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Stereo Painting: Towards New Aesthetic in Painting Today

Yew Yong Xiang Ivan

School of Art, Design and Media

Asst Prof Ina Conradi Chavez

School of Art, Design and Media

Abstract - With the emergence of new 3D hardware

and software technologies, traditional and digital painting methodologies can be redefined to provide

new ways of perceiving abstract painting in 3D space.

The aim of this research targets at the exploration into

inventive applications of 3D Stereoscopy as an art

digital media tool, through the uncustomary use of

industry standard softwares like NextLimit RealFlow

and Autodesk Maya. This project draws inspiration

from the idea of pushing the limits of perceptibility and

exploring new aesthetics possibilities in contemporary

paintings and art practices, specifically to deliver

artistically beautiful contents which are further

developed into a stereoscopic piece of experimental animation or a still art print.

Keywords - experimental animation, 3D

stereoscopy, abstract painting, anaglyph

1 INTRODUCTION

Historically, broad acceptance of 3D has been limited by technologies of the time. Presenting stereo images

was problematic and the results often caused eyestrain

and headaches. But emerging digital projections and

display technologies combined with the accuracy of

CGI are revolutionizing stereoscopic content creation

and delivery. [1] By taking advantage of these

emerging and available 3D hardware & software

technologies, it is possible to bring stereo imaging as a

visual art form to a wider audience.

Stereoscopy is known as a technique to create the

illusion of true depth experienced in a real world, by taking advantage of the binocular nature of human

vision. [2] Amidst the various ways of viewing three-

dimensional imagery, we will be working closely with

anaglyph stereoscopy– the perception of depth via the

process of filtering offset images from a single source

separated to each eye, most commonly known and

accessible to the public. [3] In this research, more

attention will be placed upon the development of the

contents; the process of generating expressive painterly

fluids both in colours and grayscale in 3D stereoscopy,

rather than on other technological hardwares or

inventions to enhance stereoscopic viewing.

This paper emphasizes on the creation of abstract

painterly imagery in motion conveying emotive states

and seeks to engage the viewers in an immersive

experience while the crisp and clear projection of 3D

stereoscopy transcends the typical two-dimensionality

of a canvas, giving an added depth and adding to the

overall feel of viewing abstract painting. [4]

2 AIMS / OBJECTIVES

This project aims to explore and develop aesthetically

artistic contents through the inventive use of fluid

meshes generated in RealFlow 4.3.8i, which are then

tested and documented on various stereoscopic settings

to achieve the best possible anaglyph viewing experience using Autodesk Maya 2010ii.

3 LITERATURE REVIEW /

BACKGROUND

Abstract Expressionism has remained the essence of

content development in this project. A painting

movement in which artists applied paints dynamically

to express feelings and emotions, and the works often

reflect a form of abstract art that expresses the inner

artistic sense evoking the emotions within, connecting

the artwork and the viewers. [5] Thus by bringing such

abstraction into three-dimensional space as an art

installation, has provided a new platform for artists to

venture into and explore. Particularly, the works of Helen Frankenthaler has been the core of our reference.

Helen Frankenthaler – Frankenthaler is an American-

born painter, printmaker, and sculptor who, along with

fellow artists Kenneth Noland and Morris Louis,

spearheaded the practice of Colour Field painting, a

component of Abstract Expressionism. There is a clear

visibility of her echoing Jackson Pollock’s large scale

canvas painting on the floor rather than on an easel.

“Her paintings conveyed a sense of tranquility as

though reflecting the nature of the world.

Frankenthaler's use of light hearkens back to landscape painters of earlier centuries who used light from the

natural world to define focal points and illuminate their

works.” [6] Her staining process of washes of oil paints

applied onto raw canvas has also resulted in the

consistency of luminous colours paints and many other

accidental splashes that enhance the emotional

gestures. [7] This spontaneity in abstract art has

become the inspiration for our works in this research.

Among the many great works, The Moors (Fig. 1) and

Blue Tide (Fig. 2) [8] are of particular interest to create

a dull and sad emotive state.

i NextLimit® RealFlow® is a unique fluids and body dynamics software

package for creation of flawlessly realistic simulations. realflow.com ii Autodesk® Maya® software is an integrated 3D modelling, animation,

visual effects, and rendering solution. usa.autodesk.com

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Figure 1: Helen Frankenthaler, The Moors, 1962,

Acrylic on canvas, 8’11” x 3’11”

Figure 2: Helen Frankenthaler, Blue Tide, 1963,

Acrylic on canvas, 8’ x 6’93/4”

4 METHODOLOGY

The challenge continues to be in the harnessing of

animated motion, intricate dynamics and colours,

which through the use of 3D stereoscopy to deliver new experience in viewing painted image. This process

can be classified into two areas; the creation of the

painterly contents and addition of stereoscopic effects.

NextLimit RealFlow is used in conjunction with

Autodesk Maya to achieve the desired look and feel of

expressive painterly marks. Splashes and swirls of

liquids are the key referenced actions in this research.

