Abstract: A quality of a sheet material, such as unprinted paper, is determined by acquiring an image of the surface of the sheet material and analyzing the image to determine the intensity of local nonuniformity as a function of scale of formation. A meaningful interpretation of the sheet material quality is possible using the scale of formation. Correlations between sheet material qualities, such as cloudiness, cross-directional strength, etc., and the scale of formation allow for rapidly acquired images to provide useful indicators of sheet material quality. Normalizing the sheet material formation line with respect to a desired standard sheet allows for a useful graphical display of the sheet material quality.