Specular Intensity Research Articles

DreamFace: Progressive Generation of Animatable 3D Faces under Text Guidance

Emerging Metaverse applications demand accessible, accurate and easy-to-use tools for 3D digital human creations in order to depict different cultures and societies as if in the physical world. Recent large-scale vision-language advances pave the way for novices to conveniently customize 3D content. However, the generated CG-friendly assets still cannot represent the desired facial traits for human characteristics. In this paper, we present Dream-Face, a progressive scheme to generate personalized 3D faces under text guidance. It enables layman users to naturally customize 3D facial assets that are compatible with CG pipelines, with desired shapes, textures and fine-grained animation capabilities. From a text input to describe the facial traits, we first introduce a coarse-to-fine scheme to generate the neutral facial geometry with a unified topology. We employ a selection strategy in the CLIP embedding space to generate coarse geometry, and subsequently optimize both the detailed displacements and normals using Score Distillation Sampling (SDS) from the generic Latent Diffusion Model (LDM). Then, for neutral appearance generation, we introduce a dual-path mechanism, which combines the generic LDM with a novel texture LDM to ensure both the diversity and textural specification in the UV space. We also employ a two-stage optimization to perform SDS in both the latent and image spaces to significantly provide compact priors for fine-grained synthesis. It also enables learning the mapping from the compact latent space into physically-based textures (diffuse albedo, specular intensity, normal maps, etc.). Our generated neutral assets naturally support blendshapes-based facial animations, thanks to the unified geometric topology. We further improve the animation ability with personalized deformation characteristics. To this end, we learn the universal expression prior in a latent space with neutral asset conditioning using the cross-identity hypernetwork, we subsequently train a neural facial tracker from video input space into the pre-trained expression space for personalized fine-grained animation. Extensive qualitative and quantitative experiments validate the effectiveness and generalizability of DreamFace. Notably, DreamFace can generate realistic 3D facial assets with physically-based rendering quality and rich animation ability from video footage, even for fashion icons or exotic characters in cartoons and fiction movies.

RECURRENT RELATIONS IN GRAZING NONCOPLANAR X-RAY DIFFRACTION IN MULTILAYER SURFACE CRYSTAL STRUCTURES

The specular reflection of X rays from multilayer crystal structures on the surface of a single crystal under conditions of grazing noncoplanar diffraction is considered. Recurrent relations of a new type are obtained. A high sensitivity of the angular dependence of the specular reflection intensity in the diffraction region to the thickness and number of layers, their deformation, and degree of amorphization is shown.

Tapered Resistive Sheets Loading to the FSS Absorber for the Wide-Angle Monostatic RCS Reduction Applications

In this communication, wide-angle monostatic radar cross section (RCS) reduction of a metal plate is reported. The whole angular range (0°–90°) is divided into three parts according to the different dominant scattering mechanisms. Each dominant scattering mechanism is accurately identified and suppressed effectively. Frequency selective surface (FSS) absorber is employed to reduce the specular echo intensity within the first angular part. The tapered resistive sheets (TRSs) are loading as an edge termination to the metal layer and FSS layer, respectively, providing a slowly varying surface current to taper the transition between the free space and the targets. Significant RCS reduction in the rest two angular parts is achieved. Simulation results clearly show that more than 10 dB monostatic RCS reduction is realized within a wide angular range (0°–10° and 30°–85°) for the frequency band ranging from 1.3 to 2 GHz. Samples have been fabricated and measured in the anechoic chamber, and a remarkable agreement between the simulation and measurement is obtained. The effectiveness of the design is fully verified.

Helium atom scattering from potassium tantalate/niobate(001) surfaces.

