Measuring, Modeling, and Reproducing Material Appearance from Specular Profile

Abstract

A method is proposed for measuring, modeling, and reproducing material appearance from the specular profile representing reflectance distribution around a specular highlight. Our method is aimed at opaque materials with a highly glossy surface like plastic, ceramic, and metals. Hence, the material surface is assumed to be not a perfect mirror, but a surface with some roughness. We do not use a gonio-spectrophometer nor an image-based measurement setup. Instead, we make use of a gloss meter with a function to measure the specular profile, containing for glossy materials appearance such as roughness, sharpness, and intensity. The surface reflection is represented as a linear sum of diffuse and specular reflection components, the latter described by the Cook-Torrance model. The specular function represents the glossy surface appearance by a small number of control parameters. Mitsuba rendering system is utilized to perform the rendering algorithms. Finally, the feasibility of the proposed method is examined using different materials.