Print Email Facebook Twitter A systematic approach to testing and predicting light-material interactions Title A systematic approach to testing and predicting light-material interactions Author Zhang, F. (TU Delft Human Information Communication Design) de Ridder, H. (TU Delft Human Information Communication Design) Barla, Pascal (Université de Bordeaux; Institut National de Recherche en Informatique et en Automatique (INRIA)) Pont, S.C. (TU Delft Human Information Communication Design) Date 2019 Abstract Photographers and lighting designers set up lighting environments that best depict objects and human figures to convey key aspects of the visual appearance of various materials, following rules drawn from experience. Understanding which lighting environment is best adapted to convey which key aspects of materials is an important question in the field of human vision. The endless range of natural materials and lighting environments poses a major problem in this respect. Here we present a systematic approach to make this problem tractable for lighting–material interactions, using optics-based models composed of canonical lighting and material modes. In two psychophysical experiments, different groups of inexperienced observers judged the material qualities of the objects depicted in the stimulus images. In the first experiment, we took photographs of real objects as stimuli under canonical lightings. In a second experiment, we selected three generic natural lighting environments on the basis of their predicted lighting effects and made computer renderings of the objects. The selected natural lighting environments have characteristics similar to the canonical lightings, as computed using a spherical harmonic analysis. Results from the two experiments correlate strongly, showing (a) how canonical material and lighting modes associate with perceived material qualities; and (b) which lighting is best adapted to evoke perceived material qualities, such as softness, smoothness, and glossiness. Our results demonstrate that a system of canonical modes spanning the natural range of lighting and materials provides a good basis to study lighting–material interactions in their full natural ecology. To reference this document use: http://resolver.tudelft.nl/uuid:49b3a6a8-40cf-48df-8f69-b139400d1ef7 DOI https://doi.org/10.1167/19.4.11 ISSN 1534-7362 Source Journal of vision, 19 (4), 1-22 Part of collection Institutional Repository Document type journal article Rights © 2019 F. Zhang, H. de Ridder, Pascal Barla, S.C. Pont Files PDF i1534_7362_19_4_11.pdf 2.08 MB Close viewer /islandora/object/uuid:49b3a6a8-40cf-48df-8f69-b139400d1ef7/datastream/OBJ/view