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Researchers leverage shadows to model 3D scenes, including objects blocked from view. This technique could lead to safer autonomous vehicles, more efficient AR/VR headsets, or faster warehouse robots.


A new technique can model an entire 3D scene, including areas hidden from view, from just one camera image. The method, developed by MIT and Meta researchers, relies on image shadows, which provide information about the geometry and location of hidden objects.

They have introduced a method that creates physically accurate, 3D models of an entire scene, including areas blocked from view, using images from a single camera position. In addition to improving the safety of autonomous vehicles, PlatoNeRF could make AR/VR headsets more efficient by enabling a user to model the geometry of a room without the need to walk around taking measurements. Klinghoffer wrote the paper with his advisor, Ramesh Raskar, associate professor of media arts and sciences and leader of the Camera Culture Group at MIT; senior author Rakesh Ranjan, a director of AI research at Meta Reality Labs; as well as Siddharth Somasundaram, a research assistant in the Camera Culture Group, and Xiaoyu Xiang, Yuchen Fan, and Christian Richardt at Meta.

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