Surface Normal Estimation

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Overview

Surface normal estimation predicts the orientation of surfaces at image pixels, supporting 3D reconstruction, robotics, inspection, and tactile perception. Approaches include monocular neural networks and diffusion models, photometric stereo with controlled lighting, shape-from-polarization, and geometric cues from stereo or video. Recent methods combine learned priors with physical measurements and consistency constraints to handle reflective, transparent, underwater, or sparsely observed surfaces. A central challenge is generalizing across scenes and sensors while preserving fine detail and geometric consistency despite ambiguous appearance, limited ground truth, and calibration demands.

Latest papers

CardsList

26 papers4 papers in the last four weeks, up 33% on the four weeks before. 0.0% of all new papers.

  1. Real-Time Ground Normal Vector Estimation for Spherical Mobile 3D Mapping using LiDAR-Inertial Odometry

    Oct 20, 2026Tim Schubert, Fabian Arzberger, Andreas NüchterSurface Normal Estimation

    *Julius-Maximilians-Universität Würzburg Am Hubland, 97074 Würzburg

  2. PIE-PS: Photometric Stereo from Physical Irradiance Event Streams

    Oct 6, 2026Xiangze Meng, Guangyu Li, Jing Li +4Event-Based VisionSurface Normal Estimation

    Jilin University, China · Guangdong Institute of Intelligence Science and Technology, China · Beijing Institute of Technology, China +1

  3. A Theory of Shape Reconstruction from Heat Conduction and Shading

    Oct 2, 2026Akihiko Oharazawa, Sriram Narayanan, Mani Ramanagopal +1Surface Normal Estimation

  4. Projective Normal Fields: A Convex Optimization Method for Constructing Smooth UDFs

    Sep 28, 2026Jiayi Kong, Chen Zong, Fei Hou +33D ReconstructionSurface Normal Estimation

    S-Lab Nanyang Technological University Singapore · College of Mathematics Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics China · Institute of Software Chinese Academy of Sciences China +2

  5. Calibration-Free Surface Normals Estimation in Vision-Based Tactile Sensing using Universal Photometric Stereo

    Sep 23, 2026Zdravko Dugonjic, Stefanie Speidel, Roberto CalandraSurface Normal EstimationVision-Based Tactile Sensing

    LASR Lab, TU Dresden, Germany · Centre for Tactile Internet with Human-in-the-Loop (CeTI), Technische Universität Dresden, Dresden, Germany · Department of Translational Surgical Oncology, National Center for Tumor Diseases (NCT), a partnership between DKFZ, University Hospital Carl Gustav Carus, TUD Dresden University of Technology, and Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf (HZDR), Dresden, Germany

  6. Marigold V2: Revisiting Diffusion Transformers for Monocular Depth Estimation

    Sep 8, 2026Igor Pavlovic, Thiemo Wandel, Anton Obukhov +6Diffusion TransformerOOD Generalization

    EPFL, HUAWEI Bayer Lab, Switzerland · HUAWEI Bayer Lab, Switzerland · University of Bologna, Italy +1

  7. TransNormal-2: Geometry-Grounded Rectified Flow with Edge-Aware Decoding for Precise Normal Estimation

    Sep 6, 2026Mingwei Li, Yi Yang, Hehe FanSurface Normal Estimation

    College of Artificial Intelligence, Zhejiang University · Zhongguancun Academy, Beijing 100190, China

  8. Video Generative Models as Geometry Learner

    Aug 28, 2026Haosen Yang, Jifei Song, Zhensong Zhang +2Monocular Depth EstimationSurface Normal Estimation

    University of Surrey, Guildford, UK · Independent Researcher · Imperial College London, London, UK

  9. FlashNormal: Detailed Surface Normal Estimation from Flash and No-Flash Images

    Aug 26, 2026Ruiyang Chen, Feiran Li, Heng Guo +1Surface Normal Estimation

    Pattern Recognition and Intelligent System Laboratory, School of Artificial Intelligence, Beijing University of Posts and Telecommunications (BUPT), Beijing 100080, China · independent researcher

  10. GeoStereo: A Unified Stereo Geometry Estimation Framework for Disparity and Surface Normal

    Jul 27, 2026Qizhe Wei, Xianda Guo, Shaocong Xu +3Surface Normal EstimationStereo Matching

    Beijing Institute of Technology BAAI Beijing, China · School of Computer Science, Wuhan University Wuhan, China · BAAI Beijing, China +3

  11. DermDepth: Toward Monocular Metric Scale 3D Reconstruction Models for Dermatology

    Jul 14, 2026Héctor Carrión, Narges NorouziMedical Imaging3D Reconstruction

    University of California, Santa Cruz, USA · University of California, Berkeley, USA

  12. Revisiting Matching Response and Swept Feature Volumes for Wide-baseline Omnidirectional Stereo

    Jul 13, 2026Seungjin Jeon, Jongwoo Lim, Changhee WonSurface Normal EstimationStereo Matching

    UVify Corporate Affiliated Research Institute, Republic of Korea. · Seoul National University, Seoul, Republic of Korea.

