Visual Gloss

Parameter description

Visual Gloss is a perception-based gloss value that predicts how glossy a surface appears to the human eye, rather than just how much light it reflects in a single direction. It adjusts for effects such as colour, highlight contrast and surrounding brightness so that the scale better matches visual judgements across different materials and finishes.
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How is it measured?

The Aesthetix sensor captures a high dynamic range (HDR) image of the specular highlight and surrounding area at the standard 60° gloss geometry. The observer camera captures an image of the surface and measures its luminosity.

Reflection data from the gloss camera (1) is virtually combined with surface luminosity information from the observer camera (2) the result is visual gloss which describes the contrast of the gloss highlight against the background colour (3).

Software analyses intensity of the highlight and the background into a Visual Gloss value on a perceptual scale.
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Applications

Comparing gloss across different colours, coatings and substrates where standard gloss units do not reliably match what observers see.
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Setting appearance specifications and pass/fail limits for premium high‑gloss products (automotive, electronics, furniture, decorative parts) using a metric that closely tracks customer perception.

Technical Specifications