arxiv: 2604.10634 · v2 · submitted 2026-04-12 · 💻 cs.CV

Recognition: no theorem link

NTIRE 2026 The Second Challenge on Day and Night Raindrop Removal for Dual-Focused Images: Methods and Results

Xin Li , Yeying Jin , Suhang Yao , Beibei Lin , Zhaoxin Fan , Wending Yan , Xin Jin , Zongwei Wu

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Bingchen Li Peishu Shi Yufei Yang Yu Li Zhibo Chen Bihan Wen Robby T. Tan Radu Timofte Runzhe Li Kui Jiang Zhaocheng Yu Yiang Chen Junjun Jiang Xianming Liu Hongde Gu Zeliang Li Mache You Jiangxin Dong Jinshan Pan Qiyu Rong Bowen Shao Hongyuan Jing Mengmeng Zhang Bo Ding Hui Zhang Yi Ren Mohab Kishawy Jun Chen Anh-Kiet Duong Petra Gomez-Kramer Jean-Michel Carozza Wangzhi Xing Xin Lu Enxuan Gu Jingxi Zhang Diqi Chen Qiaosi Yi Bingcai Wei Wenjie Li Bowen Tie Heng Guo Zhanyu Ma Jiachen Tu Guoyi Xu Yaoxin Jiang Cici Liu Yaokun Shi Paula Garrido Mellado Daniel Feijoo Alvaro Garcia Lara Marcos V. Conde Zhidong Zhu Bangshu Xiong Qiaofeng Ou Zhibo Rao Wei Li Zida Zhang Hui Geng Qisheng Xu Xuyao Deng Changjian Wang Kele Xu Guanglu Dong Qiyao Zhao Tianheng Zheng Chunlei Li Lichao Mou Chao Ren Chang-De Peng Chieh-Yu Tsai Guan-Cheng Liu Li-Wei Kang Abhishek Rajak Milan Kumar Singh Ankit Kumar Dimple Sonone Kishor Upla Kiran Raja Huilin Zhao Xing Xu Chuan Chen Yeming Lao Wenjing Xun Li Yang Bilel Benjdira Anas M. Ali Wadii Boulila Hao Yang Ruikun Zhang Liyuan Pan

Authors on Pith no claims yet

Pith reviewed 2026-05-14 21:22 UTC · model grok-4.3

classification 💻 cs.CV

keywords raindrop removalimage restorationNTIRE challengedual-focused imagesday and night conditionsreal-world datasetcomputer vision benchmark

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The pith

The NTIRE 2026 challenge shows that submitted methods achieve strong performance on the Raindrop Clarity dataset for day and night raindrop removal in dual-focused images.

A machine-rendered reading of the paper's core claim, the machinery that carries it, and where it could break.

This paper gives an overview of the second NTIRE challenge focused on removing raindrops from images captured under day and night lighting with dual focus settings. It describes an updated real-world dataset called Raindrop Clarity that includes 14,139 training images, 407 validation images, and 593 test images. Out of 168 registered teams, 17 submitted valid solutions and fact sheets that performed strongly on the test set. The report frames these results as evidence of growing progress in the task. A reader would care because the challenge supplies a concrete benchmark for developing image restoration methods that work in practical outdoor conditions.

Core claim

The central claim is that the 17 submitted methods achieved strong performance on the Raindrop Clarity dataset, demonstrating growing progress in raindrop removal under various illumination and focus conditions. The paper presents the adjusted dataset splits and the participation numbers as the basis for this conclusion, positioning the challenge as a practical benchmark for the field.

What carries the argument

The Raindrop Clarity dataset with its train, validation, and test splits functions as the evaluation benchmark that all submitted methods are measured against.

If this is right

The benchmark allows standardized comparison of future raindrop removal algorithms on the same real-world data.
Strong results support continued development of methods that handle combined illumination and focus variations.
The challenge format encourages broader participation in solving this specific image restoration problem.

Where Pith is reading between the lines

These are editorial extensions of the paper, not claims the author makes directly.

Methods successful on this dataset could be tested for generalization to other weather degradations such as fog or snow.
The dataset splits could be expanded with more varied scenes to check whether current performance holds outside the provided distribution.
Integration of these removal techniques into camera pipelines might reduce post-processing needs for outdoor photography.

Load-bearing premise

The adjusted Raindrop Clarity dataset with its specific train/validation/test splits sufficiently represents the full range of real-world day and night raindrop conditions on dual-focused images.

What would settle it

New dual-focused images collected independently under day and night rain conditions where the top challenge methods produce visibly incomplete raindrop removal or introduce new artifacts.

