Geometry-based shading for shape depiction Enhancement,

Recent works on Non-Photorealistic Rendering (NPR) show that object shape enhancement requires sophisticated effects such as: surface details detection and stylized shading. To date, some rendering techniques have been proposed to overcome this issue, but most of which are limited to correlate shape enhancement functionalities to surface feature variations. Therefore, this problem still persists especially in NPR. This paper is an attempt to address this problem by presenting a new approach for enhancing shape depiction of 3D objects in NPR. We first introduce a tweakable shape descriptor that offers versatile func- tionalities for describing the salient features of 3D objects. Then to enhance the classical shading models, we propose a new technique called Geometry-based Shading. This tech- nique controls reflected lighting intensities based on local geometry. Our approach works without any constraint on the choice of material or illumination. We demonstrate results obtained with Blinn-Phong shading, Gooch shading, and cartoon shading. These results prove that our approach produces more satisfying results compared with the results of pre- vious shape depiction techniques. Finally, our approach runs on modern graphics hardware in real time, which works efficiently with interactive 3D visualization

Sketch-based interactive shape deformation using shading isophotes

De plus en plus d'importance est accordée à la création d'objets 3D en raison des récents essors technologiques. Il est donc crucial de fournir des outils appropriés et accessibles aux utilisateurs de tous les horizons. Malheureusement, les outils traditionnellement utilisés en création 3D sont conçus pour des professionnels, exigent des formations complexes et de longue durée, et ne sont pas adaptés à ceux inexperimentés qui forment la vaste majorité des utilisateurs potentiels. Nous proposons un outil de création simplifié qui utilise des méthodes inspirées d'esquisses. Dans un premier temps, le maillage désiré est créé à partir d'un contour tracé. L'intérieur est gonflé suivant la méthode de Dvoroznak et al. Dans un deuxième temps, la hauteur des sommets du maillage est manipulée en modifiant les courbes formées par l'ombrage. Cet ombrage provient d'un modèle de réflexion Lambertien pour une lumière directionnelle donnée. Notre méthode consiste à utiliser les courbes formées par la méthode des charactéristiques associée au problème de figure dérivée de l'ombre (Shape-From-Shading). Avec les courbes, nous identifions les régions affectées par la modification de l'ombrage. L'une de ces régions sera utilisée pour interpoler l'ombrage d'après la nouvelle isophote. À partir de ce nouvel ombrage, les courbes de la méthode des characteristiques seront utilisées afin de trouver le nouveau déplacement en s'assurant d'altérer uniquement la région affectée par le changement dans l'ombrage. Les maillages créés peuvent ensuite être combinés suivant la méthode proposée par Dvoroznak et al. afin de former un maillage unique et complexe. Notre outil se veut plus intuitif que les outils traditionnels de création. Nos résultats en illustrent le potentiel.Due to recent technological advances, the creation of 3D objects is becoming more important. It is critical to offer appropriate and accessible tools to users from diverse backgrounds. Unfortunately, the tools traditionally used in 3D creation are designed for professionals, require complex and time-consuming training, and are unsuitable for inexperienced users who form the vast majority of potential users. We propose a simplified creation tool that uses sketch-based methods. First, the desired mesh is created from a traced outline. The interior is inflated following the method of Dvoroznak et al. Second, the height (displacement) of the mesh is achieved by altering the strips created by shading. Shading is the result of a Lambertian reflection model for a given directional light. Our method consists of using the strips from the method of characteristics applied to solve Shape-From-Shading. Using the strips, we identify the regions affected by the change in shading. One of these regions will be used to interpolate the shading according to the new isophote. From this new shading, the characteristic strips will be used to find the new height, ensuring that only the region affected by the change in shading is altered. The meshes created can then be combined, inspired by the method proposed by Dvoroznak et al. to form a single, complex mesh. Our tool is designed to be more intuitive than the ones provided by professional 3D software. Our results illustrate its potential

Surface Shape Perception in Volumetric Stereo Displays

In complex volume visualization applications, understanding the displayed objects and their spatial relationships is challenging for several reasons. One of the most important obstacles is that these objects can be translucent and can overlap spatially, making it difficult to understand their spatial structures. However, in many applications, for example medical visualization, it is crucial to have an accurate understanding of the spatial relationships among objects. The addition of visual cues has the potential to help human perception in these visualization tasks. Descriptive line elements, in particular, have been found to be effective in conveying shape information in surface-based graphics as they sparsely cover a geometrical surface, consistently following the geometry. We present two approaches to apply such line elements to a volume rendering process and to verify their effectiveness in volume-based graphics. This thesis reviews our progress to date in this area and discusses its effects and limitations. Specifically, it examines the volume renderer implementation that formed the foundation of this research, the design of the pilot study conducted to investigate the effectiveness of this technique, the results obtained. It further discusses improvements designed to address the issues revealed by the statistical analysis. The improved approach is able to handle visualization targets with general shapes, thus making it more appropriate to real visualization applications involving complex objects

