Skip to main content

Don’t Measure—Appreciate! NPR Seen Through the Prism of Art History

  • Chapter
  • First Online:

Part of the book series: Computational Imaging and Vision ((CIVI,volume 42))

Abstract

Non-Photorealistic Rendering is now an established discipline, yet the question of how to evaluate ‘artistic’ NPR output is often raised. The question is most acute when the NPR algorithms are fully automatic, because then the output has no human involvement other than authorship of code. This paper addresses the question how can we assess the value of automatically produced NPR that has no purpose other than to be art? We doubt there is any single objective answer to this important question. We argue that experiments are at best difficult to design, and even the Turing test is of limited value because we are not asking whether a piece has been produced by a human but whether it possesses artistic merit regardless of its source. We conclude by suggesting that to assess progress in NPR, one must adopt an art historical perspective and appreciate it both for itself in its own terms, and within a wider cultural context.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution.

Buying options

Chapter
USD   29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD   39.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD   54.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book
USD   54.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Learn about institutional subscriptions

Notes

  1. 1.

    http://www.thepaintingfool.com/index.html.

References

  1. Agrawala, M., Zorin, D., Munzner, T.: Artistic multiprojection rendering. In: Peroche, B., Rushmeier, H.E. (eds.) Proceedings of the Eurographics Workshop on Rendering 2000, Brno, Czech Republic, June 2000, pp. 125–136. Springer, Berlin (2000). doi:10.1145/647652.732127

    Google Scholar 

  2. Arnhiem, R.: Art and Visual Perception: A Psychology of the Creative Eye, 2nd edn. University of California Press, Berkeley (1974)

    Google Scholar 

  3. Bangham, J.A., Gibson, S.E., Harvey, R.: The art of scale-space. In: British Machine Vision Conference (2003)

    Google Scholar 

  4. Baxter, W., Wendt, J., Lin, M.C.: IMPaSTo: a realistic, interactive model for paint. In: Hertzmann, A., Kaplan, C. (eds.) Proceedings of the Third International Symposium on Non-Photorealistic Animation and Rendering (NPAR 2004), pp. 45–56 (2004). doi:10.1145/987657.987665

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  5. Birkoff, G.: Aesthetic Measure. Harvard University Press, Harvard (1933)

    Google Scholar 

  6. Boden, M.: The Turing test and artistic creativity. Kybernetes 39(3), 409–413 (2010)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  7. Breslav, S., Szerszen, K., Markosian, L., Barla, P., Thollot, J.: Dynamic 2D patterns for shading 3D scenes. ACM Trans. Graph. 26(3), 20 (2007). doi:10.1145/1275808.1276402

    Article  Google Scholar 

  8. Brooks, S.: Mixed media painting and portraiture. IEEE Trans. Vis. Comput. Graph. 13(5), 1041–10,540 (2007). doi:10.1109/TVCG.2007.1025

    Article  MathSciNet  Google Scholar 

  9. Burton, G.J., Moorhead, I.R.: Color and spatial structure in natural scenes. Appl. Opt. 26(1), 157 (1987). doi:10.1364/AO.26.000157

    Article  Google Scholar 

  10. Coleman, P., Singh, K.R.: Rendering your animation nonlinearly projected. In: Hertzmann, A., Kaplan, C. (eds.) Proceedings of the Third International Symposium on Non-Photorealistic Animation and Rendering (NPAR 2004), Annecy, pp. 129–138. ACM, New York (2004). doi:10.1145/987657.987678

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  11. Collomosse, J.P., Hall, P.M.: Painterly rendering using image salience. In: EGUK ’02: Proceedings of the 20th UK Conference on Eurographics, p. 122. IEEE Comput. Soc., Los Alamitos (2002)

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  12. Collomosse, J.P., Hall, P.M.: Cubist style rendering from photographs. IEEE Trans. Vis. Comput. Graph. 4(9), 443–453 (2003). doi:10.1109/TVCG.2003.1260739

    Article  Google Scholar 

  13. Collomosse, J.P., Hall, P.M.: Genetic paint: a search for salient paintings. In: Proceedings of EvoMUSART (LNCS). Lecture Notes in Computer Science, vol. 3449, pp. 437–447. Springer, Berlin (2005). doi:10.1007/978-3-540-32003-6_44

