An experiment performed by members of ASTM Subcommittee E12.14 on Multidimensional Characterization of Appearance revealed significant findings. Subcommittee Chairman Paul Tannenbaum, research associate, DuPont, Wilmington, Del., said that in a previous article in Standardization News, the subcommittee “outlined new visual experiments and instrumental techniques currently under study, which will ultimately lead to new standards for distinctness-of-image (doi) and orange peel (peel).

“To date,” he continued, “we have determined that imaging (spatial) technologies provide better correlation with visual assessment than flux (geometric) assessments. In retrospect this should be obvious since the attributes captured by the image are the same ones we see, while in the geometric case we must infer the appearance attribute(s) indirectly from change in flux as a function of angle.

“The first set of experiments (visual and instrumental) were based on a generic set of black ACT Laboratories orange peel panels. The attribute steps for both doi and peel were fairly large and distinguishable. For our second set of experiments we have developed a number of new black panels where the steps in doi and peel are much tighter. We wish to determine the point at which we obtain just noticeable differences. Several members of our committee are currently working on a protocol for the new experiment.”

A visual experiment probing surface appearance effects will be conducted at an ASTM booth at the AIC (International Colour Association), ISCC (Inter-Society Color Council) Meeting, June 24-29, in Rochester N.Y. In the Convention Center, volunteers will be asked to act as subjects while data is collected by Subcommittee E12.14.

For further technical information, contact the subcommittee chair, Paul M. Tannenbaum, DuPont, Experimental Station (phone: 302/ 695-4054). Committee E12 meets June 19-22 in Rochester. For details, contact Staff Manager Bode Hennegan, ASTM (phone: 610/ 832-9740).

The AIC meets in member countries every four years to promote color-science developments. The 9th AIC Congress will be hosted by the Inter-Society Color Council (ISCC) and coincides with the ISCC Annual Meeting. For details, visit the ISCC Web site. //

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