On the Acquisition and Reproduction of Material Appearance

Abstract

Currently, new technologies (e.g. 2.5D and 3D printing processes) progress at a fast pace in their capacity to (re)produce an ever-broader range of visual aspects. At the same time, a huge research effort is needed to achieve a comprehensive scientific model for the visual sensations we experience in front of an object in its surrounding. Thanks to the projects MUVApp: Measuring and Understanding Visual Appearance funded by the Research Council of Norway, and ApPEARS: Appearance Printing—European Advanced Research School recently granted by the European Union, significant progress is being made on various topics related with acquisition and reproduction of material appearance, and also on the very understanding of appearance. This paper presents recent, ongoing, and planned research in this exciting field, with a specific emphasis on the MUVApp project.