U.S. Patent Application No. 19/781,354
SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR CONSTRUCTING A 3D, COLOR OR GRAYSCALE VISUAL IMAGE SEPARATING COMPONENT COLORS ON OPTICALLY CLEAR SUBSTRATES WITH AN INTEGRATED REFLECTIVE GROUND
BACKGROUND
The present disclosure relates generally to methods and systems for constructing three-dimensional, visual color or grayscale imagery, and more particularly to a method of physically separating component colors of an image onto stacked, optically clear substrates adhered to or combined with a reflective backing.
Two-dimensional visual imagery, including paintings, drawings, photography, and prints, relies upon combinations of opaque and transparent pigments to convey color and greyscale visual information. Pigments are often compiled in multiple layers to develop optical effects observable under overhead lighting or backlighting. Color interactions are governed by the physical characteristics of the pigments used. Opaque paints are typically prepared using pigment particles, often derived from minerals, crushed to fine powders and suspended in a transparent binder such as linseed oil or acrylic polymer, potentially in combination with opaque pigments such as white to manage color value and further increase opacity. Transparent paints make use of pigments with extremely fine particle size, or organic compounds molecular in particle size. Smaller pigment particle size results in greater light transmission through the pigment-binder solution, producing a more transparent appearance and increasing reflection of light from an underlying substrate, allowing for visual effects that manage color value through pigment concentration rather than controlling value through addition of opaque pigments of differing value. Selecting pigments that enable transparency, in combination with managing the quantity of transparent binder, allows for management of transparency or opacity and the resulting perception of color intensity.
Existing methods of two-dimensional representation may have limited capacity to convey observable artifacts resulting from intermixing of colors. Such methods may present information only from the flat, reflected surface layer of an image, while detail arising from layers beneath the surface layer may be obscured or covered. Additionally, mechanically mixing multiple pigments into a single color to manage color range reduces the ability to observe the impact of individual component colors. Transparent pigments applied over reflective surfaces, such as watercolor paint on a white ground, can provide incremental visual information relating to image construction, but because of the two-dimensional presentation, information may be readily observable on only a single plane.
Combining transparent pigments can produce visibly discernable color mixing, enabling color combinations of enhanced intensity through backlighting or through light reflected from an underlying reflective substrate. Existing systems relying on a single reflective or visible plane thus exhibit several limitations. Such systems may not permit independent observation of information contained in discrete color layers separately from the composite surface image. Such systems may not produce a parallax effect corresponding to a viewer's change in viewing angle. Such systems may not permit calibrated, reproducible control of pigment concentration across multiple discrete color layers. A need exists for a system and method that physically separates component colors of an image across multiple optically clear substrates, in combination with either backlighting or a constructed or commercially available reflective backing, to increase discernible color interaction, layer-specific information, and parallax effect without reliance on backlighting.
ABSTRACT
A method for constructing a three-dimensional, color or grayscale image disaggregates the image into single-color, thin-film component images deposited and registered onto stacked layers of an optically clear substrate, such as epoxy or polyurethane resin, plexiglass, glass, or thin-film plastic, adhered to a reflective substrate. The reflective substrate increases reflected-light transmission through the stack, while the physical separation between layers permits independent observation of each layer's color information and produces a parallax effect as a viewer's angle changes. Component pigments approximate a chromatic black, with concentrations calculated algorithmically through a weighted dilution transformation and verified by backlit opacity testing. Pigment layers are deposited mechanically or directly, through digital printing. The reflective substrate is a textured, mica-impregnated high-value pigment layer, or a specular or retroreflective material paired with a calibrated white layer. Substrate sheets may also be mechanically separated using frames or hanging hardware at an adjustable depth.