Let us assume that the irradiance received by an elementary surface from a point light source is ΔE, and that the radiance from the elementary surface emits in an outgoing direction toward the viewer is ΔL. BRDF is defined as the ratio of ΔE/ΔL, i.e., the ratio of the radiance in the outgoing direction to the incident irradiance. The unit of BRDF is sr−1.
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(2009). Bi-directional Reflectance Distribution Function (BRDF). In: Li, S.Z., Jain, A. (eds) Encyclopedia of Biometrics. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-387-73003-5_815
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-387-73003-5_815
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