The results of He atom scattering experiments on KTa0.48Nb0.52O3(001) surfaces are presented and compared with similar experiments on mixed potassium tantalate/niobate perovskites with lower concentrations of Nb. The results are puzzling, unique and intriguing. Angular distributions of the He scattering intensities (the He surface diffraction pattern) are found to be very similar to those obtained from targets with lower Nb fractions. However, drift spectra (the intensity of the He specular reflection as a function of the He wave vector) are not. Whereas the drift spectra in the 〈10〉 azimuth do resemble those of the 0, 6 and 10% Nb fraction targets, in the 〈11〉 azimuth they are more similar to the strange drift spectra found from the 30% Nb-doped targets. Most intriguing are the surface temperature scans (the He specular intensity as a function of the target surface temperature); for they are quite distinct from those with lower Nb fractions. Finally, the inelastic He scattering experiments provide phonon dispersion results that are similar in most respects to those found for the lower Nb level samples. In particular, the most prominent feature is an Einstein-like mode at about 13.5 meV which spans the entire surface Brillouin zone in both 〈10〉 and 〈11〉 azimuths.

Image-based Perceptual Editing: Leather “Authenticity” as a Case Study

Traditionally, the appearance of an object in an image is edited to elicit a preferred perception. However, the editing method might be arbitrary and might not consider the human perception mechanism. In this study, the authors explored image-based leather “authenticity” editing using an estimation model that considers a perception mechanism derived in their previous work. They created leather rendered images by emphasizing or suppressing image properties corresponding to the “authenticity.” Subsequently, they performed two subjective experiments, one using fully edited images and another using partially edited images whose specular reflection intensity was constant. Participants observed the leather rendered images and evaluated the differences in the perception of “authenticity.” The authors found that the “authenticity” perception could be changed by manipulating the intensity of specular reflection and the texture (grain and surface irregularity) in the images. The results of this study could be used to tune the properties of images to make them more appealing.

Single-shot high-quality facial geometry and skin appearance capture

We propose a new light-weight face capture system capable of reconstructing both high-quality geometry and detailed appearance maps from a single exposure. Unlike currently employed appearance acquisition systems, the proposed technology does not require active illumination and hence can readily be integrated with passive photogrammetry solutions. These solutions are in widespread use for 3D scanning humans as they can be assembled from off-the-shelf hardware components, but lack the capability of estimating appearance. This paper proposes a solution to overcome this limitation, by adding appearance capture to photogrammetry systems. The only additional hardware requirement to these solutions is that a subset of the cameras are cross-polarized with respect to the illumination, and the remaining cameras are parallel-polarized. The proposed algorithm leverages the images with the two different polarization states to reconstruct the geometry and to recover appearance properties. We do so by means of an inverse rendering framework, which solves per texel diffuse albedo, specular intensity, and high-resolution normals, as well as global specular roughness considering the subsurface scattering nature of skin. We show results for a variety of human subjects of different ages and skin typology, illustrating how the captured fine-detail skin surface and subsurface scattering effects lead to realistic renderings of their digital doubles, also in different illumination conditions.

Artificial Magnetic Pattern Arrays Probed by Polarized Neutron Reflectivity.

Traditionally, neutron scattering is an essential method for the analysis of spin structures and spin excitations in bulk materials. Over the last 30 years, polarized neutron scattering in terms of reflectometry has also contributed largely to the analysis of magnetic thin films and magnetic multilayers. More recently it has been shown that polarized neutron reflectivity is, in addition, a suitable tool for the study of thin films laterally patterned with magnetic stripes or islands. We provide a brief overview of the fundamental properties of polarized neutron reflectivity, considering different domain states, domain fluctuations, and different domain sizes with respect to the neutron coherence volume. The discussion is exemplified by a set of simulated reflectivities assuming either complete polarization and polarization analysis, or a reduced form of polarized neutron reflectivity without polarization analysis. Furthermore, we emphasize the importance of the neutron coherence volume for the interpretation of specular and off-specular intensity maps, in particular when studying laterally non-homogeneous magnetic films. Finally, experimental results, fits, and simulations are shown for specular and off-specular scattering from a magnetic film that has been lithographically patterned into a periodic stripe array. These experiments demonstrate the different and mutually complementary information that can be gained when orienting the stripe array parallel or perpendicular to the scattering plane.

