Real-time painting with an expressive virtual Chinese brush

Many painters today are going digital; because of the convenience and ease of experimentation that painting software gives. Our goal is to effectively simulate the process of brush painting - particularly the dynamics of a brush tuft - so that artists can use a virtual brush to paint with spirit - that is, in a lively, dynamic, brisk way. We've designed an efficient deformable brush model with spreading bristles that works in real time with consumer-level hardware. Our system renders realistic brushwork in response to input data captured from a device with six degrees of freedom (DOFs). Our research thus far focuses on brush modeling and ink depositing from brush to paper. The simulation of ink diffusion on paper, another important feature of Eastern brushwork, is a future goal.

Why 3D?

It's possible to draw any shape using a 2D mark-making method by either dragging curve control points or painting with variable dab size. Moreover, simulating brush dynamics using a 3D brush model requires more computational power. So why should we use a 3D brush model rather than a 2D one?