Computer Depiction and Non-Photorealistic Rendering

Computer graphics has long been defined as a quest to achieve photorealism. As it gets closer to this grail, the field realizes that there is more to images than realism alone. Non-photorealistic pictures can be more effective at conveying information, more expressive or more beautiful. The recent field of Non-Photorealistic Rendering has developed a wealth of original and effective techniques The flip side of this creative explosion is the difficulty of determining the structure of this area and its fundamental goals.

One of the long-term goals is the study, broadening, and capture of pictorial style for computer depiction. A broader variety of styles is important because some styles are better at conveying various types of information or mood. In addition, separating style and content allows for higher-level picture manipulation. We also believe that capturing the style of skilled artists can allow unskilled users to recombine elements of a well-refined depiction craft with their content, thereby producing more compelling pictures.