C. Parraman

Reflectance, illumination, and appearance in color constancy.

We studied color constancy using a pair of identical 3-D Color Mondrian displays. We viewed one 3-D Mondrian in nearly uniform illumination, and the other in directional, nonuniform illumination. We used the three dimensional structures to modulate the light falling on the painted surfaces. The 3-D structures in the displays were a matching set of wooden blocks. Across Mondrian displays, each corresponding facet had the same paint on its surface. We used only 6 chromatic, and 5 achromatic paints applied to 104 block facets. The 3-D blocks add shadows and multiple reflections not found in flat Mondrians. Both 3-D Mondrians were viewed simultaneously, side-by-side. We used two techniques to measure correlation of appearance with surface reflectance. First, observers made magnitude estimates of changes in the appearances of identical reflectances. Second, an author painted a watercolor of the 3-D Mondrians. The watercolors reflectances quantified the changes in appearances. While constancy generalizations about illumination and reflectance hold for flat Mondrians, they do not for 3-D Mondrians. A constant paint does not exhibit perfect color constancy, but rather shows significant shifts in lightness, hue and chroma in response to the structure in the nonuniform illumination. Color appearance depends on the spatial information in both the illumination and the reflectances of objects. The spatial information of the quanta catch from the array of retinal receptors generates sensations that have variable correlation with surface reflectance. Models of appearance in humans need to calculate the departures from perfect constancy measured here. This article provides a dataset of measurements of color appearances for computational models of sensation.

Color appearance and color rendering of HDR scenes: an experiment

In order to gain a deeper understanding of the appearance of coloured objects in a three-dimensional scene, the research introduces a multidisciplinary experimental approach. The experiment employed two identical 3-D Mondrians, which were viewed and compared side by side. Each scene was subjected to different lighting conditions. First, we used an illumination cube to diffuse the light and illuminate all the objects from each direction. This produced a low-dynamicrange (LDR) image of the 3-D Mondrian scene. Second, in order to make a high-dynamic range (HDR) image of the same objects, we used a directional 150W spotlight and an array of WLEDs assembled in a flashlight. The scenes were significant as each contained exactly the same three-dimensional painted colour blocks that were arranged in the same position in the still life. The blocks comprised 6 hue colours and 5 tones from white to black. Participants from the CREATE project were asked to consider the change in the appearance of a selection of colours according to lightness, hue, and chroma, and to rate how the change in illumination affected appearance. We measured the light coming to the eye from still-life surfaces with a colorimeter (Yxy). We captured the scene radiance using multiple exposures with a number of different cameras. We have begun a programme of digital image processing of these scene capture methods. This multi-disciplinary programme continues until 2010, so this paper is an interim report on the initial phases and a description of the ongoing project.

Specifying colour and maintaining colour accuracy for 3D printing

Advances in rapid prototyping technologies have led to the emergence of three-dimensional printers which can fabricate physical artefacts, including the application of surface colours. In light of these developments, this paper asserts that the need to print colour accurately is just as important for designers using three-dimensional colour printing as it is for two-dimensional inkjet printing. Parallels can be made with two-dimensional digital Inkjet printing and 2D common problems include: on screen previsualisation, colour management methods, colour gamut and maintaining colour accuracy. However, for three dimensional colour printed objects, there are more variables that will affect the finished colour. These are: the powder and process inks, unevenness of the surface, wax post-processing and other infiltration media and procedures. Furthermore, in some 3D printers, the K channel is replaced by the binder and so the printer is only using the cyan, magenta and yellow channels. The paper will suggest methods for improving pre-visualisation and accurate pre-viewing of the colours through the manufacture of three-dimensional colour charts as a reference guide for designers so that they can make accurate coloured artefacts. A series of case studies will be demonstrated.

The development of vector based 2.5D print methods for a painting machine

Through recent trends in the application of digitally printed decorative finishes to products, CAD, 3D additive layer manufacturing and research in material perception, [1, 2] there is a growing interest in the accurate rendering of materials and tangible displays. Although current advances in colour management and inkjet printing has meant that users can take for granted high-quality colour and resolution in their printed images, digital methods for transferring a photographic coloured image from screen to paper is constrained by pixel count, file size, colorimetric conversion between colour spaces and the gamut limits of input and output devices. This paper considers new approaches to applying alternative colour palettes by using a vector-based approach through the application of paint mixtures, towards what could be described as a 2.5D printing method. The objective is to not apply an image to a textured surface, but where texture and colour are integral to the mark, that like a brush, delineates the contours in the image. The paper describes the difference between the way inks and paints are mixed and applied. When transcribing the fluid appearance of a brush stroke, there is a difference between a halftone printed mark and a painted mark. The issue of surface quality is significant to subjective qualities when studying the appearance of ink or paint on paper. The paper provides examples of a range of vector marks that are then transcribed into brush stokes by the painting machine.

Pixel and spatial mechanisms of color constancy

Color constancy remains an important subject of research on color standards, computer imaging, and human color vision. There are many different theories and algorithms that interpret and predict constancy. This paper analyzes three different approaches that are frequently discussed separately in the literature: pixel-based colorimetric standards of appearance; computer imaging calculations of an objects reflectance; and calculation of appearance using spatial comparisons. This paper compares and contrasts these approaches. Further, it reviews experiments that measure appearance in color constancy in a variety of situations. A pivotal tool in analyzing models of constancy is the correlation of objects reflectance with appearance. Each approach has different interpretation of this correlation. Using measurements of constancy with particular attention to reflectance, illumination, and appearance helps us to see the successes and limitations of each constancy approach.

Dark texture in artworks

This presentation highlights issues relating to the digital capture printing of 2D and 3D artefacts and accurate colour reproduction of 3D objects. There are a range of opportunities and technologies for the scanning and printing of two-dimensional and threedimensional artefacts [1]. A successful approach of Polynomial Texture Mapping (PTM) technique, to create a Reflectance Transformation Image (RTI) [2-4] is being used for the conservation and heritage of artworks as these methods are non invasive or non destructive of fragile artefacts. This approach captures surface detail of twodimensional artworks using a multidimensional approach that by using a hemispherical dome comprising 64 lamps to create an entire surface topography. The benefits of this approach are to provide a highly detailed visualization of the surface of materials and objects.

Artist's colour rendering of HDR scenes in 3D Mondrian colour-constancy experiments

The presentation provides an update on ongoing research using three-dimensional Colour Mondrians. Two still life arrangements comprising hand-painted coloured blocks of 11 different colours were subjected to two different lighting conditions of a nearly uniform light and directed spotlights. The three-dimensional nature of these test targets adds shadows and multiple reflections, not found in flat Mondrian targets. Working from exactly the same pair of scenes, an author painted them using watercolour inks and paints to recreate both LDR and HDR Mondrians on paper. This provided us with a second set of appearance measurements of both scenes. Here we measured appearances by measuring reflectances of the artists rendering. Lands Colour Mondrian extended colour constancy from a pixel to a complex scene. Since it used a planar array in uniform illumination, it did not measure the appearances of real life 3-D scenes in non-uniform illumination. The experiments in this paper, by simultaneously studying LDR and HDR renditions of the same array of reflectances, extend Lands Mondrian towards real scenes in non-uniform illumination. The results show that the appearances of many areas in complex scenes do not correlate with reflectance.

Colour in flux: describing and printing colour in art

This presentation will describe artists, practitioners and scientists, who were interested in developing a deeper psychological, emotional and practical understanding of the human visual system who were working with wavelength, paint and other materials. From a selection of prints at The Prints and Drawings Department at Tate London, the presentation will refer to artists who were motivated by issues relating to how colour pigment was mixed and printed, to interrogate and explain colour perception and colour science, and in art, how artists have used colour to challenge the viewer and how a viewer might describe their experience of colour. The title Colour in Flux refers, not only to the perceptual effect of the juxtaposition of one colour pigment with another, but also to the changes and challenges for the print industry. In the light of screenprinted examples from the 60s and 70s, the presentation will discuss 21st century ideas on colour and how these notions have informed the Centre for Fine Print Researchs (CFPR) practical research in colour printing. The latter part of this presentation will discuss the implications for the need to change methods in mixing inks that moves away from existing colour spaces, from non intuitive colour mixing to bespoke ink sets, colour mixing approaches and colour mixing methods that are not reliant on RGB or CMYK.

Reproducing the old masters: applying colour mixing and painting methodologies to inkjet printing

This research investigates multi-channel inkjet printing methods, which deviate from standard colour management workflows by reflecting on art historical processes, including the construction of colour in old master works, to reproduce specific colour pigment mixes in print. This is approached by incorporating artist colour mixing principles relevant to traditional art making processes through direct n-channel printing and the implementation of multiple pass printing. By demanding specific ink colourants to be employed in print, as well as the application of mixing colour though layering, we can mimic the effects of the traditional processes. These printing methods also generate colour through a variety of colour mixtures that may not have been employed or achieved by the printer driver. The objective of this research is to explore colour mixing and layering techniques in the printing of inkjet reproductions of original artworks that will maintain subtle colour transitions in dark shadow regions. While these colours are lost in traditional inkjet reproduction, by using direct n-channel editing capabilities to reproduce a painted original with high dynamic range we can improve colour variation in the shadow regions.

The development of artists' novel colour palettes for inkjet printing

In this changing environment in which the artist and designer has access to a wide range of digital imaging tools and technologies, that on first glance, are dedicated to the creation of colour mixtures, why is the digital interface and colour outcome often disappointing? It appears that hardware, software tools and methods for digital printing are not necessarily suited to the specific requirements of the artist. In fact, they are too generalised to obtain a high degree of quality and too inflexible to allow artists to obtain precision and predictability. Is it possible for an artist to mix and print a colour that captures their creative imagination? The motivation for this research is based on how artists mix and print colour by traditional means (painting and printmaking) and how these differ from colour picker tools, slider bars and methods developed for digital printing, and whether it is possible to incorporate both? The paper provides a brief historical background to artists who have developed colour systems to assist their particular colour choices. Based on existing hardware and software, the paper suggests alternative approaches to colour selection, demonstrates methods for the creation of novel inkjet printed palettes, and how these can be visualised and compared.