Relighting Photographs of Tree Canopies

International audienceWe present an image-based approach to relighting photographs of tree canopies. Our goal is to minimize capture overhead; thus the only input required is a set of photographs of the tree taken at a single time of day, while allowing relighting at any other time. We first analyze lighting in a tree canopy both theoretically and using simulations. From this analysis, we observe that tree canopy lighting is similar to volumetric illumination. We assume a single-scattering volumetric lighting model for tree canopies, and diffuse leaf reflectance; we validate our assumptions with synthetic renderings. We create a volumetric representation of the tree from 10-12 images taken at a single time of day and and use a single-scattering participating media lighting model. An analytical sun and sky illumination model provides consistent representation of lighting for the captured input and unknown target times. We relight the input image by applying a ratio of the target and input time lighting representations. We compute this representation efficiently by simultaneously coding transmittance from the sky and to the eye in spherical harmonics. We validate our method by relighting images of synthetic trees and comparing to path-traced solutions. We also present results for photographs where sparse, validating with time-lapse ground truth sequences

Rich Intrinsic Image Decomposition of Outdoor Scenes from Multiple Views

International audienceIntrinsic images aim at separating an image into its reflectance and illumination components to facilitate further analysis or manipulation. This separation is severely ill-posed and the most successful methods rely on user indications or precise geometry to resolve the ambiguities inherent to this problem. In this paper we propose a method to estimate intrinsic images from multiple views of an outdoor scene without the need for precise geometry and with a few manual steps to calibrate the input. We use multiview stereo to automatically reconstruct a 3D point cloud of the scene. Although this point cloud is sparse and incomplete, we show that it provides the necessary information to compute plausible sky and indirect illumination at each 3D point. We then introduce an optimization method to estimate sun visibility over the point cloud. This algorithm compensates for the lack of accurate geometry and allows the extraction of precise shadows in the final image. We finally propagate the information computed over the sparse point cloud to every pixel in the photograph using image-guided propagation. Our propagation not only separates reflectance from illumination, but also decomposes the illumination into a sun, sky and indirect layer. This rich decomposition allows novel image manipulations as demonstrated by our results

Rich Intrinsic Image Separation for Multi-View Outdoor Scenes

Intrinsic images aim at separating an image into its reflectance and illumination components to facilitate further analysis or manipulation. This separation is severely ill-posed and the most successful methods rely on user indications or precise geometry to resolve the ambiguities inherent to this problem. In this paper we propose a method to estimate intrinsic images from multiple views of an outdoor scene without the need for precise geometry or involved user intervention. We use multiview stereo to automatically reconstruct a 3D point cloud of the scene. Although this point cloud is sparse and incomplete, we show that it provides the necessary information to compute plausible sky and indirect illumination at each 3D point. We then introduce an optimization method to estimate sun visibility over the point cloud. This algorithm compensates for the lack of accurate geometry and allows the extraction of precise shadows in the final image. We finally propagate the information computed over the sparse point cloud to every pixel in the photograph using image-guided propagation. Our propagation not only separates reflectance from illumination, but also decomposes the illumination into a sun, sky and indirect layer. This rich decomposition allows novel image manipulations as demonstrated by our results.Nous présentons une méthode capable de décomposer les photographies d'une scène en trois composantes intrinsèques --- la réflectance, l'illumination due au soleil, l'illumination due au ciel, et l'illumination indirecte. L'extraction d'images intrinsèques à partir de photographies est un problème difficile, généralement résolu en utilisant des méthodes de propagation guidée par l'image nécessitant de multiples indications utilisateur. Des méthodes récentes en vision par ordinateur permettent l'acquisition facile mais approximative d'informations géométriques d'une scène à l'aide de plusieurs photographies selon des points de vue différents. Nous développons un nouvel algorithme qui nous permet d'exploiter cette information bruitée et peu fiable pour automatiser et améliorer les algorithmes d'estimation d'images intrinsèque par propagation. En particulier, nous développons une nouvelle approche par optimisation afin d'estimer les ombres portées dans l'image, en peaufinant une estimation initiale obtenue à partir des informations géométriques reconstruites. Dans une dernière étape nous adaptons les algorithmes de propagation guidée par l'image, en remplaçant les indications utilisateurs manuelles par les données d'ombre et de réflectance déduite du nuage de points 3D par notre algorithme. Notre méthode permet l'extraction automatique des images intrinsèques à partir de multiples points de vue, permettant ainsi de nombreux types de manipulations d'images

Lost Shadows

There are thousands of pages of technical argumentation on lighting. We could say that there is already a legacy of technical lighting. It is the result of the activity of technically oriented people. In the 1900, CIE was founded to research oil socks and their properties. Standardization got a huge boost in 1931 when CIE introduced international trichromatic colorimetry system, known as “CIE System”. Engineers became active in illumination engineering societies. Sadly, the more visual skills of the lighting designer started to ebb. The lighting design work shifted from the hands of visually oriented people to the hands of technically oriented people. Engineers have done a good job as far as the quantity and distribution of light, but lighting design is at the same time unbalanced and skewed. Because of this, projects also look technical and often suffer from lack of visual beauty. It is good to look at and study lighting with open eyes, and to not judge earlier activities, solutions, norms or recommendations. It is also good to carefully study existing solutions and their connection to technical lighting recommendations. It opens doors for better architectural lighting design solutions. Recommendations are really only recommendations, not solutions for lighting design projects. They are only one tool, which must be used very carefully. Projects late in this thesis work are good examples to help to understand recommendations and put them in the right perspective as a helping tool. This thesis work is focusing on finding back the tools for beautiful architectural lighting solutions. It is not easy task after decades in darkness and under the influence of strong technical lighting eras. Thesis is divided in 2 parts. Part 1 is the core of my Thesis in nutshell and Part 2 has more detailed information for readers who want to learn more on architectural lighting design

