Visualizing wood staining

A system for generating a visualization of a stained wood substrate, said system comprising:

• a) a receiver arranged for receiving an image of a wood substrate, which wood substrate is to be stained;
• b) a divider arranged for dividing the range of colors that is present in the image into a plurality of color bands, and subdividing the image into a plurality of sub-images, each sub-image corresponding to the portion of the image having a color falling in a respective one of the color bands;
• c) a first retriever arranged for, for each sub-image, retrieving a reflectance curve representative for the wood substrate for the color corresponding to the sub-image;
• d) a second retriever for retrieving absorption and scattering values for the stain;
• e) a determining unit arranged for, for each sub-image, determining the reflectance curve representative for the stained wood based on the absorption and scattering values for the stain and the reflectance curve for the wood substrate for that sub-image;
• and
• f) generator arranged for, for each pixel of each sub-image, determining a color based on the reflectance curve representative for the stained wood, resulting in a generated image representative of the wood substrate after applying the stain.

A computer program product arranged for cooperating with databases including computer implementable instructions which when implemented by a programmable computer cause the computer to:

• a) receive, with a receiver, an image of a wood substrate to be stained;
• b) divide, with a divider, the range of colors that is present in the image into a plurality of color bands;
• c) subdivide, with the divider, the image in a plurality of sub-images, each sub-image corresponding to the portion of the image having a color falling in a respective one of the color bands;
• d) for each sub-image, retrieve, with a first retriever, a reflectance curve representative for the wood substrate for the color corresponding to the sub-image;
• e) retrieve, with a second retriever, absorption and scattering values for the stain;
• f) for each sub-image, determine, with a determining unit, the reflectance curve representative for the stained wood based on the absorption and scattering values for the stain and the reflectance curve for the wood substrate for that sub-image;
• and
• g) for each pixel of each sub-image, determine, with a generator, a color based on the reflectance curve representative for the stained wood, resulting in a generated image representative of the wood substrate after applying the stain.