Shape from shadings under perspective projection and turntable motion

Abstract

Two-Frame-Theory is a recently proposed method for 3D shape recovery. It estimates shape by solving a first order quasi-linear partial differential equation through the method of characteristics. One major drawback of this method is that it assumes an orthographic camera which limits its application. This paper re-examines the basic idea of the Two-Frame-Theory under the assumption of a perspective camera, and derives a first order quasi-linear partial differential equation for shape recovery under turntable motion. Dynamic programming is used here to provide the Dirichlet boundary condition. The proposed method is tested against synthetic and real data. Experimental results show that perspective projection can be used in the framework of Two-Frame-Theory, and competitive results can be achieved.