How are the colours and textures we see online in virtual product libraries like Axalta’s COLOUR it tool created? And how accurate are they? We talk to Louis Dellieu of Eclat Digital to find out.

Capturing materiality online

Eclat Digital is a specialised virtual prototyping agency based in Nantes, France. Combining the skills of scientists from a range of disciplines with those of software developers and graphic artists, the company has been helping product manufacturers to communicate material properties online since 2014. 

“The perception of the human eye is amazing but perhaps surprisingly it’s not our starting point for representing colour and texture online,” says Louis. “Instead, we base everything on scientific optical measurements of the true physical characteristics of any given object, using these measured properties as simulation inputs. So, if a product or swatch contains a metallic pigment or has a high-gloss finish, our calculation will consider these properties, and the resulting images will display those features as they behave in real life.”

Physicist Louis explains that the agency works in sectors including architecture, construction materials, product design and the automotive industry to accurately represent a wide range of materials, from glass and plastics to powder coatings, for online audiences.

Digital twin

“It’s a bit like creating a digital twin,” says Louis. “Basically, we adapt our measurement approach to match the attributes of the product, inputting them into our purpose-designed software. If we’re working with glass, our specific measurements will be chosen to capture reflectivity and transmission of light whereas a product like powder coating can be more about communicating hue and what we call topographical qualities – or texture.”

By integrating 360º photography of any given environment at any time of day or night, Louis explains that the latest virtual prototypes allow the end user to specify the lighting conditions of the visualisation – whether that’s a cloudy day or a moonlit night.  

Ray-tracing software

Behind the work is the ray-tracing light simulator called OceanTM, developed by Eclat Digital to compute light radiated across a 3D scene using the laws of geometric optics. “The results provide accurate digital representations of materials, enabling virtual exploration of their properties and aesthetics – as well as precise quantification of how light interacts with those materials,” explains Louis.

“The software is also designed to allow architects to accurately predict the appearance of their building design in a real situation, including how light plays across proposed facades, with a high degree of precision.”

You can experiment with Ocean^TM here.