4.1 ANIMATED CONTENT

CREATION– REALFLOW/ MAYA

MENTAL RAY

NextLimit RealFlow, a software primarily used for

visual effects, for generating particles designed to

simulate realistic liquid-like effects, bears the role of

creating the animated meshes in this project. Particles

are simulated using emitters; fields are then created to

influence, move and sculpt them, resulting in the

creation of abstract shapes and form. (Fig. 3) [5]

Due to the erratic nature of these particles, trial and error is required to get the desired effect. Parameters

like ext. pressure, viscosity, speed, polygon size and

blending factor are the keys to achieve the various

liquid attributes for experimenting. (Fig. 4) [9]

A layer of polygonal mesh is built over these particles

to materialise its surface and shape, which they are

then exported out as *.bin files and imported into

Autodesk Maya via a RealFlow-Maya plugin. (Fig. 5)

Figure 3: A modelled base is used as the base for the

interaction of the particles emitted by the surrounding

emitters. All actions took place within a imaginary

simulated environment with different fields such as,

wind, gravity and vortex etc.

Figure 4: Particles are simulated and reacted upon

parameters like ext. pressure, viscosity and speed,

which determine the nature of the liquid as well as

setting them to increase movement speed or slow down

at different time frames.

Figure 5: Particles are built into polygonal meshes

within RealFlow before imported into Maya for

texturing and rendering using Maya’s Mental Ray.iii

iii Mental ray® renderer is a high-performance rendering engine with

advanced photorealistic lighting features. usa.autodesk.com

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Upon settling on a rough draft of animated polygonal

meshes, they are then loaded into Maya sequentially

and pre-textured in grayscale to preview the initial

outlook of the liquid as well as the camera angles best

suited for projecting these liquid meshes. (Fig. 6)

Different angles paired with different textures deliver to us new visual imagery and composition every time.

(Fig. 7a & 7b) Hence, it is through a series of

experimentation to narrow down towards the idea of

emulating dripping and splashing paints in three-

dimensional space.

Figure 6: *.bin sequences are loaded into Maya

through a RealFlow-Maya plugin

Figure 7a: An example of a grayscale rendered mesh

with low Index of Refraction value, thus giving a

flatter and painterly liquid outcome.

Figure 7b: An example of a grayscale rendered mesh

with high Index of Refraction and Reflection values,

thus enabling attributes of a more realistic liquid.

However so, this has only marked the initial stage of

developing the animated contents, further adjustments

are necessary to perfect the quality of our liquid– the

crispness of the meshes’ edges as well as the surface

tension between the particle meshes. This time round,

dielectric material shader, commonly used for liquid

textures, are applied to the mesh and different blends

of colours are experimented. (Fig. 8 – 12)

Figure 8: Parameters like Polygon Size and Relaxation

in RealFlow controls the crispness of the mesh’s edges.

Figure 9: A high value of Ext Pressure and Viscosity

of the fluid mesh helps to keep them compact, thus

avoiding the tendency to over expand. A reference to

Frankenthaler’s The Moor.

Figure 10: Blends of different colours controlled

through the parameters- Col and Outside Colour, of

which a lighter value will create a more vibrant hue.

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Figure 11: The low values of Index of Refraction and

Raytrace’s Reflection and Refraction helps to ensure a

flat painterly look.

Figure 12: An example of various attributes adjusted

to emulate expressive painterly strokes. A reference to

Frankenthaler’s Blue Tide.

The strength of dielectric material shader in Autodesk

Maya lies in its ability to simulate realistic reflections

and refractions similar to what we see in actual water

and the few main parameters controlling its overall

look and feel are ‘Colour’, ‘Index of Reflection’,

‘Outside Colour’ and ‘Phong Coefficient’. However,

these attributes are value sensitive and minor tweaks

may result in drastic appearance of the liquid. A tested set of values for ‘Colour’ to be a lighter tone, ‘Index of

Refraction’ to be between 0.85-0.95, ‘Outside Colour’

to be a darker tone and ‘Phong Coefficient’ at a value

of 1, results in generally a flatter visual of the liquid

mesh. In addition, the render settings in Mental Ray,

especially under Raytracingiv, tested to be that its

Reflections and Refractions attributes is recommended

within the range of 6-8, ideally 7, in order to achieve

the flat painterly look we are aiming at. Nonetheless,

these values only applies to this research project, while

these attributes are still what we need to take note of to determine the appearance of the liquid.

4.2 STEREOSCOPIC EFFECTS

Stereoscopicv effects are created within Autodesk

Maya through the creating of a set of stereoscopic

camera under the create camera tab in Maya. The basic

stereoscopic rig consists of three cameras, Stereo Camera Left, Stereo Camera Right & Stereo Camera

Center. (Fig. 13) These are connected to one another

via expressions and the primary controls are located on

the Center Camera. Subsequently, it is to position the

center camera parenting both left and right cameras to

the desired composition and scrubbing the timeline to

ensure that the necessary actions are within our focus

and vision. After locking in the position of the camera,

the camera’s stereo specific settings are adjusted. [10]

Figure 13: Basic stereoscopic camera rig: Stereo

Camera Left, Stereo Camera Right and Stereo Camera

Center.

