# Sur2f: A Hybrid Representation for High-Quality and Efficient Surface Reconstruction from Multi-view Images

arXiv: https://arxiv.org/abs/2401.03704 · HTML: https://mlsanity.com/paper/2401.03704/

## Key facts

- Cited by 5 papers in the map (data through 14 Oct 2026).
- Builds on 38 of its 57 references that are in the map.
- First posted on arXiv 8 Jan 2024.

## Builds on (most cited first, 30 of 38)

- [PyTorch: An Imperative Style, High-Performance Deep Learning Library](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1912.01703/) (2019)
- [High-Resolution Image Synthesis with Latent Diffusion Models](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2112.10752/) (2021)
- [Instant Neural Graphics Primitives with a Multiresolution Hash Encoding](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2201.05989/) (2022)
- [ScanNet: Richly-annotated 3D Reconstructions of Indoor Scenes](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1702.04405/) (2017)
- [DreamFusion: Text-to-3D using 2D Diffusion](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2209.14988/) (2022)
- [DeepSDF: Learning Continuous Signed Distance Functions for Shape Representation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1901.05103/) (2019)
- [Occupancy Networks: Learning 3D Reconstruction in Function Space](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1812.03828/) (2018)
- [NeuS: Learning Neural Implicit Surfaces by Volume Rendering for Multi-view Reconstruction](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2106.10689/) (2021)
- [TensoRF: Tensorial Radiance Fields](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2203.09517/) (2022)
- [Volume Rendering of Neural Implicit Surfaces](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2106.12052/) (2021)
- [PlenOctrees for Real-time Rendering of Neural Radiance Fields](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2103.14024/) (2021)
- [NeRF++: Analyzing and Improving Neural Radiance Fields](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2010.07492/) (2020)
- [Implicit Geometric Regularization for Learning Shapes](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2002.10099/) (2020)
- [Differentiable Volumetric Rendering: Learning Implicit 3D Representations without 3D Supervision](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1912.07372/) (2019)
- [UNISURF: Unifying Neural Implicit Surfaces and Radiance Fields for Multi-View Reconstruction](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2104.10078/) (2021)
- [MonoSDF: Exploring Monocular Geometric Cues for Neural Implicit Surface Reconstruction](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2206.00665/) (2022)
- [Neuralangelo: High-Fidelity Neural Surface Reconstruction](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2306.03092/) (2023)
- [Deep Marching Tetrahedra: a Hybrid Representation for High-Resolution 3D Shape Synthesis](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2111.04276/) (2021)
- [Modular Primitives for High-Performance Differentiable Rendering](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2011.03277/) (2020)
- [Soft Rasterizer: A Differentiable Renderer for Image-based 3D Reasoning](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1904.01786/) (2019)
- [Extracting Triangular 3D Models, Materials, and Lighting From Images](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2111.12503/) (2021)
- [NeuS2: Fast Learning of Neural Implicit Surfaces for Multi-view Reconstruction](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2212.05231/) (2022)
- [Learning to Predict 3D Objects with an Interpolation-based Differentiable Renderer](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1908.01210/) (2019)
- [Geo-Neus: Geometry-Consistent Neural Implicit Surfaces Learning for Multi-view Reconstruction](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2205.15848/) (2022)
- [DIST: Rendering Deep Implicit Signed Distance Function with Differentiable Sphere Tracing](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1911.13225/) (2019)
- [Flexible Isosurface Extraction for Gradient-Based Mesh Optimization](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2308.05371/) (2023)
- [Improving neural implicit surfaces geometry with patch warping](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2112.09648/) (2021)
- [HF-NeuS: Improved Surface Reconstruction Using High-Frequency Details](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2206.07850/) (2022)
- [Voxurf: Voxel-based Efficient and Accurate Neural Surface Reconstruction](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2208.12697/) (2022)
- [NerfAcc: A General NeRF Acceleration Toolbox](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2210.04847/) (2022)

## Built on by (most cited first, 5 of 5)

- [GUS-IR: Gaussian Splatting with Unified Shading for Inverse Rendering](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2411.07478/) (2024)
- [ProbeSDF: Light Field Probes for Neural Surface Reconstruction](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2412.10084/) (2024)
- [PSDF: Prior-Driven Neural Implicit Surface Learning for Multi-view Reconstruction](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2401.12751/) (2024)
- [ViiNeuS: Volumetric Initialization for Implicit Neural Surface reconstruction of urban scenes with limited image overlap](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2403.10344/) (2024)
- [A Mixed-Primitive-based Gaussian Splatting Method for Surface Reconstruction](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2507.11321/) (2025)

## Abstract (arXiv)

Multi-view surface reconstruction is an ill-posed, inverse problem in 3D vision research. It involves modeling the geometry and appearance with appropriate surface representations. Most of the existing methods rely either on explicit meshes, using surface rendering of meshes for reconstruction, or on implicit field functions, using volume rendering of the fields for reconstruction. The two types of representations in fact have their respective merits. In this work, we propose a new hybrid representation, termed Sur2f, aiming to better benefit from both representations in a complementary manner. Technically, we learn two parallel streams of an implicit signed distance field and an explicit surrogate surface Sur2f mesh, and unify volume rendering of the implicit signed distance function (SDF) and surface rendering of the surrogate mesh with a shared, neural shader; the unified shading promotes their convergence to the same, underlying surface. We synchronize learning of the surrogate mesh by driving its deformation with functions induced from the implicit SDF. In addition, the synchronized surrogate mesh enables surface-guided volume sampling, which greatly improves the sampling efficiency per ray in volume rendering. We conduct thorough experiments showing that Sur2f outperforms existing reconstruction methods and surface representations, including hybrid ones, in terms of both recovery quality and recovery efficiency.