Event Location: NSH 1305

Abstract: Water drops are present throughout our daily lives. Because of their shape and refractive properties, water drops exhibit a wide variety of visual effects. If not directly illuminated by a light source, then they are difficult to see. But if they are directly illuminated, they can become the brightest objects in the environment.

This thesis has two main components. First, we will show how to create a three-dimensional display using water drops and a projector. Each drop serves as a voxel of a display that the users can observe simultaneously from many directions. To a person viewing the illuminated drops, it will appear that the drops are the same color as the incident light rays.

Second, we will show how to reduce the effect of water drops in videos via spatio-temporal frequency analysis, and in real life via a projector that illuminates everything except the drops. To remove rain from videos, we will use a streak model in frequency space to find and suppress the frequencies corresponding to rain in the video. We will then discuss how real-time projector control can allow for intelligent, adaptive lighting that will allow applications like car headlights that minimize glare in rain.

Committee:Takeo Kanade, Co-chair

Srinivasa G. Narasimhan, Co-chair

Lee Weiss

Ramesh Raskar, Massachusetts Institute of Technology