In the attribute editor of the camera rig, options and

settings would allow numerous variations. The first

important task would be to set the Stereo type to off-

axis, so as not to suffer from vertical misalignment that is seen in the traditional converged method. Apart from

that, the Interaxial Separation & Zero Parallax settings

are main key in getting the a good stereo effect that

doesn’t cause eye pain when viewed. (Fig. 14)

Figure 14: Adjustments to Stereo Interaxial Separation & Zero Parallax settings in Stereo Camera Parameters

Attribute Editor.

iv Ray tracing is a method for calculating the path of light waves or

particles through a system.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ray_tracing_(graphics) v Stereoscopy, stereoscopic imaging or 3-D (three-dimensional) imaging

is any technique capable of recording three-dimensional visual

information or creating the illusion of depth in an image.

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Interaxial Separation determines the distance between

the left and right cameras, in real world scale it would

be set to a value of 6.0-6.5 cm, or (2.4”-2.6”). This is

to simulate the average distance between the human

eyes. However in the case of these art works, the Real

Flow mesh is abstract and relative in its size. Hence, values had to be generated via trial and error by using

the anaglyph preview window. (Fig. 15) [10]

Figure 15: Interaxial separation (left) A large value of 5.0 would make the object appear larger and near,

while (right) a smaller value of 1.0 would make the

object appear smaller and far.

The Zero Parallax determines the point in depth where

both image converge. In stereo terms, an object in

point of the 0 parallax from the camera will have 0

depth, while anything between the camera and Zero

Parallax point will have positive depth (appear to pop

out from screen) while anything behind this point will

have negative depth (appear to recede behind screen).

A visual representation of the Zero Parallax plane and

a safe volume cone can be generated in the controls to assist in the setting. (Fig. 16) [11]

Figure 16: Zero Parallax plane dividing positive depth

(in front of plane) and negative depth (behind plane)

with its Convergence distance.

The optimal point judging from the stereo tests is to have the zero parallax at an average of the distance

between the furthest object and the nearest object to

screen as well as keep the object/s within the safe

volume cone. (Fig. 17) Once the desired camera set-up

is completed, the renderable camera should be set to

stereo Camera (Stereo Pair) in the render settings, this

will automatically allow Maya to render both the left

and right stereo images separately. Also, added should

be <camera> suffix to the file name so it will be named

accordingly from the camera and this allows better

sourcing of the files during compositing later as well as

easier referencing in the case of errors in between. [11]

Figure 17: A stereoscopic view, ‘stereo pair’.

5 RESULTS

In the earlier stage of trials, an untitled piece of “Blue”

animation was made prior to the experiments of stereoscopic effect in colours. (Fig. 18) It experimented

with different mixtures of colours and values to attain

the visual referenced. By adjusting values accordingly,

we are capable of echoing the visuals of abstract

expressionism and projecting it in a three-dimensional

space. However, it was tested that to achieve maximum

impact of anaglyph stereoscopy, contents are best

recommended to remain in grayscale as colours would

affect the filtering by the red-cyan anaglyph filters.

Nonetheless, it was a precursor to Chrysocolla, an

animated clip, which features the effects of action painting such as, dripping and splashing with harsher

environmental fields, in stereoscopy that are pleasing

to the eyes. It explores the extremes of anaglyph

stereoscopy and pushes its limits between subtlety and

complication so as one could experience the contrast of

3D perception to the eyes, yet perceived less literal in

an abstract manner. (Fig. 19 – 21)

Figure 18: Initial trial on perfecting anaglyph

stereoscopy in colours, “Blue” animation.

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Figure 19: Anaglyph composite of a stereoscopic

effect still frame pushing the limits of depth, in

Chrysocolla.

Figure 20: Anaglyph composite of a complicated

stereoscopic effect still frame in Chrysocolla.

Figure 21: Anaglyph composite of a subtle

stereoscopic effect still frame in Chrysocolla.

6 CONCLUSION

With the stereo as the final output for these works, the

understanding of stereo depth and stereo workflow will

be vital for future works. Continuing challenge is to be

able to keep up with commercial, proprietary software

and latest developments and technological resources in the field of stereo. Direct access to the professional 3D

stereo pipeline would enhance the experience for

screenings and one of a kind art installation. As the

content becomes more interactive, so as the need for an

interactive platform to display such works. Typical

screening or projection are limiting the possibilities of

even more immersive experiences. What truly lies

ahead is the ability to transform these works that are

capable of interfacing and interacting with the viewers,

into real time and enhancing one’s viewing pleasure.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

Asst Prof Ina Conradi Chavez from School of Art,

Design and Media.

We wish to acknowledge the funding support for this

project from Nanyang Technological University under

the Undergraduate Research Experience on Campus

(URECA) programme.

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