Generating Op Art Lines

Abstract

A common technique in Op Art is the use of parallel lines to depict simple shapes such as circles and squares. Some artists have attempted to create more complex images using this technique but faced the problem of producing undesirable artifacts such as line breaks and T-junctions within their artworks. To this end, we developed a novel algorithm that takes an arbitrary image and automatically generates the corresponding Op Art composition of this style. For 2-colour images, the algorithm produces artworks without any unwanted artifacts; for images with more colours, the basic algorithm cannot guarantee the removal of all artifacts, but we use a global optimization technique to minimize the number of artifacts. The results have applications in graphics design, data visualization, puzzle creation and line drawings.