Mixing
calculate surface normal using light
$begingroup$
Imagine you have a sheet of glitter. It can be thought of as a thousands of tiny flat mirrors with varying surface normals. These varying surface normals are what allows for the shimmering effect of light as you move. I am attempting to figure out what those normals are.
Using the reflection of light, could I determine the surface normal of a planar mirror (aka, a single piece of glitter)?
My current thought is to have the sheet of glitter fixed and a light shines on a particular piece of glitter. Then, place a piece of paper or something underneath the single piece of glitter to catch the reflection of light. By moving that piece of paper closer to the single piece of glitter, the reflected light moves. Does that movement help in determining the angle of reflection? Does that even help us at all in determining the surface normal?
I know this is a strange question, and I will happily elaborate on it if you wish. I also welcome and suggestions on different ways of trying to obtain the surface normals of the sheet of glitter.
linear-algebra physics reflection
asked Nov 15 '17 at 20:00
GentleSaintGentleSaint
6
$endgroup$
add a comment |
$begingroup$
Imagine you have a sheet of glitter. It can be thought of as a thousands of tiny flat mirrors with varying surface normals. These varying surface normals are what allows for the shimmering effect of light as you move. I am attempting to figure out what those normals are.
Using the reflection of light, could I determine the surface normal of a planar mirror (aka, a single piece of glitter)?
My current thought is to have the sheet of glitter fixed and a light shines on a particular piece of glitter. Then, place a piece of paper or something underneath the single piece of glitter to catch the reflection of light. By moving that piece of paper closer to the single piece of glitter, the reflected light moves. Does that movement help in determining the angle of reflection? Does that even help us at all in determining the surface normal?
I know this is a strange question, and I will happily elaborate on it if you wish. I also welcome and suggestions on different ways of trying to obtain the surface normals of the sheet of glitter.
linear-algebra physics reflection
asked Nov 15 '17 at 20:00
GentleSaintGentleSaint
6
$endgroup$
add a comment |
$begingroup$
Imagine you have a sheet of glitter. It can be thought of as a thousands of tiny flat mirrors with varying surface normals. These varying surface normals are what allows for the shimmering effect of light as you move. I am attempting to figure out what those normals are.
Using the reflection of light, could I determine the surface normal of a planar mirror (aka, a single piece of glitter)?
My current thought is to have the sheet of glitter fixed and a light shines on a particular piece of glitter. Then, place a piece of paper or something underneath the single piece of glitter to catch the reflection of light. By moving that piece of paper closer to the single piece of glitter, the reflected light moves. Does that movement help in determining the angle of reflection? Does that even help us at all in determining the surface normal?
I know this is a strange question, and I will happily elaborate on it if you wish. I also welcome and suggestions on different ways of trying to obtain the surface normals of the sheet of glitter.
linear-algebra physics reflection
asked Nov 15 '17 at 20:00
GentleSaintGentleSaint
6
$endgroup$
Imagine you have a sheet of glitter. It can be thought of as a thousands of tiny flat mirrors with varying surface normals. These varying surface normals are what allows for the shimmering effect of light as you move. I am attempting to figure out what those normals are.
Using the reflection of light, could I determine the surface normal of a planar mirror (aka, a single piece of glitter)?
My current thought is to have the sheet of glitter fixed and a light shines on a particular piece of glitter. Then, place a piece of paper or something underneath the single piece of glitter to catch the reflection of light. By moving that piece of paper closer to the single piece of glitter, the reflected light moves. Does that movement help in determining the angle of reflection? Does that even help us at all in determining the surface normal?
I know this is a strange question, and I will happily elaborate on it if you wish. I also welcome and suggestions on different ways of trying to obtain the surface normals of the sheet of glitter.
linear-algebra physics reflection
linear-algebra physics reflection
asked Nov 15 '17 at 20:00
GentleSaintGentleSaint
6
asked Nov 15 '17 at 20:00
GentleSaintGentleSaint
6
asked Nov 15 '17 at 20:00
GentleSaintGentleSaint
6
asked Nov 15 '17 at 20:00
GentleSaintGentleSaint
6
asked Nov 15 '17 at 20:00
GentleSaintGentleSaint
6
6
add a comment |
add a comment |
2 Answers
2
active
oldest
votes
$begingroup$
Gentle
Interesting. I was contemplating a similar question while staring at the reflection of the sun of a choppy ocean: could I estimate the choppiness as a function of position by taking some sort of average of the intensity of the reflection.
