4,771 research outputs found
Three-dimensional scanning of specular and diffuse metallic surfaces using an infrared technique
For the past two decades, the need for three-dimensional (3-D) scanning of industrial objects has increased significantly and many experimental techniques and commercial solutions have been proposed. However, difficulties remain for the acquisition of optically non-cooperative surfaces, such as transparent or specular surfaces. To address highly reflective metallic surfaces, we propose the extension of a technique that was originally dedicated to glass objects. In contrast to conventional active triangulation techniques that measure the reflection of visible radiation, we measure the thermal emission of a surface, which is locally heated by a laser source. Considering the thermophysical properties of metals, we present a simulation model of heat exchanges that are induced by the process, helping to demonstrate its feasibility on specular metallic surfaces and predicting the settings of the system. With our experimental device, we have validated the theoretical modeling and computed some 3-D point clouds from specular surfaces of various geometries. Furthermore, a comparison of our results with those of a conventional system on specular and diffuse parts will highlight that the accuracy of the measurement no longer depends on the roughness of the surface
A deep learning framework for quality assessment and restoration in video endoscopy
Endoscopy is a routine imaging technique used for both diagnosis and
minimally invasive surgical treatment. Artifacts such as motion blur, bubbles,
specular reflections, floating objects and pixel saturation impede the visual
interpretation and the automated analysis of endoscopy videos. Given the
widespread use of endoscopy in different clinical applications, we contend that
the robust and reliable identification of such artifacts and the automated
restoration of corrupted video frames is a fundamental medical imaging problem.
Existing state-of-the-art methods only deal with the detection and restoration
of selected artifacts. However, typically endoscopy videos contain numerous
artifacts which motivates to establish a comprehensive solution.
We propose a fully automatic framework that can: 1) detect and classify six
different primary artifacts, 2) provide a quality score for each frame and 3)
restore mildly corrupted frames. To detect different artifacts our framework
exploits fast multi-scale, single stage convolutional neural network detector.
We introduce a quality metric to assess frame quality and predict image
restoration success. Generative adversarial networks with carefully chosen
regularization are finally used to restore corrupted frames.
Our detector yields the highest mean average precision (mAP at 5% threshold)
of 49.0 and the lowest computational time of 88 ms allowing for accurate
real-time processing. Our restoration models for blind deblurring, saturation
correction and inpainting demonstrate significant improvements over previous
methods. On a set of 10 test videos we show that our approach preserves an
average of 68.7% which is 25% more frames than that retained from the raw
videos.Comment: 14 page
Highlights Analysis System (HAnS) for low dynamic range to high dynamic range conversion of cinematic low dynamic range content
We propose a novel and efficient algorithm for detection of specular reflections and light sources (highlights) in cinematic content. The detection of highlights is important for reconstructing them properly in the conversion of the low dynamic range (LDR) to high dynamic range (HDR) content. Highlights are often difficult to be distinguished from bright diffuse surfaces, due to their brightness being reduced in the conventional LDR content production. Moreover, the cinematic LDR content is subject to the artistic use of effects that change the apparent brightness of certain image regions (e.g. limiting depth of field, grading, complex multi-lighting setup, etc.). To ensure the robustness of highlights detection to these effects, the proposed algorithm goes beyond considering only absolute brightness and considers five different features. These features are: the size of the highlight relative to the size of the surrounding image structures, the relative contrast in the surrounding of the highlight, its absolute brightness expressed through the luminance (luma feature), through the saturation in the color space (maxRGB feature) and through the saturation in white (minRGB feature). We evaluate the algorithm on two different image data-sets. The first one is a publicly available LDR image data-set without cinematic content, which allows comparison to the broader State of the art. Additionally, for the evaluation on cinematic content, we create an image data-set consisted of manually annotated cinematic frames and real-world images. For the purpose of demonstrating the proposed highlights detection algorithm in a complete LDR-to-HDR conversion pipeline, we additionally propose a simple inverse-tone-mapping algorithm. The experimental analysis shows that the proposed approach outperforms conventional highlights detection algorithms on both image data-sets, achieves high quality reconstruction of the HDR content and is suited for use in LDR-to-HDR conversion
Deep Reflectance Maps
Undoing the image formation process and therefore decomposing appearance into
its intrinsic properties is a challenging task due to the under-constraint
nature of this inverse problem. While significant progress has been made on
inferring shape, materials and illumination from images only, progress in an
unconstrained setting is still limited. We propose a convolutional neural
architecture to estimate reflectance maps of specular materials in natural
lighting conditions. We achieve this in an end-to-end learning formulation that
directly predicts a reflectance map from the image itself. We show how to
improve estimates by facilitating additional supervision in an indirect scheme
that first predicts surface orientation and afterwards predicts the reflectance
map by a learning-based sparse data interpolation.
In order to analyze performance on this difficult task, we propose a new
challenge of Specular MAterials on SHapes with complex IllumiNation (SMASHINg)
using both synthetic and real images. Furthermore, we show the application of
our method to a range of image-based editing tasks on real images.Comment: project page: http://homes.esat.kuleuven.be/~krematas/DRM
Cavlectometry: Towards Holistic Reconstruction of Large Mirror Objects
We introduce a method based on the deflectometry principle for the
reconstruction of specular objects exhibiting significant size and geometric
complexity. A key feature of our approach is the deployment of an Automatic
Virtual Environment (CAVE) as pattern generator. To unfold the full power of
this extraordinary experimental setup, an optical encoding scheme is developed
which accounts for the distinctive topology of the CAVE. Furthermore, we devise
an algorithm for detecting the object of interest in raw deflectometric images.
