INFERRING THE 3D SHAPE FORMED BY PLANE SURFACES FROM ISOLUMINANCE CURVES

Plane surfaces under ordinary lighting have a distribution of illumina tion, and isolux curves can be drawn on the illuminated plane from its distribution curve. In our approach, the 3D shape formed by two plane surfaces can be determined from the apparent centre of isolux curves drawn on each plane surface. The distribution of illumination on surfa ces is observed in television images as a distribution of luminance. T he apparent centre of isolux curves in the images is inferred from the isoluminance curves, which are constructed from the luminance distrib ution on each plane surface. This method can be used to define a three -dimensional configuration of primary objects and surfaces, for exampl e, a 3D world model for an indoor mobile robot. Several experimental r esults are shown.