Visual Perception from a Computer Graphics Perspective

8

Texture

Figure 8.1

Visual texture can provide

information about surface

shape.

The English word texture has a common etymol-

ogy with the word textile. Within the context of

visual perception, the term texture refers to sur-

face appearance characterized by a regular pat-

tern distributed over the surface. Figures 8.1

and 8.2 show examples of visual textures, both

artificial and naturally occurring. The regu-

larity associated with a visual texture can be

highly structured, as in a brick wall, or more

random, as in the view of a grassy field. Visual

textures play several important roles in percep-

tion (Landy & Graham, 2004). Most obviously,

recognizable textures ...