Direct non-photorealistic renderings of procedural geometry

• Applicant: Professor Dr. Oliver Deussen
• Subject Area: Image and Language Processing, Computer Graphics and Visualisation, Human Computer Interaction, Ubiquitous and Wearable Computing
• Term: from 2018 to 2023
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 413891298

The focus of the project is the investigation and evaluation of methods for creating a direct linkage between procedural generation methods for complex objects (landscapes, urban structures) and non-photorealistic rendering (NPR) methods, which automatically creates abstract renditions of these objects in, e.g. a painterly look. Traditionally, for producing such abstract renditions objects are first rendered photorealistically and then converted into abstract, non-photorealistic representations in a second step. The combination of procedural generation and abstract rendering methods allows us to achieve methods, which are able to obtain required additional information directly from a scene without being dependent on a photorealistic intermediate image. By creating a direct link, information can be used that improves not only the quality of the resulting non-photorealistic representations, but includes also object-specific or context-related information (spatial depth, object weight and type). Using three model scenarios that focus on complex city models, urban spaces and nature, this combination is exemplarily investigated. Different abstraction algorithms will be implemented and different procedural generation methods will be tested for their suitability for a direct representation. For example, it must be ensured that the geometrical abstraction has an adequate correspondence in the procedural generation.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants