A computer implemented method, comprising: providing, by an illuminant light source of a spectrophotometer, an incident light at a first angle to illuminate a target coating; obtaining, using a processor, spectral reflectance data from the target coating corresponding to a set of spectral reflectance measurements at multiple angles; calculating from the obtained spectral reflectance data, using the processor, virtual color response data using Kepler's first law of planetary motion equation: r = p / (1+ ε cos( θ)) wherein the Kepler's first law of planetary motion equation defines an ellipse which is created in a plane that represents a top-down projection along the surface normal of a hemisphere centered above the reflecting target coating, wherein each intersection of an incident or reflected light with the surface of the hemisphere corresponds to a point in the plane, wherein either the illuminant light source is positioned at one focal point and an angular response at another focal point, or in which two different angular responses are used for the foci of the related ellipse, wherein (r) and ( θ) are the polar coordinates for the ellipse, ( p) is the semi-latus rectum, and ( ε) is the eccentricity of the ellipse; wherein calculating the virtual color response using Kepler's first law of planetary motion equation comprises calculating, for each wavelength, the semi-latus rectum ( p) and/or the eccentricity ( ε) of a respective ellipse based on the set of measurements at multiple angles and on a respective selection of two focal points; and generating, using the processor and the virtual color response data, a coating pigmentation that is the same or substantially similar in appearance to the target coating, wherein generating the coating pigmentation comprises empirically correlating the calculated set of semi-latus rectum and/or eccentricity values for the target coating to a plurality of known set of semi-latus rectum and/or eccentricity values obtained in the same manner for a plurality of reference coatings and predicting at least one texture feature of the target coating based on the correlating. providing, by an illuminant light source of a spectrophotometer, an incident light at a first angle to illuminate a target coating; obtaining, using a processor, spectral reflectance data from the target coating corresponding to a set of spectral reflectance measurements at multiple angles; calculating from the obtained spectral reflectance data, using the processor, virtual color response data using Kepler's first law of planetary motion equation: r = p / (1+ ε cos( θ)) wherein the Kepler's first law of planetary motion equation defines an ellipse which is created in a plane that represents a top-down projection along the surface normal of a hemisphere centered above the reflecting target coating, wherein each intersection of an incident or reflected light with the surface of the hemisphere corresponds to a point in the plane, wherein either the illuminant light source is positioned at one focal point and an angular response at another focal point, or in which two different angular responses are used for the foci of the related ellipse, wherein (r) and ( θ) are the polar coordinates for the ellipse, ( p) is the semi-latus rectum, and ( ε) is the eccentricity of the ellipse; wherein calculating the virtual color response using Kepler's first law of planetary motion equation comprises calculating, for each wavelength, the semi-latus rectum ( p) and/or the eccentricity ( ε) of a respective ellipse based on the set of measurements at multiple angles and on a respective selection of two focal points; and generating, using the processor and the virtual color response data, a coating pigmentation that is the same or substantially similar in appearance to the target coating, wherein generating the coating pigmentation comprises empirically correlating the calculated set of semi-latus rectum and/or eccentricity values for the target coating to a plurality of known set of semi-latus rectum and/or eccentricity values obtained in the same manner for a plurality of reference coatings and predicting at least one texture feature of the target coating based on the correlating.