Measuring gloss
Colours and gloss are everywhere around us, and these two interact with each other. Colour influences the perception of gloss in such a way that darker objects are perceived as glossier, while glossier objects are perceived as darker. The final appearance of gloss can also be influenced by some other parameters, such as the texture. All of these make the control of the print more complicated.
Output devices (printers) differ in their ability to output colour and gloss which can be time and money consuming. To manage the final appearance of the object, it is important to understand and measure these attributes. Jet, there is no easy way to measure the final appearance of an object. There are various measuring devices on the market measuring different attributes of a surface, and manufacturers often develop their own measurement parameters to better describe how people perceive the appearance of surface.
Hence, Donatela’s research goal in the ApPEARS project is to implement gloss in the 5channel appearance space alongside colour and translucency (RGBA + G). That would enable us to control, not only the printed colour, but also the gloss of 2D and, more important, 3D printed objects.
Together with her supervisory team at Fogra Research Institute, she tested several measurement devices and how the parameters correlate with the visual judgement of gloss. A visual experiment was conducted for the research. The visual experiment was conducted in a prototype viewing booth. The special feature of the viewing booth is that the angle of illumination can be changed so that the object can be illuminated from any angle. The results of the experiment show that changing the angle of illumination has no significant effect on the visual judgement of gloss.