System and method of rendering a surface

SYSTEM AND METHOD OF RENDERING A SURFACE A system and method of rendering a surface into a plurality of output pixels. The method comprises receiving a description of the surface (1210); for each of the plurality of output pixels, receiving a micro-structure description of variations of material appearance on the surface within said pixel, wherein the micro-structure description is associated with a plurality of representative micro-structure faces, each of the plurality of micro-structure faces being associated with one of at least a primary material appearance and a secondary material appearance (1220); and determining, for each of the plurality of output pixels, a visibility measure for each visible representative micro-structure face based on a normal of the surface at the position of the pixel, a viewing direction and the corresponding micro-structure description, the normal of the surface being determined from the received description of the surface (1230). The method furhter comprises determining, for each of the plurality of output pixels, an aggregate material appearance for said pixel by combining the primary material appearance and the secondary material appearance, the contribution of each of the primary and secondary material appearances weighted based on the determined visibility measures of the visible representative micro-structure faces (1240); and rendering each of the output pixels using the determined aggregate material appearance to render the surface (1250). 13621053_1 (Wide-Area) Communications Network 120 Microphone 124160 117 (Local-Area) Video Communications Display EtNetwork 122 114 Mxtm 123 MoHDD 110 J9 PrdocVieor 1/ Interface Moa emor ptica DiSkoag 105HD 11116Drv 112 FKeyboard 0 Scanner 126 Disk Storage Camer 12=7103 Medium FIG. 1A 13621054_1