Reflecting on a room of one reflectance

We present a numerical analysis of rendered pairs of rooms, in which the spectral power distribution of the illuminant in one room matched the surface reflectance function in the other room, and vice versa. We ask whether distinction between the rooms is possible and on what cues this discrimination is based. Using accurately rendered three-dimensional (3D) scenes, we found that room pairs can be distinguished based on indirect illumination, as suggested by A. L. Gilchrist and A. Jacobsen (1984). In a simulated color constancy scenario, we show that indirect illumination plays a pivotal role as areas of indirect illumination undergo a smaller appearance change than areas of direct illumination. Our study confirms that indirect illumination can play a critical role in surface color recovery and shows how computer rendering programs, which model the light-object interaction according to the laws of physics, are valuable tools that can be used to analyze and explore what image information is available to the visual system from 3D scenes.