    Google Scholar 

  14. Collomosse, J.P., Rowntree, D., Hall, P.M.: Video analysis for cartoon-style special effects. In: Proceedings 14th British Machine Vision Conference (BMVC), vol. 2, pp. 749–758 (2003)

    Google Scholar 

  15. Collomosse, J.P., Rowntree, D., Hall, P.M.: Stroke surfaces: temporally coherent non-photorealistic animations from video. IEEE Trans. Vis. Comput. Graph. 11(5), 540–549 (2005). doi:10.1109/TVCG.2005.85

    Article  Google Scholar 

  16. Curtis, C.J., Anderson, S.E., Seims, J.E., Fleischer, K.W., Salesin, D.H.: Computer-generated watercolor. In: Whitted, T. (ed.) Proceedings of ACM SIGGRAPH, vol. 97, pp. 421–430 (1997). doi:10.1145/258734.258896

    Google Scholar 

  17. DeCarlo, D., Santella, A.: Stylization and abstraction of photographs. ACM Trans. Graph. 21(3), 769–776 (2002). doi:10.1145/566654.566650

    Article  Google Scholar 

  18. Deussen, O., Strothotte, T.: Computer-generated pen-and-ink illustration of trees. In: Proceedings of ACM SIGGRAPH 2000, New Orleans, LA, July 23–28, 2000, pp. 23–28 (2000). doi:10.1145/344779.344792

    Google Scholar 

  19. DiPaola, S.: Painterly rendered portraits from photographs using a knowledge-based approach. Proc. SPIE 6492, 33–43 (2007). doi:10.1117/12.706594

    Google Scholar 

  20. Durand, F.: An invitation to discuss computer depiction. In: Finkelstein, A. (ed.) Proceedings of the Second International Symposium on Non-Photorealistic Animation and Rendering (NPAR 2002), pp. 111–124. ACM, New York (2002). doi:10.1145/508530.508550

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  21. Elber, G., Wolberg, G.: Rendering traditional mosaics. Vis. Comput. 19(1), 67–78 (2003). doi:10.1007/s00371-002-0175-x

    Article  Google Scholar 

  22. Fernie, E.: Art History and Its Methods: A Critical Anthology. Phaidon, Oxford (2011)

    Google Scholar 

  23. Ferwerda, J.A.: Three varieties of realism in computer graphics. In: Rogowitz, B.E., Pappas, T.N. (eds.) Proceedings of Human Vision and Electronic Imaging VIII, Santa Clara, California, USA, January 21, 2003. SPIE Proceedings Series, vol. 5007, pp. 290–297. SPIE/IS&T, Springfield (2003). doi:10.1117/12.473899

    Google Scholar 

  24. Field, D.: Relations between the statistics of natural images and the response profiles of cortical cells. J. Opt. Soc. Am. A 4, 2379–2394 (1987)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  25. Field, D.: What is the goal of sensory coding? Neural Comput. 6, 559–601 (1994)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  26. Filonik, D., Baur, D.: Measuring aesthetics for information visualization. In: International Conference on Information Visualization, pp. 579–584 (2009)

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  27. Frazor, R., Geisler, W.: Local luminance contrast in natural images. Vis. Res. 46, 1585–1598 (2006)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  28. Gombrich, E.: Art and Illusion: A Study in the Psychology of the Pictorial Representation. Phaidon, Oxford (1983)

    Google Scholar 

  29. Gombrich, E.: The Story of Art. Phaidon, Oxford (1995)

    Google Scholar 

  30. Gombrich, E.H.: The claims of excellence. In: Gombrich, E. (ed.) Reflections on the History of Art, pp. 179–185. Phaidon, Oxford (1987)

