Height from Gradient with Surface Curvature and Area Constraints

Abstract

This paper presents a new algorithm for height from gradients and analyzes its performance. To derive this algorithm, we combine the integrability constraint and the surface curvature and area constraints into a single functional, which is then minimized. Therefore, the changes of height maps will be more regular. The Frankot-Chellappa-algorithm is a special case of our algorithm in the sense that it uses a subset of constraints only.