Patent ID: 8374831

Claim:
A computer-implemented process for producing a predicted visual display of an object coated with a gonioapparent material containing effect flake pigments in a solid medium, said process comprising the steps of: (i) generating a bidirectional reflectance distribution function (BRDF) of said gonioapparent material using limited measurement data, said BRDF is generated by a BRDF process comprising the following steps in any appropriate order: (A) acquiring and inputting into a computing device (1) photometric data comprising spectral or colorimetric data of the gonioapparent material being a function of an illumination angle and a reflective scattering angle, wherein said data being obtained by (a) measurements of the gonioapparent material, (b) previously measured data of the gonioapparent material from a data base containing measurements of the gonioapparent material or (c) simulated data for a gonioapparent material and (2) the refractive index of the solid medium of the gonioapparent material; (B) converting any non-linear photometric data from step (A) above to linear photometric data; (C) using the illumination angle and the reflective scattering angle associated with the linear photometric data and the refractive index of the medium to calculate corresponding effect flake angles; (D) fitting the linear photometric data and the effect flake angle data with an equation describing the linear photometric data as a continuous function of effect flake angle via computer implementation; (E) calculating the corresponding effect flake angle from the illumination angle, reflective scattering angle and refractive index of the solid medium for each combination of illumination and reflective scattering angle needed to calculate the BRDF being generated in step (F) and (F) generating the BRDF for each combination of illumination and reflective scattering angle by calculating each value of the BRDF from the corresponding effect flake angle from step (E) above and the equation developed in step (D) above; (ii) producing R,G,B values based on said BRDF and shapes of the object, or a portion thereof, and (iii) producing said predicted visual display of said object on a display media based on said R,G,B values.