Assisted color acquisition for 3D models

Abstract Capturing surface appearance precisely is paramount for modeling realistic materials. Nevertheless, the spatially varying nature of most materials is difficult to measure. State-of-the-art methods often rely on complex apparatus and controlled environments, and even if they are able to acquire reliable SVBRDFs, the whole process usually takes a long time and generates a large amount of data, that is often redundant. In this work, we propose a method for fast and assisted acquisition of material properties on-site. The system has a simple setup, requiring only a generic camera and a light source. Consequently, it is also very portable and appropriate for a broad range of object sizes and scenarios. The system guides the acquisition process, allowing for a fast capture session while at the same time producing high-quality per vertex diffuse colors. To help in achieving a complete coverage it suggests missing light directions, reducing the amount of necessary input images and the acquisition time. The system is designed to work in situ , therefore the whole acquisition process works with immediate feedback and interactive integration of new data. We show results for a variety of objects differing in size and materials.