Practical dynamic facial appearance modeling and acquisition

We present a method to acquire dynamic properties of facial skin appearance, including dynamic diffuse albedo encoding blood flow, dynamic specular intensity, and per-frame high resolution normal maps for a facial performance sequence. The method reconstructs these maps from a purely passive multi-camera setup, without the need for polarization or requiring temporally multiplexed illumination. Hence, it is very well suited for integration with existing passive systems for facial performance capture. To solve this seemingly underconstrained problem, we demonstrate that albedo dynamics during a facial performance can be modeled as a combination of: (1) a static, high-resolution base albedo map, modeling full skin pigmentation; and (2) a dynamic, one-dimensional component in the CIE L*a*b* color space, which explains changes in hemoglobin concentration due to blood flow. We leverage this albedo subspace and additional constraints on appearance and surface geometry to also estimate specular reflection parameters and resolve high-resolution normal maps with unprecedented detail in a passive capture system. These constraints are built into an inverse rendering framework that minimizes the difference of the rendered face to the captured images, incorporating constraints from multiple views for every texel on the face. The presented method is the first system capable of capturing high-quality dynamic appearance maps at full resolution and video framerates, providing a major step forward in the area of facial appearance acquisition.

Specular reflection intensity modulated by grazing-incidence diffraction in a wide angular range

Grazing-incidence X-ray diffraction (GID) is a well known technique for the characterization of crystal surfaces. A theoretical study has been performed of the sensitivity of GID to the structure of a crystal surface and distorted nanometre-thin surface layers. To simulate GID from crystals that have a complex subsurface structure, a matrix formalism of the dynamical diffraction theory has been applied. It has been found that the azimuthal rocking curves of a crystal that has a distorted subsurface, measured over a wide angular range, show asymmetric thickness oscillations with two distinguishable sets of frequencies: one corresponding to the diffraction in the single-crystal subsurface layer and the second corresponding to the diffraction in the single-crystal substrate. Therefore, azimuthal rocking curves allow characterization of the subsurface structure of a single crystal. Furthermore, thickness oscillations induced by evanescent diffraction modulate the specular reflection intensity, showing high-intensity modulations. This will potentially allow implementation of subsurface crystal characterization using, for instance, a laboratory-scale X-ray diffractometer.

Characterization of interlayer forces in 2D heterostructures using neutral atom scattering

We show that neutral atom scattering is suitable to determine the coupling strength between a two-dimensional (2D) material and the underlying substrate. This information can be obtained from the thermal attenuation of the specular intensity, as well as from angular distributions of He and Ne atoms in the low incident energy (∼50 meV) regime. For graphene (Gr) grown on several metal substrates, there is a direct correlation between the slope of thermal attenuation measurements and the Gr–substrate coupling strength obtained from surface phonons measurements. In addition, Ne scattering presents a broad, classical angular distribution when the Gr–substrate coupling is weak, like in Gr/Ir(1 1 1), whereas sharp diffraction features are observed for strongly interacting systems, like Gr/Ru(0 0 0 1). This makes neutral atom scattering a quick and sensitive indicator of the coupling strength between any 2D material with their substrates. The influence of the moiré superstructures on this simple picture is also discussed.