The segmented foreground is used for single-view reconstruction, the background
for estimation of the camera pose, necessary for calibrating the sensor system.
Experiments suggest a significant gain of coverage in single measurements
compared to previous methods. To facilitate research on specular surface
reconstruction, we will make our data set publicly available
GelSlim: A High-Resolution, Compact, Robust, and Calibrated Tactile-sensing Finger
This work describes the development of a high-resolution tactile-sensing
finger for robot grasping. This finger, inspired by previous GelSight sensing
techniques, features an integration that is slimmer, more robust, and with more
homogeneous output than previous vision-based tactile sensors. To achieve a
compact integration, we redesign the optical path from illumination source to
camera by combining light guides and an arrangement of mirror reflections. We
parameterize the optical path with geometric design variables and describe the
tradeoffs between the finger thickness, the depth of field of the camera, and
the size of the tactile sensing area. The sensor sustains the wear from
continuous use -- and abuse -- in grasping tasks by combining tougher materials
for the compliant soft gel, a textured fabric skin, a structurally rigid body,
and a calibration process that maintains homogeneous illumination and contrast
of the tactile images during use. Finally, we evaluate the sensor's durability
along four metrics that track the signal quality during more than 3000 grasping
experiments.Comment: RA-L Pre-print. 8 page
Estimating Carotid Pulse and Breathing Rate from Near-infrared Video of the Neck
Objective: Non-contact physiological measurement is a growing research area
that allows capturing vital signs such as heart rate (HR) and breathing rate
(BR) comfortably and unobtrusively with remote devices. However, most of the
approaches work only in bright environments in which subtle
photoplethysmographic and ballistocardiographic signals can be easily analyzed
and/or require expensive and custom hardware to perform the measurements.
Approach: This work introduces a low-cost method to measure subtle motions
associated with the carotid pulse and breathing movement from the neck using
near-infrared (NIR) video imaging. A skin reflection model of the neck was
established to provide a theoretical foundation for the method. In particular,
the method relies on template matching for neck detection, Principal Component
Analysis for feature extraction, and Hidden Markov Models for data smoothing.
Main Results: We compared the estimated HR and BR measures with ones provided
by an FDA-cleared device in a 12-participant laboratory study: the estimates
achieved a mean absolute error of 0.36 beats per minute and 0.24 breaths per
minute under both bright and dark lighting.
Significance: This work advances the possibilities of non-contact
physiological measurement in real-life conditions in which environmental
illumination is limited and in which the face of the person is not readily
available or needs to be protected. Due to the increasing availability of NIR
imaging devices, the described methods are readily scalable.Comment: 21 pages, 15 figure
Redefining A in RGBA: Towards a Standard for Graphical 3D Printing
Advances in multimaterial 3D printing have the potential to reproduce various
visual appearance attributes of an object in addition to its shape. Since many
existing 3D file formats encode color and translucency by RGBA textures mapped
to 3D shapes, RGBA information is particularly important for practical
applications. In contrast to color (encoded by RGB), which is specified by the
object's reflectance, selected viewing conditions and a standard observer,
translucency (encoded by A) is neither linked to any measurable physical nor
perceptual quantity. Thus, reproducing translucency encoded by A is open for
interpretation.
In this paper, we propose a rigorous definition for A suitable for use in
graphical 3D printing, which is independent of the 3D printing hardware and
software, and which links both optical material properties and perceptual
uniformity for human observers. By deriving our definition from the absorption
and scattering coefficients of virtual homogeneous reference materials with an
isotropic phase function, we achieve two important properties. First, a simple
adjustment of A is possible, which preserves the translucency appearance if an
object is re-scaled for printing. Second, determining the value of A for a real
(potentially non-homogeneous) material, can be achieved by minimizing a
distance function between light transport measurements of this material and
simulated measurements of the reference materials. Such measurements can be
conducted by commercial spectrophotometers used in graphic arts.
Finally, we conduct visual experiments employing the method of constant
stimuli, and derive from them an embedding of A into a nearly perceptually
uniform scale of translucency for the reference materials.Comment: 20 pages (incl. appendices), 20 figures. Version with higher quality
images: https://cloud-ext.igd.fraunhofer.de/s/pAMH67XjstaNcrF (main article)
and https://cloud-ext.igd.fraunhofer.de/s/4rR5bH3FMfNsS5q (appendix).
Supplemental material including code:
https://cloud-ext.igd.fraunhofer.de/s/9BrZaj5Uh5d0cOU/downloa
Image analysis of circulating fluidized bed hydrodynamics
The goal of this thesis is to design methods to estimate the local concentration and velocity of particles observed in digital videos of the inner wall of a circulating fluidized bed (CFB) riser. Understanding the dynamics of these rapidly moving particles will allow researchers to design cleaner and more efficient CFB facilities. However, the seemingly random motion exhibited by the particles in three dimensions, coupled with the varying image quality, make it difficult to extract the required information from the images. Given a video sequence, a method for detecting particles and tracking their spatial location is developed. By exploiting the presence of specular reflections, individual particles are first identified along the focal plane by an image filter specifically designed for this purpose. Once the particle locations are known, a local optical flow model is used to approximate the motion field across two images in order to track particles from one frame of the sequence to another. An evaluation of the proposed method indicates its potential to estimate particle count, location, concentration and velocity in an efficient and reliable manner. The method is fully automated and is expected to be an important analysis tool for researchers with the National Energy Technology Laboratory, part of the national laboratory system of the Department of Energy
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