Patent ID: 8538183

Claim:
A method, comprising: gathering information associated with an occluded portion of a physically tangible object that is illuminated with a two-dimensional pattern of light including an edge which defines an illuminated portion and the occluded portion of the physically tangible object, the information describing light scattered from the illuminated portion of the physically tangible object and the two-dimensional pattern being provided utilizing an occluder separate from the physically tangible object that is closer to the physically tangible object than a source of the light; and approximating a diffusion profile of the physically tangible object utilizing the information; wherein the approximating is performed utilizing a processor; wherein prior to the approximation of the diffusion profile, a gamma correction operation is performed on the gathered information, an estimate of ambient lighting is removed from the gathered information, and noise and texture of the edge is removed from the gathered information utilizing a directional blur tangential applied to the edge.