Sketchy hairstyles

We present an intuitive, interactive modeling and rendering system for creating non-photorealistic hairstyle images. The main feature of our system lies in its user-friendly sketch interface that allows the user to generate his/her desired hairstyle simply by drawing a few free-form strokes on the 3D model of a scalp. Hairstyles are modeled with a polygon based technique called cluster polygons, and are rendered expressively to obtain non-photorealistic images similar to those found in hand-drawn animations and cartoons.

1 Introduction

Hairstyle has a strong impact on a person's appearance. One can look completely different sometimes with a small change to his/her hairstyle. A number of techniques for modelling hairstyles by computer have therefore been developed for a diverse range of applications including, in particular, the entertainment industry. Most existing hairstyle modelling systems take a bottom up approach that builds a hairstyle through specifying the shape of individual hair strands or hair clusters. This may, however, not be intuitive for the user. When a person's hairstyle is observed, the primary attention is often paid to its overall design instead of the detailed shape of individual hair strands or clusters. Local characteristics are important in that they add a subtle and distinctive expression to a hairstyle. Ideally local control of hairstyles should also be supported by a hairstyle system but it should be done in an intuitive way.