    Google Scholar 

  31. Graham, D., Field, D.: Statistical regularities of art image and natural scenes: spectra, sparseness and nonlinearities. Spat. Vis. 21, 149–164 (2007)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  32. Graham, D., Field, D.: Variations in intensity statistics for representational and abstract art from the Eastern and Western hemispheres. Perception 37, 1341–1352 (2008)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  33. Granger, G.: Aesthetic measure applied to color harmony: an experimental test. J. Gen. Psychol. 52(2), 205–212 (1955)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  34. Haeberli, P.E.: Paint by numbers: abstract image representations. Comput. Graph. 24(4) 207–214 (1990)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  35. Hall, P.M., Collomosse, J.P., Song, Y.Z., Shen, P., Li, C.: RTcams: a new perspective on nonphotorealistic rendering from photographs. IEEE Trans. Vis. Comput. Graph. 13(5), 966–979 (2007). doi:10.1109/TVCG.2007.1047

    Article  Google Scholar 

  36. Hanrahan, P., Haeberli, P.: Direct WYSIWYG painting and texturing on 3D shapes. Comput. Graph. 24(3), 215–223 (1990). doi:10.1145/97880.97903

    Google Scholar 

  37. Hertzmann, A.: Painterly rendering with curved brush strokes of multiple sizes. In: Cohen, M. (ed.) SIGGRAPH ’98: Proceedings of the 25th Annual Conference on Computer Graphics and Interactive Techniques, pp. 453–460. ACM/ACM SIGGRAPH, New York (1998). doi:10.1145/280814.280951

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  38. Hertzmann, A.: Non-photorealistic rendering and the science of art. In: Collomosse, J., McGuire, M. (eds.) Proceedings of the Eighth International Symposium on Non-Photorealistic Animation and Rendering (NPAR 2010), Annecy, France, June 7–10, 2010, pp. 147–157. ACM, New York (2010). doi:10.1145/1809939.1809957

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  39. Hockney, D.: Secret Knowledge: Rediscovering the Lost Techniques of the Old Masters. Thames and Hudson, London (2001)

    Google Scholar 

  40. Hsiao, S.W., Chiu, F.Y., Hsu, H.Y.: A computer-assisted colour selection system based on aesthetic measure for colour harmony and fuzzy logic theory. Color Res. Appl. 33, 411–423 (2008)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  41. Huang, H., Zhang, L., Zhang, H.C.: Arcimboldo-like collage using internet images. ACM Trans. Graph. 30(6), 155 (2011). doi:10.1145/2070781.2024189

    Google Scholar 

  42. Hyman, J.: The Objective Eye: Color, Form, and Reality in the Theory of Art. University of Chicago, Chicago (2006)

    Google Scholar 

  43. Itti, L., Koch, C., Niebur, E.: A model of saliency based visual attention for rapid scene analysis. IEEE Trans. Pattern Anal. Mach. Intell. 20(11), 1254–1259 (1998)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  44. Jones, B.: Computer imagery: imitation and representation of realities. Leonardo. Supplemental Issue 31–38 (1989)

    Google Scholar 

  45. Judd, T., Ehinger, K., Durand, F., Torralba, A.: Learning to predict where humans look. In: IEEE International Conference on Computer Vision (ICCV) (2009)

    Google Scholar 

  46. Kreczkowska, A., El-Hage, J., Colton, S., Clark, S.: Automated collage generation with intent. In: International Joint Conference on Computational Creativity (2010)

    Google Scholar 

  47. Kyprianidis, J.E., Kang, H.: Image and video abstraction by coherence-enhancing filtering. Comput. Graph. Forum 30(2), 593–602 (2011)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  48. Lee, J.: Physically-based modeling of brush painting. In: Computer Networks and ISDN Systems, pp. 1571–1756 (1997)

    Google Scholar 

  49. Lehmann, A.: Taking the lid off the Utah teapot. Towards a material analysis of computer graphics. Z. Medien Kult.-forsch. 1, 157–172 (2012)

    Google Scholar 

  50. Leister, W.: Computer generated copper plates. Comput. Graph. Forum 13(1), 69–77 (1994). doi:10.1111/1467-8659.1310069

    Article  Google Scholar 

  51. Litwinowicz, P.: Processing images and video for an impressionist effect. In: Whitted, T. (ed.) Proceedings of ACM SIGGRAPH 97, Los Angeles, CA, August 3–8, 1997, pp. 407–414. ACM, New York (1997). doi:10.1145/258734.258893

