Introducing artistic tools in an interactive paint system

Abstract

While paint systems have been around for a long time, systems capable of capturing the complex behavior of paint media like watercolor, gouache, Oriental ink, oil and acrylic paint have emerged only recently. However, concentrating on the simulation of paint and brush mechanics, these applications mostly provide just a minimal set of instruments assisting users creating artwork. We report on the extension of our physically-based paint system for watery paint with a set of versatile tools supplying users with more control during the painting process. We introduce, among others, the use of masking fluid, a special-purpose brush using patterns to steer paint diffusion, and the adoption of an absorbent, textured piece of paper to remove some wet paint from the canvas. Results show that images created with genuine paint, using real-life counterparts of some of these tools, can be closely reproduced with our application. Additionally, our digital tools can produce effects that are difficult or impossible to achieve with real paint, while retaining the spontaneous nature of the resulting images.