Efficacy of toothpastes in the prevention of erosive tooth wear in permanent and deciduous teeth

To evaluate the erosive preventive effect of toothpastes in permanent (PT) and deciduous teeth (dt). Enamel samples were divided into five groups (n= 20): G1: placebo toothpaste; G2: NaF toothpaste; G3: AmF-NaF-SnCl2 anti-erosion toothpaste; G4: SnF2-toothpaste; and G5: NaF anti-erosion toothpaste for children. The samples were exposed to five erosion-abrasion cycles (artificial saliva incubation; 3min in 1% citric acid; 2min in slurry, toothbrush abrasion, 50 strokes, 200g). Surface microhardness (SMH), surface specular reflection intensity (SRI), and cumulative surface loss (CSL) were measured. Comparisons among toothpastes were evaluated using Kruskal-Wallis tests and comparisons between PT and dt were evaluated using Wilcoxon's rank sum test. G1 exhibited significantly lower SMH values in PT than the other toothpastes (p< 0.05), with no significant differences among the others groups. In dt, G1 and G4 exhibited significantly different values than the other groups (p< 0.05). G4 exhibited lower values of SRI in both types of teeth. Deciduous teeth presented significantly higher SRI than PT (p< 0.05), except for G3. Deciduous teeth generally presented higher CSL than PT, except for G3. Deciduous teeth were more prone to mineral loss than permanent teeth. G5 exhibited better efficacy for both teeth, while G3 exhibited a better preventive effect only for deciduous teeth. Erosive tooth wear prevalence in children is growing and deciduous teeth are more susceptible than permanent teeth. Considering this, it is important to know the preventive effect of different toothpastes in an initial erosion-abrasion model.

Ne atom scattering from Ir(111) under nearly classical conditions

Measurements of Ne atom scattering from a clean and ordered Ir(111) surface are shown under conditions in which the scattering is nearly classical. The only quantum mechanical manifestation is a small elastic specular diffraction intensity. The energy-resolved intensity spectra exhibit only a single broad peak attributed to multiple phonon excitations. The multiphonon peak is well explained by classical scattering theory. It is shown that the multiphonon peak can mimic the behavior of a single-phonon dispersion curve, however, measurements at different incident energies can be used to identify this false dispersion curve.

Interface morphology of Mo/Si multilayer systems with varying Mo layer thickness studied by EUV diffuse scattering.

We investigate the influence of the Mo-layer thickness on the EUV reflectance of Mo/Si mirrors with a set of unpolished and interface-polished Mo/Si/C multilayer mirrors. The Mo-layer thickness is varied in the range from 1.7 nm to 3.05 nm. We use a novel combination of specular and diffuse intensity measurements to determine the interface roughness throughout the multilayer stack and do not rely on scanning probe measurements at the surface only. The combination of EUV and X-ray reflectivity measurements and near-normal incidence EUV diffuse scattering allows to reconstruct the Mo layer thicknesses and to determine the interface roughness power spectral density. The data analysis is conducted by applying a matrix method for the specular reflection and the distorted-wave Born approximation for diffuse scattering. We introduce the Markov-chain Monte Carlo method into the field in order to determine the respective confidence intervals for all reconstructed parameters. We unambiguously detect a threshold thickness for Mo in both sample sets where the specular reflectance goes through a local minimum correlated with a distinct increase in diffuse scatter. We attribute that to the known appearance of an amorphous-to-crystallization transition at a certain thickness threshold which is altered in our sample system by the polishing.

Application of time–frequency wavelet analysis in the reflectometry of thin films

The application of time–frequency wavelet analysis for solving the reflectometry inverse problem is considered. It is shown that a simultaneous transform of specular intensity curve, depending on the grazing angle and spatial frequency, allows one to determine not only the thickness but also the alteration order of individual regions (layers) with characteristic behavior of electron density. This information makes it possible to reconstruct the electron density profile in the film cross section as a whole (i.e., to solve the inverse reflectometry problem). The application of the time–frequency transform is illustrated by examples of reconstructing (based on X-ray reflectivity data) the layer alternation order in models of two-layer films with inverted arrangement of layers and a four-layer film on a solid substrate.

