. Finally, we discuss various circuit implementations of the optical flow computation using these circuits

Light Fields Reconstructing Geometry and Reflectance Properties

Computer vision plays an important role in the progress of automation and digitalization of our society. One of the key challenges is the creation of accurate 3D representations of our environment. The rich information in light fields can enable highly accurate depth estimates, but requires the development of new algorithms. Especially specular reflections pose a challenge for many reconstruction algorithms. This is due to the violation of the brightness consistency assumption, which only holds for Lambertian surfaces. Most surfaces are to some extent specular and an appropriate handling is central to avoid erroneous depth maps. In this thesis we explore the potential of using specular highlights to determine the orientation of surfaces. To this end, we examine epipolar images in light field set ups. In light field data, reflectance properties can be characterized by intensity variations in the epipolar plane space. This space is analysed and compared to the expected reflectance, which is modelled using the render equation with different bidirectional reflection distribution functions. This approach allows us to infer highly accurate surface normals and depth estimates. Furthermore, it reveals material properties encoded in the reflectance by inspecting the intensity profile. Our results demonstrate the potential to increase the accuracy of the depth maps. Multiple cameras in a light field set up let us retrieve additional material properties encoded in the reflectance

Modelling the human perception of shape-from-shading

Shading conveys information on 3-D shape and the process of recovering this information is called shape-from-shading (SFS). This thesis divides the process of human SFS into two functional sub-units (luminance disambiguation and shape computation) and studies them individually. Based on results of a series of psychophysical experiments it is proposed that the interaction between first- and second-order channels plays an important role in disambiguating luminance. Based on this idea, two versions of a biologically plausible model are developed to explain the human performances observed here and elsewhere. An algorithm sharing the same idea is also developed as a solution to the problem of intrinsic image decomposition in the field of image processing. With regard to the shape computation unit, a link between luminance variations and estimated surface norms is identified by testing participants on simple gratings with several different luminance profiles. This methodology is unconventional but can be justified in the light of past studies of human SFS. Finally a computational algorithm for SFS containing two distinct operating modes is proposed. This algorithm is broadly consistent with the known psychophysics on human SFS

Detailed and Practical 3D Reconstruction with Advanced Photometric Stereo Modelling

Object 3D reconstruction has always been one of the main objectives of computer vision. After many decades of research, most techniques are still unsuccessful at recovering high resolution surfaces, especially for objects with limited surface texture. Moreover, most shiny materials are particularly hard to reconstruct. Photometric Stereo (PS), which operates by capturing multiple images under changing illumination has traditionally been one of the most successful techniques at recovering a large amount of surface details, by exploiting the relationship between shading and local shape. However, using PS has been highly impractical because most approaches are only applicable in a very controlled lab setting and limited to objects experiencing diffuse reflection. Nevertheless, recent advances in differential modelling have made complicated Photometric Stereo models possible and variational optimisations for these kinds of models show remarkable resilience to real world imperfections such as non-Gaussian noise and other outliers. Thus, a highly accurate, photometric-based reconstruction system is now possible. The contribution of this thesis is threefold. First of all, the Photometric Stereo model is extended in order to be able to deal with arbitrary ambient lighting. This is a step towards acquisition in a non-fully controlled lab setting. Secondly, the need for a priori knowledge of the light source brightness and attenuation characteristics is relaxed as an alternating optimisation procedure is proposed which is able to estimate these parameters. This extension allows for quick acquisition with inexpensive LEDs that exhibit unpredictable illumination characteristics (flickering etc). Finally, a volumetric parameterisation is proposed which allows one to tackle the multi-view Photometric Stereo problem in a similar manner, in a simple unified differential model. This final extension allows for complete object reconstruction merging information from multiple images taken from multiple viewpoints and variable illumination. The theoretical work in this thesis is experimentally evaluated in a number of challenging real world experiments, with data captured by custom-made hardware. In addition, the applicability of the generality of the proposed models is demonstrated by presenting a differential model for the shape of polarisation problem, which leads to a unified optimisation problem, fusing information from both methods. This allows for the acquisition of geometrical information about objects such as semi-transparent glass, hitherto hard to deal with

