<p>Someone points me that <em><a href="http://white.stanford.edu/~brian/papers/pdc/ColorBalanceSPIE03.pdf" rel="nofollow">this article</a>  describes the spectral response of the camera the MERL paper used, and even provides colour transform matrices at the end. Unfortunately, using those transforms result in even worse results than assuming sRGB primaries.</em></p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2016-02-28T21:56:21.483Z
2016-02-28T21:56:21.483Z
Fabrice NEYRET
<p>Disney have a tool that analyses the database. </p>

<p><a href="http://www.disneyanimation.com/technology/brdf.html" rel="nofollow">http://www.disneyanimation.com/technology/brdf.html</a></p>

<p>Is browsing the source code for this an option?</p>

<p><a href="https://github.com/wdas/brdf" rel="nofollow">https://github.com/wdas/brdf</a></p>

<p>You could contact the authors perhaps?</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2016-02-27T02:55:41.603Z
I don't get it. What is the relation between the MERL database (and the mystery of it's references for colors) and BRDF viewer ? Or do you think there is a special mode dedicated to MERL ? but just browsing the BRDF does not require to accurately depict the colors, right ?
Fabrice NEYRET
CC BY-SA 3.0
2016-02-27T03:01:03.483Z
I hoped they would interpret the colours giving you a hint.  They also use two databases so the might have to interpret to unify. Sounds like they don't.
Aaron Barclay
CC BY-SA 3.0
2016-02-29T12:05:49.693Z
If the tool you mention can be used to provide an answer, it would help to explain how. As it stands, this is more of an additional question than an answer.
trichoplax is on Codidact now
CC BY-SA 3.0
2016-02-26T19:58:08.587Z
2016-02-26T19:58:08.587Z
Aaron Barclay
<p>Was interested in this myself and did some digging, I was wondering if they where spectral, but it appears not (although some interesting work on spectral BRDF is here <a href="http://web.cs.wpi.edu/~emmanuel/courses/cs563/write_ups/cliffl/cliffl_spectral_brdf.html" rel="nofollow">http://web.cs.wpi.edu/~emmanuel/courses/cs563/write_ups/cliffl/cliffl_spectral_brdf.html</a> )</p>

<p>This chat seems to indicate they are camera native linear, probably with sRGB primaries.</p>

<p><a href="https://groups.google.com/forum/#!msg/pbrt/p9zMvZlaodA/4RD7-We8h4gJ" rel="nofollow">https://groups.google.com/forum/#!msg/pbrt/p9zMvZlaodA/4RD7-We8h4gJ</a></p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2016-02-28T21:19:20.050Z
This is for the LUT, but it tells nothing for the gamut, right ? or does it ? (moreover I understood that their capture device was more home-made than the standard camera - and not all camera captors have the same raw gamut anyway).
Fabrice NEYRET
CC BY-SA 3.0
2016-02-27T22:48:44.553Z
2016-02-27T22:48:44.553Z
Aaron Barclay
<p>I know that by now it might be considered as a kind of sad recurrent joke, but by chance, does anyone here has the least information about the colorspace of RGB values in the MERL BRDF measurement database ? </p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2016-02-21T21:45:19.160Z
NB:  they don't answer emails about these questions :-)
Fabrice NEYRET
<color-management><capture>
Color space of MERL BRDF database?
Fabrice NEYRET
# Color space of MERL BRDF database?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2016-02-21)

I know that by now it might be considered as a kind of sad recurrent joke, but by chance, does anyone here has the least information about the colorspace of RGB values in the MERL BRDF measurement database ?

**Tags:** color-management, capture

> **Comments:**
> **username_0**: NB:  they don't answer emails about these questions :-)  

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## 3 answers

### Answer by username_1 on 2016-02-27. Score: 2

Was interested in this myself and did some digging, I was wondering if they where spectral, but it appears not (although some interesting work on spectral BRDF is here <http://web.cs.wpi.edu/~emmanuel/courses/cs563/write_ups/cliffl/cliffl_spectral_brdf.html> )

This chat seems to indicate they are camera native linear, probably with sRGB primaries.

<https://groups.google.com/forum/#!msg/pbrt/p9zMvZlaodA/4RD7-We8h4gJ>

> **Comments:**
> **username_0**: This is for the LUT, but it tells nothing for the gamut, right ? or does it ? (moreover I understood that their capture device was more home-made than the standard camera - and not all camera captors have the same raw gamut anyway).  

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### Answer by username_0 on 2016-02-28. Score: 1

Someone points me that *[this article](http://white.stanford.edu/~brian/papers/pdc/ColorBalanceSPIE03.pdf) describes the spectral response of the camera the MERL paper used, and even provides colour transform matrices at the end. Unfortunately, using those transforms result in even worse results than assuming sRGB primaries.*


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### Answer by username_1 on 2016-02-26. Score: -1

Disney have a tool that analyses the database.

<http://www.disneyanimation.com/technology/brdf.html>

Is browsing the source code for this an option?

<https://github.com/wdas/brdf>

You could contact the authors perhaps?

> **Comments:**
> **username_0**: I don't get it. What is the relation between the MERL database (and the mystery of it's references for colors) and BRDF viewer ? Or do you think there is a special mode dedicated to MERL ? but just browsing the BRDF does not require to accurately depict the colors, right ?  
> **username_1**: I hoped they would interpret the colours giving you a hint.  They also use two databases so the might have to interpret to unify. Sounds like they don't.  
> **username_2**: If the tool you mention can be used to provide an answer, it would help to explain how. As it stands, this is more of an additional question than an answer.  

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