Photometric stereo is a technique in computer vision for estimating the surface normals of objects by observing that object under different lighting conditions (photometry). It is based on the fact that the amount of light reflected by a surface is dependent on the orientation of the surface in relation to the light source and the observer.[1] By measuring the amount of light reflected into a camera, the space of possible surface orientations is limited. Given enough light sources from different angles, the surface orientation may be constrained to a single orientation or even overconstrained.
The technique was originally introduced by Woodham in 1980.[2] The special case where the data is a single image is known as shape from shading, and was analyzed by B. K. P. Horn in 1989.[3] Photometric stereo has since been generalized to many other situations, including extended light sources and non-Lambertian surface finishes. Current research aims to make the method work in the presence of projected shadows, highlights, and non-uniform lighting.
Photometric stereo is widely used in various fields, ranging from archaeology[4] to quality control.[5] It is now integrated into widely used open-source software, such as Meshroom.[6]
- ^ Ying Wu. "Radiometry, BRDF and Photometric Stereo" (PDF). Northwestern University. Retrieved 2015-03-25.
- ^ Woodham, R.J. 1980. Photometric method for determining surface orientation from multiple images. Optical Engineerings 19, I, 139-144.
- ^ B. K. P. Horn, 1989. Obtaining shape from shading information. In B. K. P. Horn and M. J. Brooks, eds., Shape from Shading, pages 121–171. MIT Press.
- ^ Laurent, Antoine; Coupry, Benjamin; Mélou, Jean; Quéau, Yvain; Fritz, Carole; Durou, Jean-Denis (2024-12-14). "(R)-evolution in the implementation of photometric stereo – Application to archaeology". The International Archives of the Photogrammetry, Remote Sensing and Spatial Information Sciences. XLVIII-2-W8-2024: 289–294. Bibcode:2024ISPAr48W8..289L. doi:10.5194/isprs-archives-XLVIII-2-W8-2024-289-2024. ISSN 1682-1750.
- ^ Farooq, Abdul Rehman; Smith, Melvyn Lionel; Smith, Lyndon Neal; Midha, Sagar (2005-12-01). "Dynamic photometric stereo for on line quality control of ceramic tiles". Computers in Industry. Machine Vision Special Issue. 56 (8): 918–934. doi:10.1016/j.compind.2005.05.017. ISSN 0166-3615.
- ^ "meshroom.nodes.aliceVision.PhotometricStereo.PhotometricStereo — Meshroom documentation". meshroom.readthedocs.io. Retrieved 2025-01-30.