Edge- and substrate-based effects for watercolor stylization

Abstract

We investigate characteristic edge- and substrate-based effects for watercolor stylization. These two fundamental elements of painted art play a significant role in traditional watercolors and highly influence the pigment's behavior and application. Yet a detailed consideration of these specific elements for the stylization of 3D scenes has not been attempted before. Through this investigation, we contribute to the field by presenting ways to emulate two novel effects: dry-brush and gaps & overlaps. By doing so, we also found ways to improve upon well-studied watercolor effects such as edge-darkening and substrate granulation. Finally, we integrated controllable external lighting influences over the watercolorized result, together with other previously researched watercolor effects. These effects are combined through a direct stylization pipeline to produce sophisticated watercolor imagery, which retains spatial coherence in object-space and is locally controllable in real-time.