An Appearance Reproduction Framework for Printed 3D Surfaces

Bidirectional reflection distribution function (BRDF) is used to measure colour with gloss and surface geometry. In this paper, we aim to provide a practical way of reproducing the appearance of a 3D printed surface in 2.5D printing of any slope angle and colour in a colour-managed workflow as a means for softproofing. To account for the change in colour due to a change in surface slope, we developed a BRDF interpolation algorithm that adjusts the colour of the tristimulus values of the flat target to predict the corresponding colour on a surface with a slope. These adjusted colours are then used by the interpolated BRDF workflow to finally predict the colour parameters for each pixel with a particular slope. The effectiveness of this algorithm in reducing colour differences in 2.5D printing has been successfully demonstrated. We then finally show how all the components, slope colour adjustment method, interpolated BRDF parameters algorithm, and BRDF model encoded profiles using iccMAX are connected to make a practical appearance reproduction framework for 2.5D printing.