Litcius/Paper detail

3D imaging of complex specular surfaces by fusing polarimetric and deflectometric information

Jiazhang Wang, Oliver Cossairt, Florian Willomitzer

2025Optica16 citationsDOIOpen Access PDF

Abstract

Accurate and fast 3D imaging of specular surfaces still poses major challenges for state-of-the-art optical measurement principles. Frequently used methods, such as phase-measuring deflectometry (PMD) or shape-from-polarization (SfP), rely on strong assumptions about the measured objects, limiting their generalizability in broader application areas such as medical imaging, industrial inspection, virtual reality, or cultural heritage analysis. In this paper, we introduce a measurement principle that utilizes a technique to effectively encode and decode the information contained in a light field reflected off a specular surface. We combine polarization cues from SfP with geometric information obtained from PMD to resolve all arising ambiguities in the 3D measurement. Moreover, our approach avoids the unrealistic orthographic imaging assumption for SfP, which significantly improves the respective results. We showcase our technique by demonstrating single-shot and multi-shot measurements on complex-shaped specular surfaces, displaying an evaluated accuracy of surface normals below 0.56°.

Topics & Concepts

Specular reflectionPolarimetryRemote sensingComputer visionArtificial intelligenceComputer scienceGeologyOpticsPhysicsScatteringOptical measurement and interference techniquesOptical Polarization and Ellipsometry
3D imaging of complex specular surfaces by fusing polarimetric and deflectometric information | Litcius