Shape recovery from reflection.

by Yingli Tian.Thesis (Ph.D.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 1996.Includes bibliographical references (leaves 202-222).Chapter 1 --- Introduction --- p.1Chapter 1.1 --- Physics-Based Shape Recovery Techniques --- p.3Chapter 1.2 --- Proposed Approaches to Shape Recovery in this Thesis --- p.9Chapter 1.3 --- Thesis Outline --- p.13Chapter 2 --- Camera Model in Color Vision --- p.15Chapter 2.1 --- Introduction --- p.15Chapter 2.2 --- Spectral Linearization --- p.17Chapter 2.3 --- Image Balancing --- p.21Chapter 2.4 --- Spectral Sensitivity --- p.24Chapter 2.5 --- Color Clipping and Blooming --- p.24Chapter 3 --- Extended Light Source Models --- p.27Chapter 3.1 --- Introduction --- p.27Chapter 3.2 --- A Spherical Light Model in 2D Coordinate System --- p.30Chapter 3.2.1 --- Basic Photometric Function for Hybrid Surfaces under a Point Light Source --- p.32Chapter 3.2.2 --- Photometric Function for Hybrid Surfaces under the Spher- ical Light Source --- p.34Chapter 3.3 --- A Spherical Light Model in 3D Coordinate System --- p.36Chapter 3.3.1 --- Radiance of the Spherical Light Source --- p.36Chapter 3.3.2 --- Surface Brightness Illuminated by One Point of the Spher- ical Light Source --- p.38Chapter 3.3.3 --- Surface Brightness Illuminated by the Spherical Light Source --- p.39Chapter 3.3.4 --- Rotating the Source-Object Coordinate to the Camera- Object Coordinate --- p.41Chapter 3.3.5 --- Surface Reflection Model --- p.44Chapter 3.4 --- Rectangular Light Model in 3D Coordinate System --- p.45Chapter 3.4.1 --- Radiance of a Rectangular Light Source --- p.45Chapter 3.4.2 --- Surface Brightness Illuminated by One Point of the Rect- angular Light Source --- p.47Chapter 3.4.3 --- Surface Brightness Illuminated by a Rectangular Light Source --- p.47Chapter 4 --- Shape Recovery from Specular Reflection --- p.54Chapter 4.1 --- Introduction --- p.54Chapter 4.2 --- Theory of the First Method --- p.57Chapter 4.2.1 --- Torrance-Sparrow Reflectance Model --- p.57Chapter 4.2.2 --- Relationship Between Surface Shapes from Different Images --- p.60Chapter 4.3 --- Theory of the Second Method --- p.65Chapter 4.3.1 --- Getting the Depth of a Reference Point --- p.65Chapter 4.3.2 --- Recovering the Depth and Normal of a Specular Point Near the Reference Point --- p.67Chapter 4.3.3 --- Recovering Local Shape of the Object by Specular Reflection --- p.69Chapter 4.4 --- Experimental Results and Discussions --- p.71Chapter 4.4.1 --- Experimental System and Results of the First Method --- p.71Chapter 4.4.2 --- Experimental System and Results of the Second Method --- p.76Chapter 5 --- Shape Recovery from One Sequence of Color Images --- p.81Chapter 5.1 --- Introduction --- p.81Chapter 5.2 --- Temporal-color Space Analysis of Reflection --- p.84Chapter 5.3 --- Estimation of Illuminant Color Ks --- p.88Chapter 5.4 --- Estimation of the Color Vector of the Body-reflection Component Kl --- p.89Chapter 5.5 --- Separating Specular and Body Reflection Components and Re- covering Surface Shape and Reflectance --- p.91Chapter 5.6 --- Experiment Results and Discussions --- p.92Chapter 5.6.1 --- Results with Interreflection --- p.93Chapter 5.6.2 --- Results Without Interreflection --- p.93Chapter 5.6.3 --- Simulation Results --- p.95Chapter 5.7 --- Analysis of Various Factors on the Accuracy --- p.96Chapter 5.7.1 --- Effects of Number of Samples --- p.96Chapter 5.7.2 --- Effects of Noise --- p.99Chapter 5.7.3 --- Effects of Object Size --- p.99Chapter 5.7.4 --- Camera Optical Axis Not in Light Source Plane --- p.102Chapter 5.7.5 --- Camera Optical Axis Not Passing Through Object Center --- p.105Chapter 6 --- Shape Recovery from Two Sequences of Images --- p.107Chapter 6.1 --- Introduction --- p.107Chapter 6.2 --- Method for 3D Shape Recovery from Two Sequences of Images --- p.109Chapter 6.3 --- Genetics-Based Method --- p.111Chapter 6.4 --- Experimental Results and Discussions --- p.115Chapter 6.4.1 --- Simulation Results --- p.115Chapter 6.4.2 --- Real Experimental Results --- p.118Chapter 7 --- Shape from Shading for Non-Lambertian Surfaces --- p.120Chapter 7.1 --- Introduction --- p.120Chapter 7.2 --- Reflectance Map for Non-Lambertian Color Surfaces --- p.123Chapter 7.3 --- Recovering Non-Lambertian Surface Shape from One Color Image --- p.127Chapter 7.3.1 --- Segmenting Hybrid Areas from Diffuse Areas Using Hue Information --- p.127Chapter 7.3.2 --- Calculating Intensities of Specular and Diffuse Compo- nents on Hybrid Areas --- p.128Chapter 7.3.3 --- Recovering Shape from Shading --- p.129Chapter 7.4 --- Experimental Results and Discussions --- p.131Chapter 7.4.1 --- Simulation Results --- p.131Chapter 7.4.2 --- Real Experimental Results --- p.136Chapter 8 --- Shape from Shading under Multiple Extended Light Sources --- p.142Chapter 8.1 --- Introduction --- p.142Chapter 8.2 --- Reflectance Map for Lambertian Surface Under Multiple Rectan- gular Light Sources --- p.144Chapter 8.3 --- Recovering Surface Shape Under Multiple Rectangular Light Sources --- p.148Chapter 8.4 --- Experimental Results and Discussions --- p.150Chapter 8.4.1 --- Synthetic Image Results --- p.150Chapter 8.4.2 --- Real Image Results --- p.152Chapter 9 --- Shape from Shading in Unknown Environments by Neural Net- works --- p.167Chapter 9.1 --- Introduction --- p.167Chapter 9.2 --- Shape Estimation --- p.169Chapter 9.2.1 --- Shape Recovery Problem under Multiple Rectangular Ex- tended Light Sources --- p.169Chapter 9.2.2 --- Forward Network Representation of Surface Normals --- p.170Chapter 9.2.3 --- Shape Estimation --- p.174Chapter 9.3 --- Application of the Neural Network in Shape Recovery --- p.174Chapter 9.3.1 --- Structure of the Neural Network --- p.174Chapter 9.3.2 --- Normalization of the Input and Output Patterns --- p.175Chapter 9.4 --- Experimental Results and Discussions --- p.178Chapter 9.4.1 --- Results for Lambertian Surface under One Rectangular Light --- p.178Chapter 9.4.2 --- Results for Lambertian Surface under Four Rectangular Light Sources --- p.180Chapter 9.4.3 --- Results for Hybrid Surface under One Rectangular Light Sources --- p.190Chapter 9.4.4 --- Discussions --- p.190Chapter 10 --- Summary and Conclusions --- p.191Chapter 10.1 --- Summary Results and Contributions --- p.192Chapter 10.2 --- Directions of Future Research --- p.199Bibliography --- p.20