Relief texture from specularities.

In vision and graphics, advanced object models require not only 3D shape, but also surface detail. While several scanning devices exist to capture the global shape of an object, few methods concentrate on capturing the fine-scale detail. Fine-scale surface geometry (relief texture), such as surface markings, roughness, and imprints, is essential in highly realistic rendering and accurate prediction. We present a novel approach for measuring the relief texture of specular or partially specular surfaces using a specialized imaging device with a concave parabolic mirror to view multiple angles in a single image. Laser scanning typically fails for specular surfaces because of light scattering, but our method is explicitly designed for specular surfaces. Also, the spatial resolution of the measured geometry is significantly higher than standard methods, so very small surface details are captured. Furthermore, spatially varying reflectance is measured simultaneously, i.e., both texture color and texture shape are retrieved.