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Estimating Cumulus Cloud Shape from a Single Image

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Part of the book series: Communications in Computer and Information Science ((CCIS,volume 757))

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Abstract

Cumulus cloud is a typical kind of low-altitude cloud and bears detailed appearance. However, construct a cumulus cloud shape from image remains a challenging task. In previous works, cloud thickness is first calculated from intensities of the pixels and then cloud surface shape is obtained based on symmetry assumption. Given an image, an optimization problem is formulated based on the shape from shading(SFS) algorithm with unknown illumination. This paper addresses this problem and presents a simple and effective method which estimates the surface shape directly by leveraging the rich details of the cloud surface. In this paper, we propose two constraints: the boundary constraint and relative height constraint. Meanwhile, a multi-scale optimization technique is utilized and then back surface of the cloud is constructed. The experimental results show that our method can generate natural and realistic cumulus cloud shape with details like the image.

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Acknowledgement

This work is supported by the funds of National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 61572058) and National High Technology Research and Development Program of China (No. 2015AA016402). The authors gratefully thank their help on this work.

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Correspondence to Xiaohui Liang .

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Zhang, Y., Zhang, Z., Hou, J., Liang, X. (2018). Estimating Cumulus Cloud Shape from a Single Image. In: Wang, Y., et al. Advances in Image and Graphics Technologies. IGTA 2017. Communications in Computer and Information Science, vol 757. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-10-7389-2_15

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-10-7389-2_15

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Singapore

  • Print ISBN: 978-981-10-7388-5

  • Online ISBN: 978-981-10-7389-2

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