Figures

Figures reproduced from arXiv: 2604.10634 by Abhishek Rajak, Alvaro Garcia Lara, Anas M. Ali, Anh-Kiet Duong, Ankit Kumar, Bangshu Xiong, Beibei Lin, Bihan Wen, Bilel Benjdira, Bingcai Wei, Bingchen Li, Bo Ding, Bowen Shao, Bowen Tie, Chang-De Peng, Changjian Wang, Chao Ren, Chieh-Yu Tsai, Chuan Chen, Chunlei Li, Cici Liu, Daniel Feijoo, Dimple Sonone, Diqi Chen, Enxuan Gu, Guan-Cheng Liu, Guanglu Dong, Guoyi Xu, Hao Yang, Heng Guo, Hongde Gu, Hongyuan Jing, Hui Geng, Huilin Zhao, Hui Zhang, Jean-Michel Carozza, Jiachen Tu, Jiangxin Dong, Jingxi Zhang, Jinshan Pan, Jun Chen, Junjun Jiang, Kele Xu, Kiran Raja, Kishor Upla, Kui Jiang, Lichao Mou, Li-Wei Kang, Li Yang, Liyuan Pan, Mache You, Marcos V. Conde, Mengmeng Zhang, Milan Kumar Singh, Mohab Kishawy, Paula Garrido Mellado, Peishu Shi, Petra Gomez-Kramer, Qiaofeng Ou, Qiaosi Yi, Qisheng Xu, Qiyao Zhao, Qiyu Rong, Radu Timofte, Robby T. Tan, Ruikun Zhang, Runzhe Li, Suhang Yao, Tianheng Zheng, Wadii Boulila, Wangzhi Xing, Wei Li, Wending Yan, Wenjie Li, Wenjing Xun, Xianming Liu, Xing Xu, Xin Jin, Xin Li, Xin Lu, Xuyao Deng, Yaokun Shi, Yaoxin Jiang, Yeming Lao, Yeying Jin, Yiang Chen, Yi Ren, Yufei Yang, Yu Li, Zeliang Li, Zhanyu Ma, Zhaocheng Yu, Zhaoxin Fan, Zhibo Chen, Zhibo Rao, Zhidong Zhu, Zida Zhang, Zongwei Wu.

**Figure 2.** Figure 2: Method overview and qualitative results of Team raingod [PITH_FULL_IMAGE:figures/full_fig_p004_2.png] view at source ↗

**Figure 4.** Figure 4: The pipeline of the method proposed by Team Retinex [PITH_FULL_IMAGE:figures/full_fig_p005_4.png] view at source ↗

**Figure 6.** Figure 6: The pipeline of the method proposed by Team GU-day [PITH_FULL_IMAGE:figures/full_fig_p006_6.png] view at source ↗

**Figure 7.** Figure 7: The pipeline of the method proposed by Team NTR [PITH_FULL_IMAGE:figures/full_fig_p007_7.png] view at source ↗

**Figure 8.** Figure 8: The pipeline of the method proposed by Team Cidaut AI [PITH_FULL_IMAGE:figures/full_fig_p007_8.png] view at source ↗

**Figure 9.** Figure 9: The pipeline of the method proposed by Team [PITH_FULL_IMAGE:figures/full_fig_p008_9.png] view at source ↗

**Figure 11.** Figure 11: The pipeline of the method proposed by Team MMAIri [PITH_FULL_IMAGE:figures/full_fig_p008_11.png] view at source ↗

**Figure 12.** Figure 12: The pipeline of the method proposed by Team Rain [PITH_FULL_IMAGE:figures/full_fig_p009_12.png] view at source ↗

**Figure 14.** Figure 14: The pipeline of the method proposed by Team PSU [PITH_FULL_IMAGE:figures/full_fig_p010_14.png] view at source ↗

**Figure 13.** Figure 13: The pipeline of the method proposed by Team Just JiT [PITH_FULL_IMAGE:figures/full_fig_p010_13.png] view at source ↗

**Figure 15.** Figure 15: The pipeline of the method proposed by Team [PITH_FULL_IMAGE:figures/full_fig_p011_15.png] view at source ↗

read the original abstract

This paper presents an overview of the NTIRE 2026 Second Challenge on Day and Night Raindrop Removal for Dual-Focused Images. Building upon the success of the first edition, this challenge attracted a wide range of impressive solutions, all developed and evaluated on our real-world Raindrop Clarity dataset~\cite{jin2024raindrop}. For this edition, we adjust the dataset with 14,139 images for training, 407 images for validation, and 593 images for testing. The primary goal of this challenge is to establish a strong and practical benchmark for the removal of raindrops under various illumination and focus conditions. In total, 168 teams have registered for the competition, and 17 teams submitted valid final solutions and fact sheets for the testing phase. The submitted methods achieved strong performance on the Raindrop Clarity dataset, demonstrating the growing progress in this challenging task.

Editorial analysis

A structured set of objections, weighed in public.

