Cast shadows can be significant in many computer vision applications, such as lighting-insensitive recognition and surface reconstruction. Nevertheless, most algorithms neglect them, primarily because they involve nonlocal interactions in nonconvex regions, making formal analysis difficult. However, many real instances map closely to canonical configurations like a wall, a V-groove type structure, or a pitted surface. In particular, we experiment with 3D textures like moss, gravel, and a kitchen sponge, whose surfaces include canonical configurations like V-grooves. This paper takes a first step toward a formal analysis of cast shadows, showing theoretically that many configurations can be mathematically analyzed using convolutions and Fourier basis functions. Our analysis exposes the mathematical convolution structure of cast shadows and shows strong connections to recent signal-processing frameworks for reflection and illumination.

A goal of image-based rendering is to synthesize as realistically as possible man made and natural objects. The paper presents a method for image-based modeling and rendering of objects with arbitrary (possibly anisotropic and spatially varying) BRDFs. An object is modeled by sampling the surface's incident light field to reconstruct a non-parametric apparent BRDF at each visible point on the surface, This can be used to render the object from the same viewpoint but under arbitrarily specified illumination. We demonstrate how these object models can be embedded in synthetic scenes and rendered under global illumination which captures the interreflections between real and synthetic objects. We also show how these image-based models can be automatically composited onto video footage with dynamic illumination so that the effects (shadows and shading) of the lighting on the composited object match those of the scene.