Gloss, as has long been known, is a visual concept far more complex than the present methods of instrumental gloss evaluation are able to characterize. A newly developed measurement principle for gloss characterization gives perceptually relevant gloss information. The characterization results in a “Reflectance Vector Map” (RVM) which simultaneously contains spatially resolved information about directed reflectance and apparent inclination. The experimental phase of the present study uses the RVM and a rudimentary model of a virtual optical environment to interactively visualize a simulated surface. The performance of the visualization environment has been evaluated by comparing results from two visual assessments of perceived gloss homogeneity for a limited but demanding set of black printed paper surfaces. Assessments were performed both on the physical surfaces, and on the computer generated visualizations of the same surfaces, reconstructed from the corresponding RVM's. The results correlate well, with a less inter-judge variance in the visualization environment than with the physical surfaces. It is suggested that this visualization environment may be a powerful tool for gloss assessment, able to mediate perceptually important characteristics of gloss.