Inferring Shape from Motion Fields

Abstract

The human visual system has the ability o utilize motion information to infer the shapes of surfaces. More specifically, we are able to derive descriptions of rigidly rotating smooth surfaces entirely from the orthographic projection of the motions of their surface markings. A computational analysis of this ability is proposed based on "shape from motion" proposition. This proposition states that given the first spatial derivatives of the orthographically projected velocity and the acceleration fields of a rigidly rotating regular surface, then the angular velocity and the surface normal at each visible point on that surface are uniquely determined up to a reflection.