The Art of Transparency

Sayim, Bilge; Cavanagh, Patrick

doi:10.1068/i0459aap

Cited by 30 publications

(27 citation statements)

References 36 publications

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“…The low rating score for the static image condition suggests that a static deformation image cannot provide a clear impression of transparent liquid, in agreement with a previously reported suggestion (5). A low score for the no-motion condition suggests that multiple deformation images cannot provide a clear impression of transparent liquid either, and that low-level motion signals detected by low-level motion detectors play a critical role in the perception of transparent liquid.…”

Section: Importance Of Dynamic Image Deformation In Seeing a Transparentsupporting

confidence: 78%

“…When a transparent layer has a refractive index >1, the background image optically deforms in accordance with the 3D shape of the layer surface. The image deformation due to refraction by itself is considered an ineffective cue to the perception of a transparent layer (5), although the magnitude of the deformation could be a cue to the perception of the thickness of a transparent layer (6). Previous studies have examined the effect of the deformation cue only in static images, however.…”

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confidence: 92%

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Perceptual transparency from image deformation

Kawabe

Maruya

Nishida

2015

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

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Human vision has a remarkable ability to perceive two layers at the same retinal locations, a transparent layer in front of a background surface. Critical image cues to perceptual transparency, studied extensively in the past, are changes in luminance or color that could be caused by light absorptions and reflections by the front layer, but such image changes may not be clearly visible when the front layer consists of a pure transparent material such as water. Our daily experiences with transparent materials of this kind suggest that an alternative potential cue of visual transparency is image deformations of a background pattern caused by light refraction. Although previous studies have indicated that these image deformations, at least static ones, play little role in perceptual transparency, here we show that dynamic image deformations of the background pattern, which could be produced by light refraction on a moving liquid’s surface, can produce a vivid impression of a transparent liquid layer without the aid of any other visual cues as to the presence of a transparent layer. Furthermore, a transparent liquid layer perceptually emerges even from a randomly generated dynamic image deformation as long as it is similar to real liquid deformations in its spatiotemporal frequency profile. Our findings indicate that the brain can perceptually infer the presence of “invisible” transparent liquids by analyzing the spatiotemporal structure of dynamic image deformation, for which it uses a relatively simple computation that does not require high-level knowledge about the detailed physics of liquid deformation.

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Section: Importance Of Dynamic Image Deformation In Seeing a Transparentsupporting

confidence: 78%

mentioning

confidence: 92%

Perceptual transparency from image deformation

Kawabe

Maruya

Nishida

2015

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

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“…In the study The Art of Transparency [51], Sayim and Cavanagh describe experiments by Metelli that have shown how these crossings or X-junctions are critical cues for the successful depiction of transparency. This raises the question as to why line drawings work so well for our visual brain?…”

Section: Boundaries As Linesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Boundaries of a Complex World

Ludu

2016

Springer Series in Synergetics

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Complexity is an interdisciplinary program publishing the best research and academic-level teaching on both fundamental and applied aspects of complex systemscutting across all traditional disciplines of the natural and life sciences, engineering, economics, medicine, neuroscience, social and computer science.Complex Systems are systems that comprise many interacting parts with the ability to generate a new quality of macroscopic collective behavior the manifestations of which are the spontaneous formation of distinctive temporal, spatial or functional structures. Models of such systems can be successfully mapped onto quite diverse "real-life" situations like the climate, the coherent emission of light from lasers, chemical reaction-diffusion systems, biological cellular networks, the dynamics of stock markets and of the internet, earthquake statistics and prediction, freeway traffic, the human brain, or the formation of opinions in social systems, to name just some of the popular applications.Although their scope and methodologies overlap somewhat, one can distinguish the following main concepts and tools: self-organization, nonlinear dynamics, synergetics, turbulence, dynamical systems, catastrophes, instabilities, stochastic processes, chaos, graphs and networks, cellular automata, adaptive systems, genetic algorithms and computational intelligence.The three major book publication platforms of the Springer Complexity program are the monograph series "Understanding Complex Systems" focusing on the various applications of complexity, the "Springer Series in Synergetics", which is devoted to the quantitative theoretical and methodological foundations, and the "SpringerBriefs in Complexity" which are concise and topical working reports, case-studies, surveys, essays and lecture notes of relevance to the field. In addition to the books in these two core series, the program also incorporates individual titles ranging from textbooks to major reference works.The Springer Series in Synergetics was founded by Herman Haken in 1977. Since then, the series has evolved into a substantial reference library for the quantitative, theoretical and methodological foundations of the science of complex systems.Through many enduring classic texts, such as Haken's Synergetics and Information and Self-Organization, Gardiner's Handbook of Stochastic Methods, Risken's The Fokker Planck-Equation or Haake's Quantum Signatures of Chaos, the series has made, and continues to make, important contributions to shaping the foundations of the field.The series publishes monographs and graduate-level textbooks of broad and general interest, with a pronounced emphasis on the physico-mathematical approach.More information about this series at

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“…Such image deformations, generated by a transparent material, can be a cue that causes the visual system to recognize a transparent layer. Although an observer can easily perceive image deformation due to refraction in a still image, it has been shown that static image deformations do not serve as a strong cue to perceptual transparency, as shown in figures 1 and 12 of Sayim and Cavanagh (2011). Some previous studies have reported that static image deformations produce only weak impressions of water and hot air (Kawabe & Kogovšek, 2017;Kawabe, Maruya, & Nishida, 2015).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 96%

Contour junctions defined by dynamic image deformations enhance perceptual transparency

Kawabe

Nishida

2017

Journal of Vision

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The majority of work on the perception of transparency has focused on static images with luminance-defined contour junctions, but recent work has shown that dynamic image sequences with dynamic image deformations also provide information about transparency. The present study demonstrates that when part of a static image is dynamically deformed, contour junctions at which deforming and nondeforming contours are connected facilitate the deformation-based perception of a transparent layer. We found that the impression of a transparent layer was stronger when a dynamically deforming area was adjacent to static nondeforming areas than when presented alone. When contour junctions were not formed at the dynamic-static boundaries, however, the impression of a transparent layer was not facilitated by the presence of static surrounding areas. The effect of the deformation-defined junctions was attenuated when the spatial pattern of luminance contrast at the junctions was inconsistent with the perceived transparency related to luminance contrast, while the effect did not change when the spatial luminance pattern was consistent with it. In addition, the results showed that contour completions across the junctions were required for the perception of a transparent layer. These results indicate that deformation-defined junctions that involve contour completion between deforming and nondeforming regions enhance the perception of a transparent layer, and that the deformation-based perceptual transparency can be promoted by the simultaneous presence of appropriately configured luminance and contrast-other features that can also by themselves produce the sensation of perceiving transparency.

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The Art of Transparency

Cited by 30 publications

References 36 publications

Perceptual transparency from image deformation

Perceptual transparency from image deformation

Boundaries of a Complex World

Contour junctions defined by dynamic image deformations enhance perceptual transparency

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