Photo editing software allows digital images to be blurred, warped or re-colored at the touch of a button. However, it is not currently possible to change the material appearance of an object except by painstakingly painting over the appropriate pixels. Here we present a method for automatically replacing one material with another, completely different material, starting with only a single high dynamic range image as input. Our approach exploits the fact that human vision is surprisingly tolerant of certain (sometimes enormous) physical inaccuracies, while being sensitive to others. By adjusting our simulations to be careful about those aspects to which the human visual system is sensitive, we are for the first time able to demonstrate significant material changes on the basis of a single photograph as input.

Related Publications

Erum Arif Khan, Erik Reinhard, Roland Fleming and Heinrich Buelthoff, 'Image-based Material Editing', ACM Transactions on Graphics, Proceedings of Siggraph, Boston, USA, August 2006 [pdf] [video]

Erum Arif Khan, Erik Reinhard, Roland Fleming and Heinrich Buelthoff, 'Image-based Material Editing', Sketches Program, Siggraph, Los Angeles, USA, August 2005 [pdf]

Erum Arif Khan, Erik Reinhard, Roland Fleming, Heinrich Buelthoff,  'Image-based Material Editing', University of Central Florida Technical Report CS-TR-05-09, 2005

Related Video

Erik Reinhard, Erum Arif Khan, Oguz Akyuz, Roland Fleming and Heinrich Buelthoff, 'Image-based Material Editing', video, Siggraph Animation Theater, Los Angeles, USA, August 2005

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