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Non-photorealistic rendering (NPR) is an area of
computer graphics Computer graphics deals with generating images with the aid of computers. Today, computer graphics is a core technology in digital photography, film, video games, cell phone and computer displays, and many specialized applications. A great de ...
that focuses on enabling a wide variety of expressive
style Style is a manner of doing or presenting things and may refer to: * Architectural style, the features that make a building or structure historically identifiable * Design, the process of creating something * Fashion, a prevailing mode of clothing ...
s for digital art, in contrast to traditional
computer graphics Computer graphics deals with generating images with the aid of computers. Today, computer graphics is a core technology in digital photography, film, video games, cell phone and computer displays, and many specialized applications. A great de ...
, which focuses on
photorealism Photorealism is a genre of art that encompasses painting, drawing and other graphic media, in which an artist studies a photograph and then attempts to reproduce the image as realistically as possible in another medium. Although the term can be ...
. NPR is inspired by other artistic modes such as
painting Painting is the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a solid surface (called the "matrix" or "support"). The medium is commonly applied to the base with a brush, but other implements, such as knives, sponges, and a ...
,
drawing Drawing is a form of visual art in which an artist uses instruments to mark paper or other two-dimensional surface. Drawing instruments include graphite pencils, pen and ink, various kinds of paints, inked brushes, colored pencils, crayo ...
,
technical illustration Technical Illustration is illustration meant to visually communicate information of a technical nature. Technical illustrations can be components of technical drawings or diagrams. Technical illustrations in general aim "to generate expressive ...
, and
animated cartoons Animation is a method by which still figures are manipulated to appear as moving images. In traditional animation, images are drawn or painted by hand on transparent celluloid sheets to be photographed and exhibited on film. Today, most anim ...
. NPR has appeared in
movies A film also called a movie, motion picture, moving picture, picture, photoplay or (slang) flick is a work of visual art that simulates experiences and otherwise communicates ideas, stories, perceptions, feelings, beauty, or atmospher ...
and
video game Video games, also known as computer games, are electronic games that involves interaction with a user interface or input device such as a joystick, controller, keyboard, or motion sensing device to generate visual feedback. This feedba ...
s in the form of
cel-shaded animation Cel shading or toon shading is a type of non-photorealistic rendering designed to make 3-D computer graphics appear to be flat by using less shading color instead of a shade gradient or tints and shades. A cel shader is often used to mimic ...
(also known as "
toon Toon may refer to: Places * Tōon, Ehime, a Japanese city in Ehime Prefecture * Toon, the former name of Ferdows, a city in South Khorasan Province, Iran * Toon, Somaliland, a town in the Garoodi region People * Toon (name), a list of peop ...
" shading) as well as in scientific visualization,
architectural illustration Architectural rendering, architectural illustration, or architectural visualization is the art of creating three-dimensional images or animations showing the attributes of a proposed architectural design. Computer generated renderings Images tha ...
and experimental animation.


History and criticism of the term

The term ''non-photorealistic rendering'' is believed to have been coined by the
SIGGRAPH SIGGRAPH (Special Interest Group on Computer Graphics and Interactive Techniques) is an annual conference on computer graphics (CG) organized by the ACM SIGGRAPH, starting in 1974. The main conference is held in North America; SIGGRAPH Asia ...
1990 papers committee, who held a session entitled "Non Photo Realistic Rendering". The term has received some criticism: * The term "
photorealism Photorealism is a genre of art that encompasses painting, drawing and other graphic media, in which an artist studies a photograph and then attempts to reproduce the image as realistically as possible in another medium. Although the term can be ...
" has different meanings for graphics researchers (see " photorealistic rendering") and artists. For artists—who are the target consumers of NPR techniques—it refers to a school of painting that focuses on reproducing the effect of a
camera lens A camera lens (also known as photographic lens or photographic objective) is an optical lens or assembly of lenses used in conjunction with a camera body and mechanism to make images of objects either on photographic film or on other media cap ...
, with all the distortion and hyper-reflections that it creates. For graphics researchers, however, it refers to an image that is visually indistinguishable from reality. In fact, graphics researchers lump the kinds of visual distortions that are used by photorealist painters into "non-photorealism". * Describing something by what it is ''not'' is problematic. Equivalent (made-up) comparisons might be "non-elephant biology" or "non-geometric mathematics". NPR researchers have stated that they expect the term will disappear eventually and be replaced by the now more general term "computer graphics", with "photorealistic graphics" being the term used to describe "traditional" computer graphics. * Many techniques that are used to create 'non-photorealistic' images are not rendering techniques. They are modelling techniques, or post-processing techniques. While the latter are coming to be known as 'image-based rendering', sketch-based modelling techniques, cannot technically be included under this heading, which is very inconvenient for conference organisers. The first conference on non-photorealistic animation and rendering included a discussion of possible alternative names. Among those suggested were "expressive graphics", "artistic rendering", "non-realistic graphics", "art-based rendering", and "psychographics". All of these terms have been used in various research papers on the topic, but the "non-photorealistic" term seems to have nonetheless taken hold. The first technical meeting dedicated to NPR was the ACM-sponsored Symposium on Non-Photorealistic Rendering and Animation (NPAR) in 2000. NPAR is traditionally co-located with the Annecy Animated Film Festival, running on even numbered years. From 2007 onward, NPAR began to also run on odd-numbered years, co-located with ACM
SIGGRAPH SIGGRAPH (Special Interest Group on Computer Graphics and Interactive Techniques) is an annual conference on computer graphics (CG) organized by the ACM SIGGRAPH, starting in 1974. The main conference is held in North America; SIGGRAPH Asia ...
.