Ordinary and supernumerary resonant scattering of low energy electrons from the BiCu2(111) surface alloy

Electron intensity versus energy curves from the ordered substitutional BiCu2(111)-surface alloy, obtained with low energy electron microscopy (LEEM), show distinct unexpected intensity dips under normal incidence conditions. The dips above 10 eV are found to be characteristic of ordinary resonant scattering of electrons. Their positions represent resonant scattering into image potential states, involving scattering along G10 and G11 reciprocal lattice vectors. A detailed analysis of additional specular intensity dips at energies below 10 eV demonstrates that these originate from supernumerary resonant scattering, now also along lower symmetry directions, that should be forbidden in this energy range for the perfect crystal. LEEM is highly sensitive to detect these often neglected features which, if not properly disentangled or discarded, hamper its potential to extract the rich information about atomic positions and unoccupied electronic states encoded in very low energy electron scattering.

Determination of Atomic-Layer-Deposited Multilayer Antireflection Coating Parameters Using a Novel X-Ray Reflectivity Approach

The thicknesses and densities of coatings prepared by atomic layer deposition (ALD) and by other deposition techniques are important to understand their optical, electrical and mechanical properties. Specular X-ray reflectivity (XRR) is a powerful tool that is capable of nondestructively extracting layer thicknesses with angstrom resolution, and what is distinct, determining the layer densities through modeling structures with simulation programs. Unfortunately, problem with modeling usually arises when other layers form at the surface or interfaces, and it is also common to other nondestructive techniques such as ellipsometry. A recent development1 has shown that with differentiating the specular XRR intensity with respect to vertical reciprocal space coordinate, a Fourier transform (FT) approach can provide straightforward information about the layer thicknesses in multilayer systems, which will make it easier to build the XRR simulation model. Therefore, a novel combination of FT and specular XRR simulation would be quite efficient in layer thickness extraction compared with other conventional techniques (e.g. transmission electron microscope (TEM) and ellipsometry). In this study, the novel XRR approach, together with other techniques including optical microscope (OR), spectroscopic ellipsometry (SE), TEM, energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy and glancing incidence X-ray diffraction, was utilized to characterize the effect of annealing on optical properties of Al2O3/TiO2/Al2O3 multilayer antireflection stack. The films were deposited on (0 0 1) Si wafers using ALD which is a good candidate for multilayer antireflection coatings, due to the self-limiting nature of chemical reactions resulting in the precise control of film thickness and large-area uniformity. The thickness values of the as-deposited layers determined by XRR agree quite well with those obtained from OR, SE and TEM, with the difference below uncertainty levels. This, together with the good correlation between layer densities extracted from XRR and refractive indices measured by OR and SE, demonstrates the validity of the XRR approach. On the other hand, it is revealed that air annealing at 400 °Ϲ for 10 min induces the densification of the TiO2 layer as well as the initiation of crystallization. Meanwhile, both Al2O3 layers keep amorphous after annealing, with the thickness of top Al2O3 layer decreased that is likely due to interdiffusion of Al and Ti atoms between the top two layers, while the thickness of bottom Al2O3 layer increased accompanied with a decrease in density, which is probably attributed to the diffusion of Si atoms from the substrate into layers. Reference 1B. Poust, R. Sandhu, and M. Goorsky, Phys. Status Solidi A. 206, 1780 (2009).

Near‐Instant Capture of High‐Resolution Facial Geometry and Reflectance

AbstractWe present a near‐instant method for acquiring facial geometry and reflectance using a set of commodity DSLR cameras and flashes. Our setup consists of twenty‐four cameras and six flashes which are fired in rapid succession with subsets of the cameras. Each camera records only a single photograph and the total capture time is less than the 67ms blink reflex. The cameras and flashes are specially arranged to produce an even distribution of specular highlights on the face. We employ this set of acquired images to estimate diffuse color, specular intensity, specular exponent, and surface orientation at each point on the face. We further refine the facial base geometry obtained from multi‐view stereo using estimated diffuse and specular photometric information. This allows final submillimeter surface mesostructure detail to be obtained via shape‐from‐specularity. The final system uses commodity components and produces models suitable for authoring high‐quality digital human characters.

