Color correction of texture images for true photorealistic visualization

Photorealistic visualization combines 3-D geometric models with their texture images to render the virtual world. This paper points out that the texture images should be radiometrically corrected to achieve a true realistic appearance. Such a correction should include not only the color adjustment among images of the same object, but also the shade variation caused by the illumination change. The objective of this study is to correct the input texture images such that their shade varies when being rendered under different illumination directions. To achieve this goal we first apply the specular-to-diffuse mechanism based on the dichromatic reflection model to remove the specular component from the texture image. The resultant diffusion-only image then undergoes a shade correction to produce a normalized shade-free texture image. In the final step, shades under any illumination are produced to achieve a true photorealistic effect. Presented in the paper are the principles and methods for such corrections, along with a performance evaluation based on the graphic and numerical results for roof texture images.