  13. MUSE: Unlocking Timestep as Native Task Steering for One-Step Dense Prediction

    Jun 29, 2026Shuo Zhou, Zhaoxin Li, Xiujuan ChaiMonocular Depth EstimationSurface Normal Estimation

    Agricultural Information Institute, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Beijing, China. · Key Laboratory of Agricultural Big Data, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, Beijing, China.

  14. Structure-Aware Consistency Priors for Shape from Polarization in Complex Media

    May 30, 2026Kaimin Yu, Puyun Wang, Huayang He +1Surface Normal EstimationPolarimetric Imaging

    The School of Mechanical Engineering and Automation, Fuzhou University, Fuzhou, China · Research Institute of Highway, Ministry of Transport, Beijing, China

  15. Towards Consistent Video Geometry Estimation

    May 28, 2026Zhu Yu, Jingnan Gao, Runmin Zhang +9Vision Foundation ModelsDepth Estimation

    Zhejiang University · Shanghai Jiao Tong University · Tongyi Lab, Alibaba Group +1

  16. Open-Source Image Editing Models Are Zero-Shot Vision Learners

    May 6, 2026Wei Liu, Jiaxin Lin, Rui ChenZero-Shot LearningVision Foundation Models

    Tencent Inc.

  17. Poppy: Polarization-based Plug-and-Play Guidance for Enhancing Monocular Normal Estimation

    Mar 29, 2026Irene Kim, Sai Tanmay Reddy Chakkera, Alexandros Graikos +2Surface Normal EstimationTest-Time Optimization

    Stony Brook University

  18. Near-light Photometric Stereo with Symmetric Lights

    Mar 17, 2026Lilika Makabe, Heng Guo, Hiroaki Santo +2Surface Normal EstimationDepth Estimation

    Graduate School of Information Science and Technology, Osaka University, Japan.

  19. PolGS++: Physically-Guided Polarimetric Gaussian Splatting for Fast Reflective Surface Reconstruction

    Mar 11, 2026Yufei Han, Chu Zhou, Youwei Lyu +63D Reconstruction3D Gaussian Splatting

    Beijing University of Posts and Telecommunications, China · National Institute of Informatics, Japan · vivo BlueImage Lab, vivo Mobile Communication Co., Ltd., Shanghai, China +2

  20. Event-based Photometric Stereo via Rotating Illumination and Per-Pixel Learning

    Mar 11, 2026Hyunwoo Kim, Won-Hoe Kim, Sanghoon Lee +3Surface Normal EstimationEvent-Based Vision

    Department of Mechanical Engineering, Yonsei University, Seoul, 03722, South Korea · Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, Yonsei University, Seoul, 03722, South Korea · Department of Data Science and AI, Monash University, Melbourne, VIC 3800, Australia +1

  21. Revisiting Shape from Polarization in the Era of Vision Foundation Models

    Mar 5, 2026Chenhao Li, Taishi Ono, Takeshi Uemori +1Surface Normal EstimationPolarimetric Imaging

    Sony Semiconductor Solutions Corporation

  22. Any Resolution Any Geometry: From Multi-View To Multi-Patch

    Mar 3, 2026Wenqing Cui, Zhenyu Li, Mykola Lavreniuk +4Depth EstimationSurface Normal Estimation

    KAUST · Space Research Institute NASU-SSAU

  23. Affine Correspondences in Stereo Vision: Theory, Practice, and Limitations

    Mar 2, 2026Levente HajderStereo VisionMulti-View Geometry

    Faculty of Informatics, Eötvös Loránd University, Pázmány Péter stny. 1/C, Budapest, H-1117, Hungary

  24. UD-SfPNet: An Underwater Descattering Shape-from-Polarization Network for 3D Normal Reconstruction

    Mar 1, 2026Puyun Wang, Kaimin Yu, Huayang He +3Underwater 3D ReconstructionSurface Normal Estimation

  25. Skullptor: High Fidelity 3D Head Reconstruction in Seconds with Multi-View Normal Prediction

    Feb 24, 2026Noé Artru, Rukhshanda Hussain, Emeline Got +33D Face ReconstructionSparse-View 3D Reconstruction

    Ubisoft La Forge · University of Toronto · ÉTS Montréal +1

  26. Physics-informed Active Polarimetric 3D Imaging for Specular Surfaces

    Feb 23, 2026Jiazhang Wang, Hyelim Yang, Tianyi Wang +13D ReconstructionSurface Normal Estimation

    Wyant College of Optical Sciences, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ 85721