3D leaf water content mapping using terrestrial laser scanner backscatter intensity with radiometric correction

Leaf water content (LWC) plays an important role in agriculture and forestry management. It can be used to assess drought conditions and wildfire susceptibility. Terrestrial laser scanner (TLS) data have been widely used in forested environments for retrieving geometrically-based biophysical parameters. Recent studies have also shown the potential of using radiometric information (backscatter intensity) for estimating LWC. However, the usefulness of backscatter intensity data has been limited by leaf surface characteristics, and incidence angle effects. To explore the idea of using LiDAR intensity data to assess LWC we normalized (for both angular effects and leaf surface properties) shortwave infrared TLS data (1550nm). A reflectance model describing both diffuse and specular reflectance was applied to remove strong specular backscatter intensity at a perpendicular angle. Leaves with different surface properties were collected from eight broadleaf plant species for modeling the relationship between LWC and backscatter intensity. Reference reflectors (Spectralon from Labsphere, Inc.) were used to build a look-up table to compensate for incidence angle effects. Results showed that before removing the specular influences, there was no significant correlation (R2=0.01, P>0.05) between the backscatter intensity at a perpendicular angle and LWC. After the removal of the specular influences, a significant correlation emerged (R2=0.74, P<0.05). The agreement between measured and TLS-derived LWC demonstrated a significant reduction of RMSE (root mean square error, from 0.008 to 0.003g/cm2) after correcting for the incidence angle effect. We show that it is possible to use TLS to estimate LWC for selected broadleaved plants with an R2 of 0.76 (significance level α=0.05) at leaf level. Further investigations of leaf surface and internal structure will likely result in improvements of 3D LWC mapping for studying physiology and ecology in vegetation.

AppFusion: Interactive Appearance Acquisition Using a Kinect Sensor

AbstractWe present an interactive material acquisition system for average users to capture the spatially varying appearance of daily objects. While an object is being scanned, our system estimates its appearance on‐the‐fly and provides quick visual feedback. We build the system entirely on low‐end, off‐the‐shelf components: a Kinect sensor, a mirror ball and printed markers. We exploit the Kinect infra‐red emitter/receiver, originally designed for depth computation, as an active hand‐held reflectometer, to segment the object into clusters of similar specular materials and estimate the roughness parameters of BRDFs simultaneously. Next, the diffuse albedo and specular intensity of the spatially varying materials are rapidly computed in an inverse rendering framework, using data from the Kinect RGB camera. We demonstrate captured results of a range of materials, and physically validate our system.

Investigation of the deposition and thermal behavior of striped phases of unsymmetric disulfide self-assembled monolayers on Au(111): the case of 11-hydroxyundecyl decyl disulfide.

Self-assembled monolayers (SAMs) of unsymmetric disulfides on Au(111) are used to form mixed SAMs that can be utilized in many applications. Here, we have studied 11-hydroxyundecyl decyl disulfide (CH3-(CH2)9-S-S-(CH2)11-OH, HDD) SAMs produced by supersonic molecular beam deposition and characterized by He diffraction. The film growth was monitored at different temperatures up to a coverage which corresponds to a full lying down phase and the diffraction analysis shows that below 250 K the phase is different from the phase measured above 300 K. During the annealing of the film, two phase transitions were observed, at 250 K and 350 K. The overall data suggest that the former is related to an irreversible phase separation of HDD above 250 K to decanethiolate (-S-(CH2)9-CH3, DTT) and hydroxyundecylthiolate (-S-(CH2)11-OH, MUDT), while the latter to a reversible melting of the film. Above 450 K, the specular intensity shows an increase related to film desorption and different chemisorbed states were observed with energies in the same range as observed for decanethiol (H-S-(CH2)9-CH3, DT) and mercaptoundecanol (H-S-(CH2)11-OH, MUD) SAMs.