16,289 research outputs found
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
An Unsupervised Method for Estimating the Global Horizontal Irradiance from Photovoltaic Power Measurements
In this paper, we present a method to determine the global horizontal
irradiance (GHI) from the power measurements of one or more PV systems, located
in the same neighborhood. The method is completely unsupervised and is based on
a physical model of a PV plant. The precise assessment of solar irradiance is
pivotal for the forecast of the electric power generated by photovoltaic (PV)
plants. However, on-ground measurements are expensive and are generally not
performed for small and medium-sized PV plants. Satellite-based services
represent a valid alternative to on site measurements, but their space-time
resolution is limited. Results from two case studies located in Switzerland are
presented. The performance of the proposed method at assessing GHI is compared
with that of free and commercial satellite services. Our results show that the
presented method is generally better than satellite-based services, especially
at high temporal resolutions
Self-Supervised Intrinsic Image Decomposition
Intrinsic decomposition from a single image is a highly challenging task, due
to its inherent ambiguity and the scarcity of training data. In contrast to
traditional fully supervised learning approaches, in this paper we propose
learning intrinsic image decomposition by explaining the input image. Our
model, the Rendered Intrinsics Network (RIN), joins together an image
decomposition pipeline, which predicts reflectance, shape, and lighting
conditions given a single image, with a recombination function, a learned
shading model used to recompose the original input based off of intrinsic image
predictions. Our network can then use unsupervised reconstruction error as an
additional signal to improve its intermediate representations. This allows
large-scale unlabeled data to be useful during training, and also enables
transferring learned knowledge to images of unseen object categories, lighting
conditions, and shapes. Extensive experiments demonstrate that our method
performs well on both intrinsic image decomposition and knowledge transfer.Comment: NIPS 2017 camera-ready version, project page:
http://rin.csail.mit.edu
Serious Games in Cultural Heritage
Although the widespread use of gaming for leisure purposes has been well documented, the use of games to support cultural heritage purposes, such as historical teaching and learning, or for enhancing museum visits, has been less well considered. The state-of-the-art in serious game technology is identical to that of the state-of-the-art in entertainment games technology. As a result the field of serious heritage games concerns itself with recent advances in computer games, real-time computer graphics, virtual and augmented reality and artificial intelligence. On the other hand, the main strengths of serious gaming applications may be generalised as being in the areas of communication, visual expression of information, collaboration mechanisms, interactivity and entertainment. In this report, we will focus on the state-of-the-art with respect to the theories, methods and technologies used in serious heritage games. We provide an overview of existing literature of relevance to the domain, discuss the strengths and weaknesses of the described methods and point out unsolved problems and challenges. In addition, several case studies illustrating the application of methods and technologies used in cultural heritage are presented
Automated detection of block falls in the north polar region of Mars
We developed a change detection method for the identification of ice block
falls using NASA's HiRISE images of the north polar scarps on Mars. Our method
is based on a Support Vector Machine (SVM), trained using Histograms of
Oriented Gradients (HOG), and on blob detection. The SVM detects potential new
blocks between a set of images; the blob detection, then, confirms the
identification of a block inside the area indicated by the SVM and derives the
shape of the block. The results from the automatic analysis were compared with
block statistics from visual inspection. We tested our method in 6 areas
consisting of 1000x1000 pixels, where several hundreds of blocks were
identified. The results for the given test areas produced a true positive rate
of ~75% for blocks with sizes larger than 0.7 m (i.e., approx. 3 times the
available ground pixel size) and a false discovery rate of ~8.5%. Using blob
detection we also recover the size of each block within 3 pixels of their
actual size
Developing serious games for cultural heritage: a state-of-the-art review
Although the widespread use of gaming for leisure purposes has been well documented, the use of games to support cultural heritage purposes, such as historical teaching and learning, or for enhancing museum visits, has been less well considered. The state-of-the-art in serious game technology is identical to that of the state-of-the-art in entertainment games technology. As a result, the field of serious heritage games concerns itself with recent advances in computer games, real-time computer graphics, virtual and augmented reality and artificial intelligence. On the other hand, the main strengths of serious gaming applications may be generalised as being in the areas of communication, visual expression of information, collaboration mechanisms, interactivity and entertainment. In this report, we will focus on the state-of-the-art with respect to the theories, methods and technologies used in serious heritage games. We provide an overview of existing literature of relevance to the domain, discuss the strengths and weaknesses of the described methods and point out unsolved problems and challenges. In addition, several case studies illustrating the application of methods and technologies used in cultural heritage are presented
Photo-Realistic Scenes with Cast Shadows Show No Above/Below Search Asymmetries for Illumination Direction
Visual search is extended from the domain of polygonal figures presented on a uniform field to photo-realistic scenes containing target objects in dense, naturalistic backgrounds. The target in a trial is a computer-rendered rock protruding in depth from a "wall" of rocks of roughly similar size but different shapes. Subjects responded "present" when one rock appeared closer than the rest, owing to occlusions or cast shadows, and "absent" when all rocks appeared to be at the same depth. Results showed that cast shadows can significantly decrease reaction times compared to scenes with no cast shadows, in which the target was revealed only by occlusions of rocks behind it. A control experiment showed that cast shadows can be utilized even for displays involving rocks of several achromatic surface colors (dark through light), in which the shadow cast by the target rock was not the darkest region in the scene. Finally, in contrast with reports of experiments by others involving polygonal figures, we found no evidence for an effect of illumination direction (above vs. below) on search times.Office of Naval Research (N00014-94-1-0597, N00014-95-1-0409
Geometric reconstruction methods for electron tomography
Electron tomography is becoming an increasingly important tool in materials
science for studying the three-dimensional morphologies and chemical
compositions of nanostructures. The image quality obtained by many current
algorithms is seriously affected by the problems of missing wedge artefacts and
nonlinear projection intensities due to diffraction effects. The former refers
to the fact that data cannot be acquired over the full tilt range;
the latter implies that for some orientations, crystalline structures can show
strong contrast changes. To overcome these problems we introduce and discuss
several algorithms from the mathematical fields of geometric and discrete
tomography. The algorithms incorporate geometric prior knowledge (mainly
convexity and homogeneity), which also in principle considerably reduces the
number of tilt angles required. Results are discussed for the reconstruction of
an InAs nanowire
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