ABSTRACT
The ultimate purpose of computer graphics is to produce images for people to view. Thus, the success of a computer graphics system depends on how well it conveys relevant information to a human observer. The intrinsic complexity of the physical world and the limitations of display devices make it impossible to present a viewer with the identical patterns of light that would occur when looking at a natural environment. When the goal of a computer graphics system is physical realism, the best we can hope for is that the system beperceptually effective; that is, displayed images should “look” as intended. For applications ranging from scientific and information visualization to technical illustration, highlighting relevant information is far more important than visual realism per se. In such systems, perceptual effectiveness becomes an explicit requirement.