Apparent ridges for line drawing

Thesis (S.M.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, 2007.Includes bibliographical references (p. 69-72).Non-photorealistic line drawing depicts 3D shapes through the rendering of feature lines. A number of characterizations of relevant lines have been proposed but none of these definitions alone seem to capture all visually-relevant lines. We introduce a new definition of feature lines based on two perceptual observations. First, human perception is sensitive to the variation of shading, and since shape perception is little affected by lighting and reflectance modification, we should focus on normal variation. Second, view-dependent lines better convey the shape of smooth surfaces better than view-independent lines. From this we define view-dependent curvature as the variation of the surface normal with respect to a viewing screen plane, and apparent ridges as the locus points of the maximum of the view-dependent curvature. We derive the equation for apparent ridges and present a new algorithm to render line drawings of 3D meshes. We show that our apparent ridges encompass or enhance aspects of several other feature lines.by Tilke Judd.S.M

Visual Aesthetics in Digital Games: A Comparative Analysis Between Photorealism and Stylized Graphicsgraphics

This dissertation starts from the assumption that every digital game has some kind of visual display. Based on that, it investigates photorealistic and stylized graphics, two popular visual styles in digital games, in order to comprehend the process of creating a prototype that incorporates those styles, as well as the technological artistic challenges of implementing each style in a solo development scenario, with the goal of assisting in the practice of designing this type of content. A literature review on digital game appearance and the development of both photorealistic and stylized styles was conducted to ground the development of a prototype. The result of the prototype creation is documented, so its findings can lead to the expansion of knowledge that can be used in practice and can inform practitioners and other designers

Interactive non-photorealistic rendering

Due to increasing demands of artistic style with Interactive Rate, we propose this review paper as a starting point for any person interested in researching of interactive non-photorealistic rendering. As a simple yet effective means of visual communication, interactive non-photorealistic rendering generates images that are closer to human-drawn than are created by traditional computer graphics techniques with more expressing meaningful visual information. This paper presents taxonomy of interactive non-photorealistic rendering techniques which developed over the past two decades, structured according to the design characteristics and behavior of each technique. Also, it covers the most important algorithms in interactive stylized shade and line drawing, and separately discussing their advantages and disadvantages. The review then concludes with a discussion of the main issues and technical challenges for Interactive Non-Photorealistic Rendering techniques. In addition, this paper discusses the effect of modified phong shading model in order to create toon shading appearance

Drawing from motion capture : developing visual languages of animation

The work presented in this thesis aims to explore novel approaches of combining motion capture with drawing and 3D animation. As the art form of animation matures, possibilities of hybrid techniques become more feasible, and crosses between traditional and digital media provide new opportunities for artistic expression. 3D computer animation is used for its keyframing and rendering advancements, that result in complex pipelines where different areas of technical and artistic specialists contribute to the end result. Motion capture is mostly used for realistic animation, more often than not for live-action filmmaking, as a visual effect. Realistic animated films depend on retargeting techniques, designed to preserve actors performances with a high degree of accuracy. In this thesis, we investigate alternative production methods that do not depend on retargeting, and provide animators with greater options for experimentation and expressivity. As motion capture data is a great source for naturalistic movements, we aim to combine it with interactive methods such as digital sculpting and 3D drawing. As drawing is predominately used in preproduction, in both the case of realistic animation and visual effects, we embed it instead to alternative production methods, where artists can benefit from improvisation and expression, while emerging in a three-dimensional environment. Additionally, we apply these alternative methods for the visual development of animation, where they become relevant for the creation of specific visual languages that can be used to articulate concrete ideas for storytelling in animation

Expressive rendering of animated hair

National audienceHair simulation is one of the crucial elements of a character realism in video games as well as animated movies. It is also one of the most challenging because of its complex nature. A simulation model needs to be able to handle hair fibers or wisp interaction while keeping the desired rendering style. During the past few years intensive work has been done in this field. Most of the authors have tried to render and animate hair as realistically as possible. Impressive results have been obtained and computation times have been reduced. Nevertheless this level of realism is not always desired by the animator. Most animated characters are represented with a hair model only composed of a few hair wisps or clumps in other words the individual hair fibers are not even accounted for. Only little work has been done to animate and render non-photorealistic hair for cel-characters1 . The goal of this work is to design an expressive rendering technique for a realistic animation of hair. This project is a part of an ANR research program for a joint industrial project with two production studios: Neomis Animation and BeeLight, two other INRIA project-teams: Bipop and Evasion and a CNRS lab (Institut Jean Le Rond d'Alembert de l'Université Pierre et Marie Curie). The aim of this project is to provide hair rendering and animating tools for movie making. According to the discussions we had with artists from Neomis studio, it appears that an animator will expect realism of hair motion combined with an expressive rendering technique that is dedicated to animated movies