Material Perception in Interactive 3D Food Animation: Combining Procedural Modelling, Shading and Motion Cues

Computer graphics can communicate not only object geometry but also perceived physical properties through surface appearance, illumination, and motion. This study investigates how static visual cues and dynamic motion cues work together to communicate contrasting materials in an interactive 3D food animation. A Chinese New Year food scene was developed using OpenSCAD and Three.js, contrasting a brittle almond pastry with a soft, translucent crystal osmanthus cake. Procedural modeling, triplanar texture mapping, physically based material parameters, multi-source lighting, geometry switching, particle effects, vertex deformation, and secondary motion were combined to construct the two material behaviors. An audience evaluation involving 22 participants was conducted using five-point rating scales. Overall visual quality received a mean rating of 4.09/5, while material-behavior consistency received 3.95/5. The almond pastry received a perceived-brittleness score of 3.86/5, while the crystal cake received a softness/elasticity score of 3.95/5. Crumb particles and post-movement wobbling were the most frequently identified cues for brittleness and softness, respectively.