Mechanisms of Aesthetics: On the Perception of Materials and Their Properties.

Abstract The visual perception of material surface qualities holds immense importance in our daily lives, serving as the foundation for various environmental interpretations and behavioural adaptations. These encompass critical safety aspects, like assessing floor safety or food freshness, to appreciating intricate sculptural illusions, such as delicately draped fabric in marble statues. Particularly for products with high aesthetic value, perceived properties play a significant role in subjectively attributing material worth. Given the vast array of material surfaces and the pivotal role of lighting in the overall visual perception process, this presents a major challenge for lighting planners and designers. Currently, the achievement of aesthetic effects in architectural spaces heavily relies on the opinions and experiences of professionals, as there are no specific guidelines for combining materials with different lighting concepts. Hence, decoding the connection between physical properties and their subjective interpretations becomes crucial in facilitating the objective planning of materials. In this study, more than 600 materials were systematically examined to explore the interaction between perceived material properties and the resulting aesthetic effects. The resulting perception model establishes a direct link between objectively assigned and subjectively perceived material properties. These findings hold promise in contributing to both a more accurate evaluation and prediction of material appearances in the long term.