PTM
Viewer
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HP Labs developed Polynomial Texture Mapping (PTM) as a way of increasing the photorealism of texture maps. Coefficients of a biquadratic polynomial stored per texel are used to reconstruct the surface color under varying lighting conditions. Like bump mapping, this allows the perception of surface deformations. However, the PTM method is image-based, and photographs of a surface under varying lighting conditions can be used to construct these maps. Unlike bump maps, Polynomial Texture Maps (PTMs) also capture variations due to surface self-shadowing and interreflections, which enhance realism.
Our
goal was to reproduce the
functionality of the OpenGL viewer available from
HP using Java. Java allows users to access PTMs over the
web. We wanted to create a simple, intuitive, and
user-friendly
interface that allowed a user to get a sense of the power of the PTM
technique in a few
minutes using a modern web browser. In addition, we have
implemented some new features, such as using the recovered surface
normals to perform sphere environment mapping.
PTMs powered by Java can now be found around the web:
- Cultural
Heritage Imaging
- Interactive Relighting of the Antikythera Mechanism
- Technique
PTM at Congrégation du GSBernard
- PTM Project at National Gallery, London
In
addition, the source code for the ptmviewer is available under the GPL.
The open source project lives here.
In order to try the viewer,
you
should have the Java plugin
installed for your web browser.