The literature on optics is full of terminology concerning this sort of problem. In satellite imaging one wishes to analyze materials using spectral information, for example. This requires a host of information so that you can determine how much of the light that you sense from a particular point was attenuated by the atmosphere or dust, how bright the source was, etc. There are databases full of data collected in laboratories about how much light is reflected as a function of wavelength, angle of incidence, angle of reflection, and other parameters.
Generally speaking, the maximum amount of light will be reflected when the angle between the light source and the normal is the same as that between the sensor and the normal. So if you can figure out a way to discover the orientation that produces this maximum you've got a start.
Of course doing this once only provides a plane of possible normals. You need to repeat with a second orientation of the sensor (unless the light source is collocated with the sensor).
If you cannot control the orientation of the glitter you could try measuring the returned light for a number of points and assume that the maximum observed value represents those pieces of glitter with the optimal geometry and then try to infer how much orientation change is associated with various lesser values to guess the orientations of the rest of the glitter. You would then have a graph that relates intensity to the angle between source and sensor -- roughly.
answered Nov 15 '17 at 20:33
DREKTDREKT
35624
$endgroup$
add a comment |
$begingroup$
Don't know if you are still working on this problem, but I (with my students) wrote this paper that answers this question:
"SparkleGeometry: Glitter Imaging for 3D Point Tracking"
https://www.cv-foundation.org/openaccess/content_cvpr_2016_workshops/w16/papers/Stylianou_SparkleGeometry_Glitter_Imaging_CVPR_2016_paper.pdf
and there is related work that solves a similar calibration problem:
"SparkleVision: Seeing the world through random specular microfacets"
https://arxiv.org/abs/1412.7884
Good luck!
answered Jan 5 at 3:16
Robert PlessRobert Pless
11
$endgroup$
$begingroup$
I appreciate the answer! My problem at the moment is this darn acrylic that keeps giving me trouble, I might just keep optimizing all the parameters until it works :P Happy New year Dr. Pless!
$endgroup$
– GentleSaint
Jan 6 at 4:10
add a comment |
Your Answer
StackExchange.ifUsing("editor", function () {
return StackExchange.using("mathjaxEditing", function () {
StackExchange.MarkdownEditor.creationCallbacks.add(function (editor, postfix) {
StackExchange.mathjaxEditing.prepareWmdForMathJax(editor, postfix, [["$", "$"], ["\\(","\\)"]]);
});
});
}, "mathjax-editing");
StackExchange.ready(function() {
var channelOptions = {
tags: "".split(" "),
id: "69"
};
initTagRenderer("".split(" "), "".split(" "), channelOptions);
StackExchange.using("externalEditor", function() {
// Have to fire editor after snippets, if snippets enabled
if (StackExchange.settings.snippets.snippetsEnabled) {
StackExchange.using("snippets", function() {
createEditor();
});
}
else {
createEditor();
}
});
function createEditor() {
StackExchange.prepareEditor({
heartbeatType: 'answer',
autoActivateHeartbeat: false,
convertImagesToLinks: true,
noModals: true,
showLowRepImageUploadWarning: true,
reputationToPostImages: 10,
bindNavPrevention: true,
postfix: "",
imageUploader: {
brandingHtml: "Powered by u003ca class="icon-imgur-white" href="https://imgur.com/"u003eu003c/au003e",
contentPolicyHtml: "User contributions licensed under u003ca href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/"u003ecc by-sa 3.0 with attribution requiredu003c/au003e u003ca href="https://stackoverflow.com/legal/content-policy"u003e(content policy)u003c/au003e",
allowUrls: true
},
noCode: true, onDemand: true,
discardSelector: ".discard-answer"
,immediatelyShowMarkdownHelp:true
});
}
});
Sign up or log in
StackExchange.ready(function () {
StackExchange.helpers.onClickDraftSave('#login-link');
});
Sign up using Google
Sign up using Facebook
Sign up using Email and Password
Post as a guest
Required, but never shown
StackExchange.ready(
function () {
StackExchange.openid.initPostLogin('.new-post-login', 'https%3a%2f%2fmath.stackexchange.com%2fquestions%2f2521998%2fcalculate-surface-normal-using-light%23new-answer', 'question_page');
}
);
Post as a guest
Required, but never shown
2 Answers
2
active
oldest
votes
2 Answers
2
active
oldest
votes
active
oldest
votes
active
oldest
votes
$begingroup$
Gentle
Interesting. I was contemplating a similar question while staring at the reflection of the sun of a choppy ocean: could I estimate the choppiness as a function of position by taking some sort of average of the intensity of the reflection.
