Computer-aided appearance design based on BRDF measurements

This paper presents a comprehensive and efficient framework for computer-aided appearance design based on BRDF (bidirectional reflectance distribution function) measurements. It covers all stages of a new product development including acquisition, processing and modeling of reflectance data, interactive rendering and evaluation of material appearance, and manufacturing operations. The proposed method eliminates the need of making a real physical prototype by providing a reliable surface appearance design process in which he/she can faithfully simulate the final surface appearance in the early design stage of a product. In addition, it enables us to manufacture the coating surface the same as the computer simulated surface from the known coating specification. The accuracy test between a real sample and the computer simulated one demonstrates that the proposed method satisfies an acceptable level of accuracy for industrial applications. A case study has been conducted to evaluate the user preference on the surface appearance of a digital handheld device which contains a combination of different coating surfaces. The case study successfully demonstrates that the user preference can be identified using the proposed method while changing the combination of different coating surfaces represented by BRDFs considering factors such as surrounding environments and age groups.

► This paper represents a comprehensive framework for computer-aided appearance design.
► It covers acquisition, modeling, rendering and manufacturing operations.
► It can simulate the final surface appearance without making a real physical prototype.
► A preliminary case study has been conducted to demonstrate usefulness.