LIMA

The aim of this project is to master the appearance of materials. The research will allow the restitution and the control of visual appearance of materials at differents scales of observation by developing a series of physico-mathematical models. These models will be based on scale transitions from pigments to material and will describe the material’s interaction with light. The project aims to a twofold approach : from composition to appearance and from appearance to composition. It relates thus the virtual visualisation of the appearance of a manufacturable material and the expression of its physical composition. The project will use a bio-inspired design which allows to design multifunctional materials using multiscale models, this aims at reducing the environmental costs related to the process (reducing mass, chemical compounds and solvents, life cycles). A particular attention will be paid to the industrial feasibility and to the definition of new procedures (reverse engineering) in a What You See Is What You Get approach. It is indispensable for the design and the evaluation of visual aspects of materials to allow the observer to move around the object and to visualise it through different angles of view. The use of virtual reality technologies (dynamic point of view, interactivity, stereoscopy) is thus necessary to allow a dynamic visual restitution of models. Adapted and validated models will be proposed for real time integration into virtual reality or augmented reality systems. The research will be based on the formulation of pigments used in the production of paints (for the automotive industries as an example), with the aim of controlling all the steps that influence visual appearance, from creative design to manufacturing and industrialisation.