The literature on optics is full of terminology concerning this sort of problem. In satellite imaging one wishes to analyze materials using spectral information, for example. This requires a host of information so that you can determine how much of the light that you sense from a particular point was attenuated by the atmosphere or dust, how bright the source was, etc. There are databases full of data collected in laboratories about how much light is reflected as a function of wavelength, angle of incidence, angle of reflection, and other parameters.
Generally speaking, the maximum amount of light will be reflected when the angle between the light source and the normal is the same as that between the sensor and the normal. So if you can figure out a way to discover the orientation that produces this maximum you've got a start.
Of course doing this once only provides a plane of possible normals. You need to repeat with a second orientation of the sensor (unless the light source is collocated with the sensor).
If you cannot control the orientation of the glitter you could try measuring the returned light for a number of points and assume that the maximum observed value represents those pieces of glitter with the optimal geometry and then try to infer how much orientation change is associated with various lesser values to guess the orientations of the rest of the glitter. You would then have a graph that relates intensity to the angle between source and sensor -- roughly.
answered Nov 15 '17 at 20:33
DREKTDREKT
35624
$endgroup$
add a comment |
$begingroup$
Gentle
Interesting. I was contemplating a similar question while staring at the reflection of the sun of a choppy ocean: could I estimate the choppiness as a function of position by taking some sort of average of the intensity of the reflection.
The literature on optics is full of terminology concerning this sort of problem. In satellite imaging one wishes to analyze materials using spectral information, for example. This requires a host of information so that you can determine how much of the light that you sense from a particular point was attenuated by the atmosphere or dust, how bright the source was, etc. There are databases full of data collected in laboratories about how much light is reflected as a function of wavelength, angle of incidence, angle of reflection, and other parameters.
Generally speaking, the maximum amount of light will be reflected when the angle between the light source and the normal is the same as that between the sensor and the normal. So if you can figure out a way to discover the orientation that produces this maximum you've got a start.
Of course doing this once only provides a plane of possible normals. You need to repeat with a second orientation of the sensor (unless the light source is collocated with the sensor).
If you cannot control the orientation of the glitter you could try measuring the returned light for a number of points and assume that the maximum observed value represents those pieces of glitter with the optimal geometry and then try to infer how much orientation change is associated with various lesser values to guess the orientations of the rest of the glitter. You would then have a graph that relates intensity to the angle between source and sensor -- roughly.
answered Nov 15 '17 at 20:33
DREKTDREKT
35624
$endgroup$
add a comment |
$begingroup$
Gentle
Interesting. I was contemplating a similar question while staring at the reflection of the sun of a choppy ocean: could I estimate the choppiness as a function of position by taking some sort of average of the intensity of the reflection.
The literature on optics is full of terminology concerning this sort of problem. In satellite imaging one wishes to analyze materials using spectral information, for example. This requires a host of information so that you can determine how much of the light that you sense from a particular point was attenuated by the atmosphere or dust, how bright the source was, etc. There are databases full of data collected in laboratories about how much light is reflected as a function of wavelength, angle of incidence, angle of reflection, and other parameters.
Generally speaking, the maximum amount of light will be reflected when the angle between the light source and the normal is the same as that between the sensor and the normal. So if you can figure out a way to discover the orientation that produces this maximum you've got a start.