3D

Three-dimensional NPR is the style that is most commonly seen in video games and movies. The output from this technique is almost always a
3D model In 3D computer graphics, 3D modeling is the process of developing a mathematical coordinate-based representation of any surface of an object (inanimate or living) in three dimensions via specialized software by manipulating edges, vertices, an ...
that has been modified from the original input model to portray a new artistic style. In many cases, the
geometry Geometry (; ) is, with arithmetic, one of the oldest branches of mathematics. It is concerned with properties of space such as the distance, shape, size, and relative position of figures. A mathematician who works in the field of geometry is c ...
of the model is identical to the original geometry, and only the material applied to the surface is modified. With increased availability of programmable
GPU A graphics processing unit (GPU) is a specialized electronic circuit designed to manipulate and alter memory to accelerate the creation of images in a frame buffer intended for output to a display device. GPUs are used in embedded systems, mobi ...
's,
shaders In computer graphics, a shader is a computer program that calculates the appropriate levels of light, darkness, and color during the rendering of a 3D scene - a process known as ''shading''. Shaders have evolved to perform a variety of speci ...
have allowed NPR effects to be applied to the rasterised image that is to be displayed to the screen. The majority of NPR techniques applied to 3D geometry are intended to make the scene appear two-dimensional. NPR techniques for 3D images include
cel shading Cel shading or toon shading is a type of non-photorealistic rendering designed to make 3-D computer graphics appear to be flat by using less shading color instead of a shade gradient or tints and shades. A cel shader is often used to mimic t ...
and Gooch shading. Many methods can be used to draw stylized outlines and strokes from 3D models, including occluding contours and Suggestive contours. For enhanced legibility, the most useful
technical illustration Technical Illustration is illustration meant to visually communicate information of a technical nature. Technical illustrations can be components of technical drawings or diagrams. Technical illustrations in general aim "to generate expressive ...
s for
technical communication Technical communication is used to convey scientific, engineering, or other technical information. Individuals in a variety of contexts and with varied professional credentials engage in technical communication. Some individuals are designated as ...
are not necessarily photorealistic. Non-photorealistic renderings, such as
exploded view An exploded-view drawing is a diagram, picture, schematic or technical drawing of an object, that shows the relationship or order of assembly of various parts. It shows the components of an object slightly separated by distance, or suspended in ...
diagrams, greatly assist in showing placement of parts in a complex system.