Archaeological remote sensing: visualisation and analysis of grass-dominated environments using airborne laser scanning and digital spectral data

The use of airborne remote sensing data for archaeological prospection is not a novel concept, but it is one that has been brought to the forefront of current work in the discipline of landscape archaeology by the increasing availability and application of airborne laser scanning data (ALS). It is considered that ALS, coupled with imaging of the non-visible wavelengths using digital spectral sensors has the potential to revolutionise the field of archaeological remote sensing, overcoming some of the issues identified with the most common current technique of oblique aerial photography. However, as with many methods borrowed from geographic or environmental sciences, archaeologists have yet to understand or utilise the full potential of these sensors for deriving archaeological feature information. This thesis presents the work undertaken between 2008-11 at Bournemouth University that aimed to assess the full information content of airborne laser scanned and digital spectral data systematically with respect to identifying archaeological remains in non-alluvial environments. A range of techniques were evaluated for two study areas on Salisbury Plain, Wiltshire (Everleigh and Upavon) to establish how the information from these sensors can best be extracted and utilised. For the Everleigh Study Area archive airborne data were analysed with respect to the existing transcription from archive aerial photographs recorded by English Heritage's National Mapping Programme. At Upavon, spectral and airborne laser scanned data were collected by the NERC Airborne Research and Survey Facility to the specifications of the project in conjunction with a series of ground-based measures designed to shed light on the contemporary environmental factors influencing feature detectability. Through the study of visual and semi-automatic methods for detection of archaeological features, this research has provided a quantitative and comparative assessment of airborne remote sensing data for archaeological prospection, the first time that this has been achieved in the UK. In addition the study has provided a proof of concept for the use of the remote sensing techniques trialled in temperate grassland environments, a novel application in a field previously dominated by examples from alluvial and Mediterranean landscapes. In comparison to the baseline record of the Wiltshire HER, ALS was shown to be the most effective technique, detecting 76% of all previously know features and 72% of all the total number of features recorded in the study. Combining the spectral data from both January and May raised this total to 83% recovery of all previously known features, illustrating the value of multi-sensor survey. It has also been possible to clarify the strengths and weaknesses of a wide range of visualisation techniques through detailed comparative analysis and to show that some techniques in particular local relief modelling (ALS) and single band mapping (digital spectral data) are more suited to the aims of archaeological prospection than others, including common techniques such as shaded relief modelling (ALS) and True Colour Composites (digital spectral data). In total the use of “non-standard” or previously underused visualisation techniques was shown to improve feature detection by up to 18% for a single sensor type. Investigation of multiple archive spectral acquisitions highlighted seasonal differences in detectability of features that had not been previously observed in these data, with the January spectral data allowing the detection of 7% more features than the May acquisition. A clearer picture of spectral sensitivity of archaeological features was also gained for this environment with the best performing spectral band lying in the NIR for both datasets (706-717nm) and allowing detection c.68% of all the features visible across all the wavelengths. Finally, significant progress has been made in the testing of methods for combining data from different airborne sensors and analysing airborne data with respect to ground observations, showing that Brovey sharpening can be used to combine ALS and spectral data with up to 87% recovery of the features predicted by transcription from the contributing source data. This thesis concludes that the airborne remote sensing techniques studied have quantifiable benefit for detection of archaeological features at a landscape scale especially when used in conjunction with one another. The caveat to this is that appropriate use of the sensors from deployment, to processing, analysis and interpretation of features must be underpinned by a detailed understanding of how and why archaeological features might be represented in the data collected. This research goes some way towards achieving this, especially for grass-dominated environments but it is only with repeated, comparative analyses of these airborne data in conjunction with environmental observations that archaeologists will be able to advance knowledge in this field and thus put airborne remote sensing data to most effective use

Santa Clara Magazine, Volume 40 Number 2, August 1998

8 - THINKING ON THEIR FEET By Tegan McLane. A renowned choreographer coaches SCU dance students to craft bold, new expressions. 12 - MARRIED IN THE MISSION By Tegan McLane. Alumni remember returning to SCU for the most precious - and sometimes the most traumatic- days of their lives. 20 - THE GOOD DEATH By Connie Hinckley. Can physician-assisted suicide provide death with dignity as Oregon voters think? 26 - LET THEM EAT WINDOWS By Susan Vogel. An SCU symposium takes a close look at Microsoft, which grew from a little company that could to an engine geared to outdistance competitors .https://scholarcommons.scu.edu/sc_mag/1089/thumbnail.jp

Aeronautical engineering: A continuing bibliography with indexes (supplement 189)

This bibliography lists 579 reports, articles and other documents introduced into the NASA scientific and technical information system in June 1985