Define Computer Vision. Why is it considered an inverse problem?
Answer:-
Definition of Computer Vision
Computer Vision is the field that deals with the capture, analysis, and interpretation of our 3D environment using images and video. It seeks to develop algorithms and systems that can understand visual data similarly to how humans perceive their surroundings. Tasks include recognizing objects, reconstructing 3D scenes, and interpreting movements or facial expressions from 2D images or video sequences.
Why Computer Vision is Considered an Inverse Problem
Computer Vision is considered an inverse problem because it aims to recover unknown scene properties (like shape, illumination, and object identity) from observed images, rather than generating images from a known model (which is the forward problem, as in computer graphics).
For example:
- In graphics, you know the 3D scene and camera settings, and you generate an image.
- In vision, you only have the image, and you try to infer the 3D scene or other hidden parameters.
This inversion is difficult because multiple real-world scenarios can produce similar images due to occlusions, lighting, and sensor noise. As the book explains, we must rely on physics-based models, probabilistic reasoning, and machine learning to constrain and solve these ambiguous problems