Simple Surface Reflectance Estimation of Diffuse Outdoor Object using Spherical Images

This paper proposes a new, efficient method to estimate reflectance parameters of diffuse outdoor objects from only one measurement with a spherical camera. The camera we used captures nearly 75 percent of a 360-degree field of view; thus, it captures the radiance of an object and illumination environment at one shot. By taking the known object’s shape into account, the illumination effect is calculated and the surface reflectance is derived. Measurement and data-processing cost will be greatly decreased by this method compared to previous methods that need elaborate procedures. Neither specific apparatus nor calibration of the camera gain factor is needed.