Desk editor's note, referee report, simulated authors' rebuttal, and a circularity audit. Tearing a paper down is the easy half of reading it; the pith above is the substance, this is the friction.

Desk Editor's Note private letter to a colleague

This is a standard NTIRE challenge overview that updates the Raindrop Clarity dataset splits and reports 17 submissions but gives no quantitative results or analysis.

read the letter

This paper is the official summary for the second NTIRE challenge on day and night raindrop removal from dual-focused images. It updates the Raindrop Clarity dataset to 14,139 training images, 407 validation, and 593 test images, notes that 168 teams registered and 17 submitted valid solutions, and states that those solutions reached strong performance on the test set. The goal is framed as building a practical benchmark for real illumination and focus conditions that matter for applications like driving or surveillance. What the paper does well is simply documenting participation numbers and keeping the shared evaluation setup alive for the community. Challenge reports like this avoid the need for every new paper to re-create a testbed from scratch. The main limitation is that the text supplies no numbers, no baselines, no comparison to the first edition, and no error analysis. The claim of strong performance stays at the level of an assertion rather than evidence that can be checked from the document itself. If the full version includes tables and method summaries, that would change the picture, but the provided content does not. The representativeness of the 593-image test split for every possible real-world raindrop scenario is taken as given rather than demonstrated. This paper is mainly useful for people who track the NTIRE series or need the current benchmark numbers for context in their own deraining work. Readers hunting for new algorithms will have to turn to the individual team submissions instead. It shows clear, factual engagement with the task and the literature on image restoration, with no internal contradictions or invented claims. I would send it to peer review rather than desk reject it, because these challenge reports set the reference point for the field even when they are mostly descriptive.

Referee Report

1 major / 2 minor

Summary. This paper presents an overview of the NTIRE 2026 Second Challenge on Day and Night Raindrop Removal for Dual-Focused Images. It describes adjustments to the Raindrop Clarity dataset (14,139 training images, 407 validation images, 593 test images), notes that 168 teams registered with 17 submitting valid final solutions and fact sheets, and states that the submitted methods achieved strong performance on the dataset, demonstrating progress in the task.

Significance. If the performance claims are substantiated, the paper is significant as a community benchmark report that documents participation and progress on real-world raindrop removal under varying illumination and focus conditions. Such challenge overviews help standardize evaluation and encourage development of practical restoration methods.

major comments (1)

Abstract: The central claim that 'the submitted methods achieved strong performance' is unsupported by any quantitative metrics (e.g., PSNR, SSIM), baseline comparisons, or error analysis. Without these, the assertion cannot be evaluated and is load-bearing for the paper's contribution as a challenge summary.

minor comments (2)

The dataset citation is given only as ~cite{jin2024raindrop}; the full bibliographic reference should be included in the reference list.
The term 'dual-focused images' is used without definition or explanation of how focus conditions are varied in the Raindrop Clarity dataset.

Simulated Author's Rebuttal

1 responses · 0 unresolved

We thank the referee for the constructive feedback. We agree that the abstract requires quantitative support for the performance claim and will revise the manuscript accordingly to strengthen the presentation of results.

read point-by-point responses

Referee: Abstract: The central claim that 'the submitted methods achieved strong performance' is unsupported by any quantitative metrics (e.g., PSNR, SSIM), baseline comparisons, or error analysis. Without these, the assertion cannot be evaluated and is load-bearing for the paper's contribution as a challenge summary.

Authors: We agree that the abstract should be self-contained and include specific quantitative metrics. The full manuscript already reports detailed PSNR, SSIM, and other evaluation results for all 17 submitted methods in dedicated tables (with baseline comparisons), but these are not summarized in the abstract. In the revision we will add the top achieved PSNR and SSIM values, along with a brief note on the range of performance across submissions, directly into the abstract to substantiate the claim. revision: yes

Circularity Check

0 steps flagged

No significant circularity; factual challenge overview

full rationale

The paper is a standard NTIRE challenge report that states participation counts (168 registered, 17 valid submissions), dataset split sizes (14,139 train / 407 val / 593 test), and a high-level performance summary on the cited Raindrop Clarity benchmark. No derivations, equations, predictions, or load-bearing self-citations exist. The single dataset citation points to an external prior release and does not reduce any claim to a fitted input or self-definition. The central statement is scoped strictly to observed results on the supplied test set and contains no internal chain that collapses to its own inputs.

Axiom & Free-Parameter Ledger

0 free parameters · 0 axioms · 0 invented entities

No free parameters, axioms, or invented entities are introduced; the paper is an empirical challenge report that relies on an existing dataset and participant submissions.

pith-pipeline@v0.9.0 · 5867 in / 998 out tokens · 49617 ms · 2026-05-14T21:22:31.023462+00:00 · methodology

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