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Shape from Shadows

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Computer Vision

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Definition

Shape from shadows is the inference of the three-dimensional shape of objects from their shadows.

Background

David Waltz first introduced to computer vision the problem of shape from shadows while attempting to segment objects that had sharp edges in a three-dimensional scene under various lighting conditions [1]. The problem was then refined to arbitrary surfaces [2]. Nowadays, shape from shadows is a cue commonly used when one is interested in inferring the three-dimensional structure of a visual scene. A benefit relative to other cues such as stereopsis or motion parallax is that it is available in a single image. Shape from shadows differs from shape from shading because in the latter the useful information is the gradient of reflected light on a curved surface, whereas shape from shadows considers that the information coming from the area inside cast shadow is uniform (there are no variations inside the shadow that are related to the scene geometry [3]). However, it is...

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References

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Laboratoire Psychologie de la Perception, Université Paris Descartes, Paris, France

    Pascal Mamassian

Authors
  1. Pascal Mamassian
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Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Industrial Science, The University of Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan

    Katsushi Ikeuchi

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© 2014 Springer Science+Business Media New York

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Mamassian, P. (2014). Shape from Shadows. In: Ikeuchi, K. (eds) Computer Vision. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-387-31439-6_260

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