Method for synthesizing an image that is representative of the appearance of a surface under diffuse illumination

Abstract

A method for synthesizing a diffuse image (S) that is representative of an appearance of a surface under diffuse illumination, comprising: a) obtaining at least two directional images (D1, D2, D3) of the surface, each directional image having been acquired along a predefined viewing direction under directional illumination of the surface from a predefined illumination direction; b) for each directional image, determining a plurality of statistical parameters ({Α 1,n,m }, {Α 2,n,m }, {Α 3,n,m }) that are representative of a statistical distribution of the pixel values in the respective directional image; c) predicting a plurality of probability distribution parameters ({Α p,n,m }), the probability distribution parameters being representative of a predicted probability distribution function of the pixel values in the diffuse image, using the statistical parameters associated with the at least two directional images as predictors; and d) determining the pixel values of the diffuse image based on sampling from the predicted probability distribution function.

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