Patent ID: 7161676

Claim:
A method for designing a plastic article comprising the steps: a) determining a set of virtual article parameters for an article from fabrication parameters; said fabrication parameters including: (i) a topography profile of a surface macro texture; and (ii) c 1micro , c 2micro , and c 3micro values defining a micro texture for a known physical sample; b) using the set of virtual article parameters, generating a virtual article with sufficient appearance detail to reveal the article's internal color and surface reflectance components, including appearance due to micro and macro surface textures, under more than one combination of illumination an viewing angles; c) modifying at least one virtual article parameter in the set of virtual article parameters, while defining macro surface texture with topography profiles of known surfaces and surface micro texture with c 1micro , c 2micro , and c 3micro values of known physical samples, until obtaining a final set of virtual article parameters that produce a virtual article that has a desired appearance; d) determining fabrication parameters suitable for fabricating a physical article_from the final set of virtual article parameters, said fabrication parameters including the topography profile and c 1micro , c 2micro , and c 3micro values from the final set of virtual article parameters; and e) fabricating a physical article using the fabrication parameters from step (d); wherein c 1micro , c 2micro , and c 3micro values dictate a micro surface texture contribution to reflectance properties off from a surface of an article made of a polymer composition.