A high resolution set up devoted to the measurement of the Bidirectional Reflectance Distribution Function around the specular peak, at LNE-CNAM

We see objects because they reflect light. This reflected light contains information that allows us not only identify the shape of the object but also its appearance. The overall appearance of an object is a combination of different visual attributes like gloss, texture, color or transparency, which are produced by the interaction between the object, the light falling upon it and the visual system [1]. Our interest in this article is to characterize the gloss of a surface. Our approach is the measurement of the Bidirectional Reflectance Distribution Function (BRDF) of the surface in, and around the specular direction, where the specular peak is located. For this, we developed a dedicated gonioreflectometer with a very high angular resolution. In this paper we present the equipment and measurements made on different surface