My bachelor’s thesis focused on creating photorealistic renders using techniques that separate and visually present real material properties to artists. It was a success, and it even won an award for Best Bachelor Thesis by the Faculty of Engineering and Sustainable Development at University of Gävle. Also, Knowit awarded me a scholarship for Most Innovative Thesis.
Abstract
When creating materials in computer graphics, the most common method is to estimate the properties based on intuition. This seems like a flawed approach, seeing as a big part of the industry has already moved to a physically based workflow. A better method would be to observe real material properties, and use that data in the application. This research delves into the art of material creation by first explaining the theory behind the properties of materials through a literature review. The review also reveals techniques that separate and visually presents these properties to artists, giving them a better understanding of how a material behaves. Through action research, an empirical study then presents a workflow for creating photorealistic renders using data collected with these techniques. While the techniques still require subjective decisions when recreating the materials, they do help artists create more accurate renderings with less guesswork.
Result
Below are some of the materials that were studied and recreated:
(Top Left: reference photo. Top Right: recreated material. Bottom Left: closeup of recreated material. Bottom Right: recreated material in different environment)
