A psychophysically-based model of surface gloss perception

In this paper we introduce a new model of surface appearance that is based on quantitative studies of gloss perception. We use image synthesis techniques to conduct experiments that explore the relationships between the physical dimensions of glossy reflectance and the perceptual dimensions of glossy appearance. The product of these experiments is a psychophysically-based model of surface gloss, with dimensions that are both physically and perceptually meaningful and scales that reflect our sensitivity to gloss variations. We demonstrate that the model can be used to describe and control the appearance of glossy surfaces in synthetic images, allowing prediction of gloss matches and quantification of gloss differences. This work represents some initial steps toward developing psychophysical models of the goniometric aspects of surface appearance to complement widely-used colorimetric models.