Gloss-Bridge: A Method to Reduce the Visual Perception Gap between Real-World Glossiness and PBR Reflectance Properties in Virtual Reality

Abstract

With the rapid development of virtual reality (VR) technology, digital materials have become more realistic and controllable, offering new opportunities for material perception research. However, material parameters for physically based rendering (PBR), which are widely used in industry, are often derived from design experience and lack interpretability. This study aims to investigate the visual perception difference of material glossiness between real and virtual environments. A compensation method is proposed to bridge the glossiness perception gap between the real-world and PBR. Two psychophysical experiments are conducted. Experiment 1 measures the psychological perception of materials with different glossiness in the real world and VR using a two-alternative forced-choice (2AFC) design. Experiment 2 establishes a connection between multiple parameters in PBR and the psychologically perceived glossiness obtained in Experiment 1 through a material matching adjustment experiment. Finally, a material glossiness mapping method for VR real-time rendering, Gloss-Bridge, is introduced. This method maps the physical quantity (measured by gloss meter) to various PBR parameters. By using physical parameters instead of empirical parameters, it eliminates tedious hyper-parameter adjustments. This achievement provides a design basis for the production of VR materials based on subjective perception and physical parameters.