# Visual assessment

The visual judge compares trusted reference and submitted-object renders. It scores visible components, shape and placement, surface appearance and rendering artifacts. Objective USD measurements remain separate. A visual score does not establish mass, inertia, contact behavior, hidden geometry or physical repair acceptance.

`simrepairbench.visual_judge.judge_visuals` returns `not_run` with a null score by default. Execution requires an explicitly authorised controller, an injected `JudgeClient`, a configured provider/model and passing objective gates (`submission_valid`, `preservation_pass` and `objective_success`). The adapter contains no provider SDK or credential lookup. A client must declare its `provider_id`, honour the supplied timeout and return the actual served-model identifier in `ProviderResponse`.

The verifier renders the submitted USD itself. Agent screenshots are not grading inputs. Keep the render directory outside the actor filesystem and pass its canonical path as `trusted_root`. `load_trusted_render_evidence` checks an independently supplied render-receipt hash, case identity, submitted/reference USD digests, paired view identities, matching image sizes and PNG content/hashes. It retains immutable image bytes for the client request. Obtain the expected receipt hash directly from the trusted render job, never from a submission.

The receipt uses `schema: simrepairbench-trusted-renders-v1` and contains:

- `case_id`, `candidate_asset_sha256`, `reference_asset_sha256` and a boolean `fixture` label.
- `renderer`: `name`, `version`, `code_sha256`, `profile_id` and `settings`, applying to all paired views.
- `images`: records with `role` (`reference` or `candidate`), `view_id`, a confined relative `path` and `sha256`.

Supported inputs are non-interlaced 8- or 16-bit PNG renders. Each view needs one reference/candidate pair. Keep camera, lighting and exposure matched in the render profile. Unsupported or occluded evidence must be marked `unassessable`, with a null criterion score.

The frozen rubric is [visual-judge-rubric.json](../profiles/visual-judge-rubric.json). Results follow [visual-judge.schema.json](../schema/visual-judge.schema.json), recording provider/model settings, rubric and renderer identities, input/request/response hashes, concise observations and reported usage. Missing model provenance, invalid output or a provider failure produces no score. The adapter computes the weighted score from validated criterion values and leaves it null if any criterion is unassessable. It never changes the objective result.

Offline tests use explicitly labelled fixtures and mocked clients. Fixture evidence requires an additional `allow_fixtures` flag and remains labelled `kind: fixture`; these records are not model evaluations or repair episodes.