Real-time watercolor painting on a distributed paper model

Abstract

Current watercolor painting systems produce convincing results, but trade this quality for a simulation that is much too slow for interactive use. We describe the implementation of a paper model that allows for real-time creation of watercolor images by simulating the mechanics of pigment and water throughout a three-layer paper model. In order to keep the simulation real-time while painting on large surfaces, we adopt a distributed paper canvas by dividing it in a grid of subpapers, each of which is delegated to a remote process.