Practical measurement and modeling of spectral skin reflectance

Accurate modeling and rendering of human skin appearance has been a long standing goal in computer graphics. Of particular importance has been the realistic modeling and rendering of layered subsurface scattering in skin for which various bio-physical models have been proposed based on the spectral distribution of chromophores in the epidermal and dermal layers of skin [Donner and Jensen 2006; Donner et al. 2008; Jimenez et al. 2010]. However, measurement of the spectral parameters of absorption and scattering of light for such bio-phyisical models has been a challenge in computer graphics. Previous works have either borrowed parameters for skin-type from tissue-optics literature [Donner and Jensen 2006], or employed extensive multispectral imaging for inverse rendering detailed spatially varying parameters for a patch of skin [Donner et al. 2008]. Closest to our approach, Jimenez et al. [2010] employed observations under uniform broadband illumination to estimate two dominant parameters (melanin and hemoglobin concentrations) for driving a qualitative appearance model for facial animation.