A phenomenological representation of iridescent colors in butterfly wings

Abstract

The representation of the color of butterflies has always been a challenge to artis ts, whatever the medium involved. These colors are highly complex to reproduce, even with the use of computer generated images. This article introduces a new algorithm developed to simulate and generate the iridescent colors that are found on the wings of particular butterflies. The model presented here is based on the scientific description of the butterfly Morpho menelaus . Wing color is determined by interference, diffraction, absorption and reflection of light on microscopic wing's structures. The color varies dependi ng on a combination of the following parameters: view angle, incidence and characteristics of the light source, and surrounding medium. This algorithm which tends to real-time imaging required by computer graphics artis ts still renders images with a fairly high degree of accuracy.