Fabricating Microgeometry for Custom Surface Reflectance

ACM Transactions on Graphics (Proceedings of SIGGRAPH 2009)

Tim Weyrich1   Pieter Peers2  Wojciech Matusik3  Szymon Rusinkiewicz3,4
University College London1
University of Southern California, Institute for Creative Technologies2
Adobe Systems, Inc.3
Princeton University4

 

From left: a user-designed highlight is converted to an optimized microfacet height field. A computer-controlled milling machine is used to manufacture the surface (30 x 30 facets, each approximately 1mm x 1mm), which exhibits the desired reflectance.


Abstract:

We propose a system for manufacturing physical surfaces that, in aggregate, exhibit a desired surface appearance. Our system begins with a user specification of a BRDF, or simply a highlight shape, and infers the required distribution of surface slopes. We sample this distribution, optimize for a maximally-continuous and valley-minimizing height field, and finally mill the surface using a computer-controlled machine tool. We demonstrate a variety of surfaces, ranging from reproductions of measured BRDFs to materials with unconventional high lights.


Material:

SIGGRAPH 2009 Paper: