# Relative Illumination Fields: Learning Medium and Light Independent Underwater Scenes

arXiv: https://arxiv.org/abs/2504.10024 · HTML: https://mlsanity.com/paper/2504.10024/

## Key facts

- Cited by 2 papers in the map (data through 14 Oct 2026).
- Builds on 17 of its 35 references that are in the map.
- First posted on arXiv 14 Apr 2025.

## Builds on (most cited first, 17 of 17)

- [3D Gaussian Splatting for Real-Time Radiance Field Rendering](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2308.04079/) (2023)
- [Instant Neural Graphics Primitives with a Multiresolution Hash Encoding](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2201.05989/) (2022)
- [Mip-NeRF 360: Unbounded Anti-Aliased Neural Radiance Fields](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2111.12077/) (2021)
- [Mip-NeRF: A Multiscale Representation for Anti-Aliasing Neural Radiance Fields](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2103.13415/) (2021)
- [NeRF in the Wild: Neural Radiance Fields for Unconstrained Photo Collections](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2008.02268/) (2020)
- [Nerfstudio: A Modular Framework for Neural Radiance Field Development](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2302.04264/) (2023)
- [Ref-NeRF: Structured View-Dependent Appearance for Neural Radiance Fields](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2112.03907/) (2021)
- [NeRF in the Dark: High Dynamic Range View Synthesis from Noisy Raw Images](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2111.13679/) (2021)
- [SeaThru-NeRF: Neural Radiance Fields in Scattering Media](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2304.07743/) (2023)
- [Relighting Neural Radiance Fields with Shadow and Highlight Hints](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2308.13404/) (2023)
- [WaterSplatting: Fast Underwater 3D Scene Reconstruction Using Gaussian Splatting](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2408.08206/) (2024)
- [S3-NeRF: Neural Reflectance Field from Shading and Shadow under a Single Viewpoint](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2210.08936/) (2022)
- [DarkGS: Learning Neural Illumination and 3D Gaussians Relighting for Robotic Exploration in the Dark](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2403.10814/) (2024)
- [Beyond NeRF Underwater: Learning Neural Reflectance Fields for True Color Correction of Marine Imagery](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2304.03384/) (2023)
- [Refractive Geometry for Underwater Domes](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2108.06575/) (2021)
- [Refractive COLMAP: Refractive Structure-from-Motion Revisited](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2403.08640/) (2024)
- [Advanced Underwater Image Restoration in Complex Illumination Conditions](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2309.02217/) (2023)

## Built on by (most cited first, 2 of 2)

- [Conditions for well-posed color recovery in scattering media](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2605.03837/) (2026)
- [BALTIC: A Benchmark and Cross-Domain Strategy for 3D Reconstruction Across Air and Underwater Domains Under Varying Illumination](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2604.19133/) (2026)

## Abstract (arXiv)

We address the challenge of constructing a consistent and photorealistic Neural Radiance Field in inhomogeneously illuminated, scattering environments with unknown, co-moving light sources. While most existing works on underwater scene representation focus on a static homogeneous illumination, limited attention has been paid to scenarios such as when a robot explores water deeper than a few tens of meters, where sunlight becomes insufficient. To address this, we propose a novel illumination field locally attached to the camera, enabling the capture of uneven lighting effects within the viewing frustum. We combine this with a volumetric medium representation to an overall method that effectively handles interaction between dynamic illumination field and static scattering medium. Evaluation results demonstrate the effectiveness and flexibility of our approach.