On the appearance of objects and materials: Qualitative analysis of experimental observations

Abstract

Perception of appearance of different materials and objects is a complex psychophysical phenomenon and its neurophysiological and behavioral mechanisms are far from being fully understood. The various appearance attributes are usually studied separately. In addition, no comprehensive and functional total appearance modelling has been done up-to date. We have conducted experiments using physical objects asking observers to describe the objects and carry out visual tasks. The process has been videotaped and analysed qualitatively using the Grounded Theory Analysis, a qualitative research methodology from social science. In this work, we construct a qualitative model of this data and compare it to material appearance models. The model highlights the impact of the conditions of observation, and the necessity of a reference and comparison for adequate assessment of material appearance. Then we formulate a set of research hypotheses. While our model only describes our data, the hypotheses could be general if they are verified by quantitative studies. In order to assess the potential generalisation of the model, the hypotheses are discussed in context of different quantitative state-of-the-art works.