Rapid inference of object rigidity and reflectance using optic flow

Rigidity and reflectance are key object properties, important in their own rights, and they are key properties that stratify motion reconstruction algorithms. However, the inference of rigidity and reflectance are both difficult without additional information about the object's shape, the environment, or lighting. For humans, relative motions of object and observer provides rich information about object shape, rigidity, and reflectivity. We show that it is possible to detect rigid object motion for both specular and diffuse reflective surfaces using only optic flow, and that flow can distinguish specular and diffuse motion for rigid objects. Unlike nonrigid objects, optic flow fields for rigid moving surfaces are constrained by a global transformation, which can be detected using an optic flow matching procedure across time. In addition, using a Procrustes analysis of structure from motion reconstructed 3D points, we show how to classify specular from diffuse surfaces. © 2009 Springer Berlin Heidelberg.