title: Determining surface orientations of transparent objects based on polarization degrees in visible and infrared wavelengths.
abstract: Techniques for modeling an object through observation are very important in object recognition and virtual reality. A wide variety of techniques have been developed for modeling objects with opaque surfaces, whereas less attention has been paid to objects with transparent surfaces. A transparent surface has only surface reflection; it has little body reflection. We present a new method for obtaining surface orientations of transparent surfaces through analysis of the degree of polarization in surface reflection and emission in visible and far-infrared wavelengths, respectively. This parameter, the polarization degree of reflected light at the visible wavelengths, is used for determining the surface orientation at a surface point. The polarization degree at visible wavelengths provides two possible solutions, and the proposed method uses the polarization degree at far-infrared wavelengths to resolve this ambiguity.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Industrial Science, The University of Tokyo, Japan. miyazaki@cvl.iis.u-tokyo.ac.jp
authors.forename: Daisuke
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Miyazaki
authors.forename: Megumi
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Saito
authors.forename: Yoichi
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Sato
authors.forename: Katsushi
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Ikeuchi