Visual Anomaly Detection under Complex View-Illumination Interplay: A Large-Scale Benchmark

Yunkang Cao*, Yuqi Cheng*, Xiaohao Xu, Yiheng Zhang, Yihan Sun, Yuxiang Tan, Yuxin Zhang, Xiaonan Huang, Weiming Shen
Huazhong University of Science and Technology * Equal contribution

The practical deployment of Visual Anomaly Detection (VAD) systems is hindered by their sensitivity to real-world imaging variations, particularly the complex interplay between viewpoint and illumination which drastically alters defect visibility. Current benchmarks largely overlook this critical challenge. We introduce Multi-View Multi-Illumination Anomaly Detection (M²AD), a new large-scale benchmark comprising 119,880 high-resolution images designed explicitly to probe VAD robustness under such interacting conditions. By systematically capturing 999 specimens across 10 categories using 12 synchronized views and 10 illumination settings (120 configurations total), M²AD enables rigorous evaluation. We establish two evaluation protocols: M²AD-Synergy tests the ability to fuse information across diverse configurations, and M²AD-Invariant measures single-image robustness amidst realistic view-illumination effects. Our extensive benchmarking shows that state-of-the-art VAD methods struggle significantly on M²AD, demonstrating the profound challenge posed by view-illumination interplay. This benchmark serves as an essential tool for developing and validating VAD methods capable of overcoming real-world complexities.

Cite Us

If you use this dataset in your research, please cite the following paper:

@inproceedings{M2AD,
    title={Visual Anomaly Detection under Complex View-Illumination Interplay: A Large-Scale Benchmark},
    author={Cao, Yunkang and Cheng, Yuqi and Xu, Xiaohao and Zhang, Yiheng and Sun, Yihan and Tan, Yuxiang and Zhang, Yuxin and Huang, Xiaonan and Shen, Weiming},
    booktitle={https://arxiv.org/abs/2505.10996},
    year={2025},
}

Data Acquisition

Ten Object Classes

Bird	Car	Cube	Dice	Doll

Holder	Motor	Ring	Teapot	Tube

Multi-View

Bird	Car	Cube	Dice	Doll

Holder	Motor	Ring	Teapot	Tube

Multi-Illumination

Bird	Car	Cube	Dice	Doll

Holder	Motor	Ring	Teapot	Tube

Multi-View & Multi-Illumination

Bird	Car	Cube	Dice	Doll

Holder	Motor	Ring	Teapot	Tube