Shape-from-Shading

Shape-from-Shading is a computer vision technique that infers the 3D shape of a surface using 2D images by analyzing light and shadow patterns. Basically, it looks at how light interacts with an object’s surface—brighter areas tend to be facing the light source, while darker areas are angled away or shaded. By understanding these variations, the method reconstructs the surface's contours and depth information, helping computers visualize the real three-dimensional shape of objects from flat images. This process is useful in fields like computer graphics, robotics, and medical imaging.