2D

The input to a two dimensional NPR system is typically an image or video. The output is a typically an artistic rendering of that input imagery (for example in a watercolor, painterly or sketched style) although some 2D NPR serves non-artistic purposes e.g. data visualization. The artistic rendering of images and video (often referred to as ''image stylization'') traditionally focused upon heuristic algorithms that seek to simulate the placement of brush strokes on a digital canvas. Arguably, the earliest example of 2D NPR is Paul Haeberli's ' Paint by Numbers' at
SIGGRAPH SIGGRAPH (Special Interest Group on Computer Graphics and Interactive Techniques) is an annual conference on computer graphics (CG) organized by the ACM SIGGRAPH, starting in 1974. The main conference is held in North America; SIGGRAPH Asia ...
1990. This (and similar interactive techniques) provide the user with a canvas that they can "paint" on using the cursor — as the user paints, a stylized version of the image is revealed on the canvas. This is especially useful for people who want to simulate different sizes of brush strokes according to different areas of the image. Subsequently, basic image processing operations using gradient operators or statistical moments were used to automate this process and minimize user interaction in the late nineties (although artistic control remains with the user via setting parameters of the algorithms). This automation enabled practical application of 2D NPR to video, for the first time in the living paintings of the movie '' What Dreams May Come'' (1998). More sophisticated image abstractions techniques were developed in the early 2000s harnessing computer vision operators e.g. image salience, or segmentation operators to drive stroke placement. Around this time, machine learning began to influence image stylization algorithms notably image analogy that could learn to mimic the style of an existing artwork. The advent of
deep learning Deep learning (also known as deep structured learning) is part of a broader family of machine learning methods based on artificial neural networks with representation learning. Learning can be supervised, semi-supervised or unsupervised. ...
has re-kindled activity in image stylization, notably with neural style transfer (NST) algorithms that can mimic a wide gamut of artistic styles from single visual examples. These algorithms underpin mobile apps capable of the same e.g. Prisma In addition to the above stylization methods, a related class of techniques in 2D NPR address the simulation of artistic media. These methods include simulating the
diffusion Diffusion is the net movement of anything (for example, atoms, ions, molecules, energy) generally from a region of higher concentration to a region of lower concentration. Diffusion is driven by a gradient in Gibbs free energy or chemical ...
of ink through different kinds of
paper Paper is a thin sheet material produced by mechanically or chemically processing cellulose fibres derived from wood, rags, grasses or other vegetable sources in water, draining the water through fine mesh leaving the fibre evenly distribu ...
, and also of
pigment A pigment is a colored material that is completely or nearly insoluble in water. In contrast, dyes are typically soluble, at least at some stage in their use. Generally dyes are often organic compounds whereas pigments are often inorganic compou ...
s through water for simulation of
watercolor Watercolor (American English) or watercolour (British English; see spelling differences), also ''aquarelle'' (; from Italian diminutive of Latin ''aqua'' "water"), is a painting method”Watercolor may be as old as art itself, going back to ...
.


Artistic rendering

Artistic rendering is the application of visual art styles to rendering. For photorealistic rendering styles, the emphasis is on accurate reproduction of light-and-shadow and the surface properties of the depicted objects,
composition Composition or Compositions may refer to: Arts and literature *Composition (dance), practice and teaching of choreography *Composition (language), in literature and rhetoric, producing a work in spoken tradition and written discourse, to include v ...
, or other more generic qualities. When the emphasis is on unique interpretive rendering styles, visual information is interpreted by the artist and displayed accordingly using the chosen
art medium Art is a diverse range of human activity, and resulting product, that involves creative or imaginative talent expressive of technical proficiency, beauty, emotional power, or conceptual ideas. There is no generally agreed definition of wh ...
and level of
abstraction Abstraction in its main sense is a conceptual process wherein general rules and concepts are derived from the usage and classification of specific examples, literal ("real" or " concrete") signifiers, first principles, or other methods. "An abst ...
in
abstract art Abstract art uses visual language of shape, form, color and line to create a composition which may exist with a degree of independence from visual references in the world. Western art had been, from the Renaissance up to the middle of the 1 ...
. In
computer graphics Computer graphics deals with generating images with the aid of computers. Today, computer graphics is a core technology in digital photography, film, video games, cell phone and computer displays, and many specialized applications. A great de ...
, interpretive rendering styles are known as non-photorealistic rendering styles, but may be used to simplify
technical illustration Technical Illustration is illustration meant to visually communicate information of a technical nature. Technical illustrations can be components of technical drawings or diagrams. Technical illustrations in general aim "to generate expressive ...
s. Rendering styles that combine photorealism with non-photorealism are known as hyperrealistic rendering styles.


Notable films and games

This section lists some seminal uses of NPR techniques in films, games and software. See
cel-shaded animation Cel shading or toon shading is a type of non-photorealistic rendering designed to make 3-D computer graphics appear to be flat by using less shading color instead of a shade gradient or tints and shades. A cel shader is often used to mimic ...
for a list of uses of toon-shading in games and movies.


References


Further reading

Some key papers in the development of NPR are: * * * * * * *


External links


Tunde Cockshott's Wet and Sticky revisitedStylized Depiction in Computer Graphics: An annotated survey of online NPR resourcesNPAR conferenceBlender NPR: Dedicated to Stylize and Non-Photorealistic RenderingOnline image based NPR system
{{DEFAULTSORT:Non-Photorealistic Rendering 3D rendering Computer graphics