Of course doing this once only provides a plane of possible normals. You need to repeat with a second orientation of the sensor (unless the light source is collocated with the sensor).
If you cannot control the orientation of the glitter you could try measuring the returned light for a number of points and assume that the maximum observed value represents those pieces of glitter with the optimal geometry and then try to infer how much orientation change is associated with various lesser values to guess the orientations of the rest of the glitter. You would then have a graph that relates intensity to the angle between source and sensor -- roughly.
answered Nov 15 '17 at 20:33
DREKTDREKT
35624
$endgroup$
Gentle
Interesting. I was contemplating a similar question while staring at the reflection of the sun of a choppy ocean: could I estimate the choppiness as a function of position by taking some sort of average of the intensity of the reflection.
The literature on optics is full of terminology concerning this sort of problem. In satellite imaging one wishes to analyze materials using spectral information, for example. This requires a host of information so that you can determine how much of the light that you sense from a particular point was attenuated by the atmosphere or dust, how bright the source was, etc. There are databases full of data collected in laboratories about how much light is reflected as a function of wavelength, angle of incidence, angle of reflection, and other parameters.
Generally speaking, the maximum amount of light will be reflected when the angle between the light source and the normal is the same as that between the sensor and the normal. So if you can figure out a way to discover the orientation that produces this maximum you've got a start.
Of course doing this once only provides a plane of possible normals. You need to repeat with a second orientation of the sensor (unless the light source is collocated with the sensor).
If you cannot control the orientation of the glitter you could try measuring the returned light for a number of points and assume that the maximum observed value represents those pieces of glitter with the optimal geometry and then try to infer how much orientation change is associated with various lesser values to guess the orientations of the rest of the glitter. You would then have a graph that relates intensity to the angle between source and sensor -- roughly.
answered Nov 15 '17 at 20:33
DREKTDREKT
35624
answered Nov 15 '17 at 20:33
DREKTDREKT
35624
answered Nov 15 '17 at 20:33
DREKTDREKT
35624
answered Nov 15 '17 at 20:33
DREKTDREKT
35624
35624
add a comment |
add a comment |
$begingroup$
Don't know if you are still working on this problem, but I (with my students) wrote this paper that answers this question:
"SparkleGeometry: Glitter Imaging for 3D Point Tracking"
https://www.cv-foundation.org/openaccess/content_cvpr_2016_workshops/w16/papers/Stylianou_SparkleGeometry_Glitter_Imaging_CVPR_2016_paper.pdf
and there is related work that solves a similar calibration problem:
"SparkleVision: Seeing the world through random specular microfacets"
https://arxiv.org/abs/1412.7884
Good luck!
answered Jan 5 at 3:16
Robert PlessRobert Pless
11
$endgroup$
$begingroup$
I appreciate the answer! My problem at the moment is this darn acrylic that keeps giving me trouble, I might just keep optimizing all the parameters until it works :P Happy New year Dr. Pless!
$endgroup$
– GentleSaint
Jan 6 at 4:10
add a comment |
$begingroup$
Don't know if you are still working on this problem, but I (with my students) wrote this paper that answers this question:
"SparkleGeometry: Glitter Imaging for 3D Point Tracking"
https://www.cv-foundation.org/openaccess/content_cvpr_2016_workshops/w16/papers/Stylianou_SparkleGeometry_Glitter_Imaging_CVPR_2016_paper.pdf
and there is related work that solves a similar calibration problem:
"SparkleVision: Seeing the world through random specular microfacets"
https://arxiv.org/abs/1412.7884
Good luck!
answered Jan 5 at 3:16
Robert PlessRobert Pless
11
$endgroup$
$begingroup$
I appreciate the answer! My problem at the moment is this darn acrylic that keeps giving me trouble, I might just keep optimizing all the parameters until it works :P Happy New year Dr. Pless!