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  52. Manovich, L.: Image future. Animation 1(1), 25–44 (2006)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  53. Markosian, L., Kowalski, M.A., Trychin, S.J., Bourdev, L.D., Goldstein, D., Hughes, J.F.: Real-time nonphotorealistic rendering. In: Proceedings of ACM SIGGRAPH 97, pp. 415–420 (1997). doi:10.1145/258734.258894

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  54. Martin, D.R., Fowlkes, C.C., Malik, J.: Learning to detect natural image boundaries using local brightness, color, and texture cues. IEEE Trans. Pattern Anal. Mach. Intell. 26(5), 530–549 (2004). doi:10.1109/TPAMI.2004.1273918

    Article  Google Scholar 

  55. Moon, P., Spencer, D.E.: Aesthetic measure applied to color harmony. J. Opt. Soc. Am. 34(4), 234–242 (1944)

    Google Scholar 

  56. Mould, D.: A stained glass image filter. In: Eurographics Symposium on Rendering: 14th Eurographics Workshop on Rendering, pp. 20–25 (2003)

    Google Scholar 

  57. Ngo, D.C.L., Samsudin, A., Abdullah, R.: Aesthetic measures for assessing graphic screens. J. Inf. Sci. Eng. 16(1), 97–116 (2000)

    Google Scholar 

  58. Orzan, A., Bousseau, A., Barla, P., Thollot, J.: Structure-preserving manipulation of photographs. In: Agrawala, M., Deussen, O. (eds.) NPAR ’07: Proceedings of the 5th International Symposium on Non-photorealistic Animation and Rendering, pp. 103–110. ACM, New York (2007). doi:10.1145/1274871.1274888

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  59. Ostromoukhov, V.: Digital facial engraving. In: Proceedings of ACM SIGGRAPH 99, Los Angeles, CA, August 8–13, 1999, pp. 417–424 (1999). doi:10.1145/311535.311604

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  60. Paris, S., Hasinoff, S.W., Kautz, J.: Local Laplacian filters: edge-aware image processing with a Laplacian pyramid. ACM Trans. Graph. 30(4), 68 (2011). doi:10.1145/2010324.1964963

    Article  Google Scholar 

  61. Pease, A., Colton, S.: On impact and evaluation in computational creativity: a discussion of the Turing test and an alternative proposal. In: AISB Symposium on AI and Philosophy (2011)

    Google Scholar 

  62. Rusinkiewicz, S., Cole, F., DeCarlo, D., Finkelstein, A.: Line drawings from 3D models. In: ACM SIGGRAPH 2008 Classes, vol. 39, pp. 1–356 (2008). doi:10.1145/1401132.1401188

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  63. Saito, T., Takahashi, T.: Comprehensible rendering of 3-D shapes. Comput. Graph. 24(3), 197–206 (1990). doi:10.1145/97880.97901

    Google Scholar 

  64. Salesin, D.: Non-photorealistic animation and rendering: 7 grand challenges. In: Keynote talk at NPAR (2002)

    Google Scholar 

  65. Santella, A., DeCarlo, D.: Visual interest and NPR: an evaluation and manifesto. In: Hertzmann, A., Kaplan, C. (eds.) Proceedings of the Third International Symposium on Non-Photorealistic Animation and Rendering (NPAR 2004), Annecy, France, June 7–9, 2004, pp. 71–78. ACM, New York (2004). doi:10.1145/987657.987669

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  66. Schelske, A.: Zur Sozialität des nicht-fotorealistischen Renderings. Eine zu kurze, soziologische Skizze für zeitgenössische Bildmaschinen. Image: J. Interdiscip. Image Sci. 6, 47–58 (2007)

    Google Scholar 

  67. Schirra, J.R.J., Scholz, M.: Abstraction versus realism: not the real question. In: Strothotte, T., Deussen, O. (eds.) Computer Visualization—Graphics, Abstraction, and Interactivity, pp. 379–401. Springer, Berlin (1998)

