Abstract. A method to estimate the environmental illumination distribution of a scene with gradient-based ray and candidate shadow maps is presented. In the shadow segmentation stage, we apply a Canny edge detector to the shadowed image by using a three-dimensional (3-D) augmented reality (AR) marker of a known size and shape. Then the hierarchical tree of the connected edge components representing the topological relation is constructed, and the connected components are merged, taking their hierarchical structures into consideration. A gradient-based ray that is perpendicular to the gradient of the edge pixel in the shadow image can be used to extract the shadow regions. In the light source detection stage, shadow regions with both a 3-D AR marker and the light sources are partitioned into candidate shadow maps. A simple logic operation between each candidate shadow map and the segmented shadow is used to efficiently compute the area ratio between them. The proposed method successively extracts the main light sources according to their relative contributions on the segmented shadows. The proposed method can reduce unwanted effects due to the sampling positions in the shadow region and the threshold values in the shadow edge detection. © The Authors. Published by SPIE under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License. Distribution or reproduction of this work in whole or in part requires full attribution of the original publication, including its DOI.

By estimating environment light distribution, we can generate realistic shadow images in AR(augmented reality). When we estimate light distribution without sensing equipment, environment light model, geometry of virtual object, and surface reflection property are needed. Previous study using 3D marker builds surrounding light environment with a geodesic dome model and analyzes shadow images. Because this method employs candidate shadow maps in initial scene setup, however, it is difficult to estimate precise light information. This paper presents a novel light estimation method based on hierarchical light distribution model subdivision. By using an overlapping area ratio of the segmented shadow and candidate shadow map, we can make hierarchical subdivision of light geodesic dome.