Embroidery modeling and rendering
Proceedings of Graphics Interface 2012
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We set out to explore new domains of computer graphics through uncommon media, pushing the bounds of non-photorealistic rendering (NPR). We use computer graphics NPR methods to move beyond the common pen-and-ink or impressionist oil painting styles, and we have implemented computer generated Blackwork, a decorative art of embroidery originating in Elizabethan times to add detail to clothing. The basic techniques of blackwork were later used as an illustrative form, revived in mid 20th century. We adopt these methods, to computer graphics and show how iconic objects such as the Utah teapot (and the less well known teacup) can be rendered anew using vintage media. We add a very uncommon twist, animating embroidery, a media that does not lend itself to moving images, perhaps for the first time. Using PLAWARe, our layered software architecture for NPR, we implemented a system to place artistic embroidery primitives according the principles of blackwork, an embroidery style popular in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. A 20-century revival of blackwork generates variation in tones, contrasting lights and darks, through elaborate fill patterns. This more modern blackwork resembles that of a pen-and-ink drawings. These techniques are designed specifically with embroidered primitives in mind. They are not simply rendered images, converted to rastered TIFF files, then digitized in the same fashion as trademarked logos for promotional garments. We instead derive the tone of each region of the scene and place individual stitches using directives for automated embroidery tools. In this direct process, we generate no output image files, but rather a control file for the stitching machine itself. Our modern interpretation renders polygonal objects using computer graphics techniques, and using computer controlled embroidery machines, translates them to embroidered panels. We choose the venerable Utah Teapot as our subject for a still life, connecting a tradition in the field of computer graphics to this centuries-old art form. Beyond the casting of an old art form into computer graphics, we employ the power of computer control to animate what is traditionally a hand craft. Our exhibit is a proposed installation, a zoetrope, a simple mechanical animation tool where we expect to mount twelve 9-inch embroidered panels around the inside of a slotted, rotating 3-foot diameter cylinder creating a moving animation loop of blackwork embroidered renderings. The use of real panels, rather than photographs is considered essential to convey the tangible aspects of this technique.