    Google Scholar 

  68. Schwarz, M., Isenberg, T., Mason, K., Carpendale, S.: Modeling with rendering primitives: an interactive non-photorealistic canvas. In: Proc. NPAR, pp. 15–22 (2007). doi:10.1145/1274871.1274874

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  69. Smith, P.: Pictorial grammar: Chomsky, John Willats, and the rules of representation. Art Hist. 562–593 (2011)

    Google Scholar 

  70. Song, Y., Hall, P., Rosin, P.L., Collomosse, J.: Arty shapes. In: Proc. Comp. Aesthetics, pp. 65–73 (2008)

    Google Scholar 

  71. Sousa, M.C., Buchanan, J.W.: Computer-generated graphite pencil rendering of 3D polygonal models. Comput. Graph. Forum 18(3), 195–207 (1999). doi:10.1111/1467-8659.00340

    Article  Google Scholar 

  72. Strassmann, S.H.: Hairy brushes. Comput. Graph. 20(4), 225–232 (1986). doi:10.1145/15922.15911

    Article  Google Scholar 

  73. Strothotte, T., Schlechtweg, S.: Non-Photorealistic Computer Graphics: Modeling, Rendering, and Animation. Morgan Kaufmann, San Mateo (2002)

    Google Scholar 

  74. Tauber, A.: The Elusive Synthesis Aesthetics and Science. Kluwer Academic, Dordrecht (1996)

    Book  Google Scholar 

  75. Tolhurst, D., Tadmor, Y., Chao, T.: The amplitude spectra of natural images. Ophthalmic Physiol. Opt. 12, 229–232 (1992)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  76. Treavett, S.M.F., Chen, M.: Statistical techniques for the automatic generation of non-photorealistic images. In: Proceedings of the 15th Eurographics UK Conference (1997)

    Google Scholar 

  77. Tresset, P., Leymarie, F.: Generative portrait sketching. In: Proceedings of VSMM (2005)

    Google Scholar 

  78. Umenhoffer, T., Szécsi, L., Szirmay-Kalos, L.: Hatching for motion picture production. Comput. Graph. Forum 30(2), 533–542 (2011)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  79. Verlaek, P.: Non-photorealistic rendering as epistemic images. In: Workshop on Abstract Images in Art and Science (2009)

    Google Scholar 

  80. Wang, J., Xu, Y., Shum, H.Y., Cohen, M.F.: Video tooning. ACM Trans. Graph. 23(3), 574–583 (2004). doi:10.1145/1015706.1015763

    Article  Google Scholar 

  81. Wen, F., Luan, Q., Liang, L., Xu, Y.Q., Shum, H.Y.: Color sketch generation. In: DeCarlo, D., Markosian, L. (eds.) Proceedings of the Fourth International Symposium on Non-Photorealistic Animation and Rendering (NPAR 2006), Annecy, France, June 5–7, 2006, pp. 47–54. ACM, New York (2006). doi:10.1145/1124728.1124737

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  82. Wiggins, G.: A preliminary framework for description, analysis and comparison of creative systems. Knowl.-Based Syst. 19(7), 449–458 (2006)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  83. Willats, J.: Art and Representation: New Principles in the Analysis of Pictures. Princeton University Press, Princeton (1997)

    Google Scholar 

  84. Yu, J., McMillan, L.: A framework for multiperspective rendering. In: Keller, A., Jensen, H.W. (eds.) Rendering Techniques 2004, Proceedings of Eurographics Symposium on Rendering 2004, pp. 61–68. Eurographics Association, Annecy (2004)

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Peter Hall .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2013 Springer-Verlag London

About this chapter

Cite this chapter

Hall, P., Lehmann, AS. (2013). Don’t Measure—Appreciate! NPR Seen Through the Prism of Art History. In: Rosin, P., Collomosse, J. (eds) Image and Video-Based Artistic Stylisation. Computational Imaging and Vision, vol 42. Springer, London. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4471-4519-6_16

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4471-4519-6_16

  • Published:

  • Publisher Name: Springer, London

  • Print ISBN: 978-1-4471-4518-9

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-4471-4519-6

  • eBook Packages: Computer ScienceComputer Science (R0)

Publish with us

Policies and ethics