J Edward Colgate

As the number of applications for tactile feedback technology rapidly increases, so too does the need for efficient, flexible, and extensible representations of virtual textures. The previously introduced Single-Pitch Texel rendering algorithm offers designers the ability to produce textures with perceptually wide-band spectral characteristics while requiring very few input parameters. This paper expands on the capabilities of the rendering algorithm. Diverse families of fine textures, with widely varied spectral characteristics, were shown to be rendered reliably using the Texel algorithm. Furthermore, by leveraging an assistive algorithm, subjects were shown to consistently navigate the Texel parameter space in a matching task. Finally, a psychophysical study was conducted to demonstrate the rendering algorithm’s resilience to spectral quantization, further reducing the data required to represent a virtual texture.