NORMAL INFORMATION GENERATING DEVICE AND NORMAL INFORMATION GENERATING METHOD

摘要

To provide a normal vector information generating device and the like which can generate normal vector information of shadow areas with a high accuracy. The normal vector information generating device (100) generates normal vector information on the surface of an object, and includes: an image information obtaining unit (110) configured to obtain information about an image of the object, the information including luminance information which is information about luminance of light from the object and polarization information which is information about polarization of the light from the object; a shadow area extracting unit (120) configured to extract an attached shadow area and a cast shadow area from the image of the object based on the luminance information and the polarization information obtained by the image information obtaining unit (110), the attached shadow area appearing on the surface of the object depending on an angle of incidence light, and the cast shadow area appearing on the surface of a material body other than the object when the light is blocked by the object; and a normal vector information generating unit (104) configured to generate normal vector information identifying a normal vector on the surface of the object in the attached shadow area extracted by the shadow area extracting unit (120) using the polarization information obtained by the image information obtaining unit (110).