Event-based Photometric Stereo via Rotating Illumination and Per-Pixel Learning

Fuente: arXiv
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Autori principali: Kim, Hyunwoo, Kim, Won-Hoe, Lee, Sanghoon, Cai, Jianfei, Nam, Giljoo, Hyun, Jae-Sang
Natura: Preprint
Pubblicazione: 2026
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author Kim, Hyunwoo
Kim, Won-Hoe
Lee, Sanghoon
Cai, Jianfei
Nam, Giljoo
Hyun, Jae-Sang
author_facet Kim, Hyunwoo
Kim, Won-Hoe
Lee, Sanghoon
Cai, Jianfei
Nam, Giljoo
Hyun, Jae-Sang
contents Photometric stereo is a technique for estimating surface normals using images captured under varying illumination. However, conventional frame-based photometric stereo methods are limited in real-world applications due to their reliance on controlled lighting, and susceptibility to ambient illumination. To address these limitations, we propose an event-based photometric stereo system that leverages an event camera, which is effective in scenarios with continuously varying scene radiance and high dynamic range conditions. Our setup employs a single light source moving along a predefined circular trajectory, eliminating the need for multiple synchronized light sources and enabling a more compact and scalable design. We further introduce a lightweight per-pixel multi-layer neural network that directly predicts surface normals from event signals generated by intensity changes as the light source rotates, without system calibration. Experimental results on benchmark datasets and real-world data collected with our data acquisition system demonstrate the effectiveness of our method, achieving a 7.12\% reduction in mean angular error compared to existing event-based photometric stereo methods. In addition, our method demonstrates robustness in regions with sparse event activity, strong ambient illumination, and scenes affected by specularities.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2603_10748
institution arXiv
publishDate 2026
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Event-based Photometric Stereo via Rotating Illumination and Per-Pixel Learning
Kim, Hyunwoo
Kim, Won-Hoe
Lee, Sanghoon
Cai, Jianfei
Nam, Giljoo
Hyun, Jae-Sang
Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition
Photometric stereo is a technique for estimating surface normals using images captured under varying illumination. However, conventional frame-based photometric stereo methods are limited in real-world applications due to their reliance on controlled lighting, and susceptibility to ambient illumination. To address these limitations, we propose an event-based photometric stereo system that leverages an event camera, which is effective in scenarios with continuously varying scene radiance and high dynamic range conditions. Our setup employs a single light source moving along a predefined circular trajectory, eliminating the need for multiple synchronized light sources and enabling a more compact and scalable design. We further introduce a lightweight per-pixel multi-layer neural network that directly predicts surface normals from event signals generated by intensity changes as the light source rotates, without system calibration. Experimental results on benchmark datasets and real-world data collected with our data acquisition system demonstrate the effectiveness of our method, achieving a 7.12\% reduction in mean angular error compared to existing event-based photometric stereo methods. In addition, our method demonstrates robustness in regions with sparse event activity, strong ambient illumination, and scenes affected by specularities.
title Event-based Photometric Stereo via Rotating Illumination and Per-Pixel Learning
topic Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2603.10748