ARTP_Koenderink et al_2016_Supplementary_Appendix.pdf (10.24 MB)
Download fileShading and the Landmarks of Relief
journal contribution
posted on 2016-12-01, 11:31 authored by Jan Koenderink, Andrea van Doorn, Johan Wagemans, Baingio PinnaShading is a visual artist’s tool. It enables the indication of ‘landmarks’
inside the outline of shapes. Shading triggers behavioral responses in
organisms throughout the animal kingdom and even affects the habitus of plants.
Radiometry might be expected to account for the phenomenology. We derive the
formal structures of shading that are expected to play a dominant role in
perception. That they fail to do so suggests that shading is more of an
interface template than a ‘cue’. This fits the artistic use as a ‘releaser’
very well. Pre-modern artists hardly acknowledge causal relations between
various photometric variables. Their works show an effective use of various
elements in their own right, without attempts at causal congruity. Modern art
often defies physics on purpose. We identify manifest templates and relate
these to conventional techniques in the visual arts.