Reducing Specular Reflection Components of Chrome-Plated Surface with Varying Light Direction

On chrome-plated surfaces, specular reflection is very strong while reflection is very weak. This makes the automatic inspection on a chrome-plated very difficult. Based on analysis of chrome-plated reflection properties, this paper propose and develop a method to reduce specular reflection. Using the median of gradients of all input images taken with various lighting direction, we reconstruct a syntheses image that contains only diffuse reflection, and the useful information is remained. Experimental results on chrome-plated ABS resin show that the method is efficient in reduction of specular reflections. The work is the basis of create visual inspection system for chrome-plated surfaces.