$endgroup$
– GentleSaint
Jan 6 at 4:10
add a comment |
$begingroup$
Don't know if you are still working on this problem, but I (with my students) wrote this paper that answers this question:
"SparkleGeometry: Glitter Imaging for 3D Point Tracking"
https://www.cv-foundation.org/openaccess/content_cvpr_2016_workshops/w16/papers/Stylianou_SparkleGeometry_Glitter_Imaging_CVPR_2016_paper.pdf
and there is related work that solves a similar calibration problem:
"SparkleVision: Seeing the world through random specular microfacets"
https://arxiv.org/abs/1412.7884
Good luck!
answered Jan 5 at 3:16
Robert PlessRobert Pless
11
$endgroup$
Don't know if you are still working on this problem, but I (with my students) wrote this paper that answers this question:
"SparkleGeometry: Glitter Imaging for 3D Point Tracking"
https://www.cv-foundation.org/openaccess/content_cvpr_2016_workshops/w16/papers/Stylianou_SparkleGeometry_Glitter_Imaging_CVPR_2016_paper.pdf
and there is related work that solves a similar calibration problem:
"SparkleVision: Seeing the world through random specular microfacets"
https://arxiv.org/abs/1412.7884
Good luck!
answered Jan 5 at 3:16
Robert PlessRobert Pless
11
answered Jan 5 at 3:16
Robert PlessRobert Pless
11
answered Jan 5 at 3:16
Robert PlessRobert Pless
11
answered Jan 5 at 3:16
Robert PlessRobert Pless
11
11
$begingroup$
I appreciate the answer! My problem at the moment is this darn acrylic that keeps giving me trouble, I might just keep optimizing all the parameters until it works :P Happy New year Dr. Pless!
$endgroup$
– GentleSaint
Jan 6 at 4:10
add a comment |
$begingroup$
I appreciate the answer! My problem at the moment is this darn acrylic that keeps giving me trouble, I might just keep optimizing all the parameters until it works :P Happy New year Dr. Pless!
$endgroup$
– GentleSaint
Jan 6 at 4:10
$begingroup$
I appreciate the answer! My problem at the moment is this darn acrylic that keeps giving me trouble, I might just keep optimizing all the parameters until it works :P Happy New year Dr. Pless!
$endgroup$
– GentleSaint
Jan 6 at 4:10
$begingroup$
I appreciate the answer! My problem at the moment is this darn acrylic that keeps giving me trouble, I might just keep optimizing all the parameters until it works :P Happy New year Dr. Pless!
$endgroup$
– GentleSaint
Jan 6 at 4:10
add a comment |
Thanks for contributing an answer to Mathematics Stack Exchange!
- Please be sure to answer the question. Provide details and share your research!
But avoid …
- Asking for help, clarification, or responding to other answers.
- Making statements based on opinion; back them up with references or personal experience.
Use MathJax to format equations. MathJax reference.
To learn more, see our tips on writing great answers.
Sign up or log in
StackExchange.ready(function () {
StackExchange.helpers.onClickDraftSave('#login-link');
});
Sign up using Google
Sign up using Facebook
Sign up using Email and Password
Post as a guest
Required, but never shown
StackExchange.ready(
function () {
StackExchange.openid.initPostLogin('.new-post-login', 'https%3a%2f%2fmath.stackexchange.com%2fquestions%2f2521998%2fcalculate-surface-normal-using-light%23new-answer', 'question_page');
}
);
Post as a guest
Required, but never shown
Sign up or log in
StackExchange.ready(function () {
StackExchange.helpers.onClickDraftSave('#login-link');
});
Sign up using Google
Sign up using Facebook
Sign up using Email and Password
Post as a guest
Required, but never shown
Sign up or log in
StackExchange.ready(function () {
StackExchange.helpers.onClickDraftSave('#login-link');
});
Sign up using Google
Sign up using Facebook
Sign up using Email and Password
Post as a guest
Required, but never shown
Sign up or log in
StackExchange.ready(function () {
StackExchange.helpers.onClickDraftSave('#login-link');
});
Sign up using Google
Sign up using Facebook
Sign up using Email and Password
Sign up using Google
Sign up using Facebook
Sign up using Email and Password
Post as a guest
Required, but never shown
Required, but never shown
Required, but never shown
Required, but never shown
Required, but never shown
Required, but never shown
Required, but never shown
Required, but never shown
Required, but never shown
