Virtual lights: a method for expressive visualization

Abstract

There has been great interest in expressive visualization over the last few years. This kind of visualization is used in 2D animation, illustration, and schematic drawing. The flat shading and shape lines, which we call external and internal sketches, are all visual charasteristics of this type of visualization. We present an algorithm for obtaining the sketches from a polygonal model. The algorithm is based on the concept of virtual lights, which allows us to control the visualization of internal sketches in a flexible way.