A pose of an object is determine by acquiring sets of images of the object by a camera, wherein the object has a thread arranged on a surface such that a local region of the object appears substantially spherical, wherein the camera is at a different point of view for each set, and wherein each image in each set is acquired while the scene is illuminated from a different direction. A set of features is extracted from each image, wherein the features correspond to points on the surface having normals towards the camera. A parametric line is fitted to the points for each image, wherein the line lies on a plane joining a center of the camera and an axis of the object. Then, geometric constraints are applied to lines to determine the pose of the object.