Physics Commons^™

Data-Driven Algorithm To Classify The Degree Of Isotropy In The Bidirectional Reflectance Distribution Function, Anne W. Werkley, Samuel D. Butler, Todd V. Small, Michael A. Marciniak

Faculty Publications

The bidirectional reflectance distribution function (BRDF) is used to describe reflectances of materials by calculating the ratio of the reflected radiance to the incident irradiance. While it was found that the isotropic models maintained symmetry about ϕ_s  =  π, such symmetry was not maintained about the θ_s  =  θ_i axis, except for close to the specular peak. This led to the development of a data-driven metric for how isotropic a BRDF measurement is. Research efforts centered around developing an algorithm that could determine material anisotropy without having to fit to models. This algorithm was tested using high …