Specularities on surfaces with tangential hairs or grooves

Abstract

Specularities on surfaces with tangential hairs or grooves are readily observable in nature. Examples of such phenomena are the arched or looped highlights observed on horses and on human heads and the linear or curved specularities observed on parts of industrial machinery that have tangential grooves. We investigate the geometry of curvilinear specularities on surfaces of different curvature with tangential hairs or grooves of different orientation, under controlled lighting and viewing conditions. First the nature of these specularities is investigated qualitatively. Then specularities on parametric surfaces and hair or groove orientations are calculated for some specific cares. Explicit calculations of specularities on some special surfaces, cylinders, cones, and spheres, are verified by photographs of the reflections. Aspects of the work are applicable to computer graphics and can be utilized for the image interpretation of surface specularities.