Real material texture color management in CAD systems for Spatial Design

Over the past 20 years, the methodology of the spatial designer's work has radically changed. This type of design used to be based primarily on experiential aspects and was drafted exclusively through 2D drawing techniques. The design of geometries, the choice of materials and luminaires, were mainly based on the drafting of drawings, reports and descriptive specifications. The use of CAD systems, first born in the engineering sector, has now spread to interior design too. In today’s design process the use of CAD has become fundamental, for the quantitative and qualitative evaluation of the project and up to its final presentation. The new Lighting CAD systems pay special attention to the physical correctness of the light-matter interaction calculation. While luminaire manufacturers have been making standardized photometric data available in online catalogs for a few years now, color information related to interior design materials, coatings and paints, does not follow any standard and uses very different color samples. This chapter does not present a basic theoretical solution to this problem, but proposes an applied design method for managing the colors of real materials, including textured materials, in Lighting CAD.