The “mission statement” of photorealistic render is what prompted the early adoption and continued interest by the graphics community in this field. It states, “Create an image that cannot be distinguished from a photograph.” This mission statement is a visual “Turing test” for photorealistic rendering and provides a clear metric for creating a high-quality image. There is no single mission statement for artistic computer graphic art. Instead, researchers pursue a range of image-creation goals. Artistic computer graphic’s goals include creating images using traditional media, understanding human visual systems, communicating with low bandwidth, abstracting images and improving user interaction.
Artistic computer graphics is characterized by the ability to control detail in images for communication. To create the illusion of complexity, stylization is used to control image detail. Artistic images can also be used to communicate information at different levels. Here are seven reasons why an artistic computer-generated image is more advantageous.
1. Image Reproducibility For example, line art images can’t copy or fax photographic images.
2. Medical Visualization: Scientists are developing artistic algorithms that can easily be modified interactively for the visualization of volume data. An example of this is visualization of the electric field inside the human body.
3. Communication of Abstract Ideas. The human visual system expects that characters are rendered realistically. Nonphotorealistic animation can be used in order to communicate ideas beyond the logical and physical norms, in a manner that is easily understood by a wide audience. For example, force diagrams are used in physics textbooks.
4. Invoking the imagination: Simple line drawings can communicate abstract ideas better than a photograph. Photorealistic images render everything in the scene in great detail. It leaves little for the imagination. Nonphotorealistic images, however, don’t show every detail. This allows the viewer and participant to take part in the interpretation.
5. Animation: Focus the attention of the audience when creating animations. If a viewer is too focused on the details of a photorealistic scene, they may miss the bigger picture. The majority of non-photorealistic techniques utilize an economy in line. This reduces the amount of detail in a scene and makes it easier for animators to direct attention.
6. Compression: By not depicting all the detail required for photorealistic images, nonphotorealistically rendered computer graphics images typically take less time to create, can be rendered to the screen faster, and use less storage space. Half-toned images can look the same from distance as traditional computer graphics images. The storage space required for half-tone images is between one tenth of one-hundredth and one one hundredth.
7. Communication of Design: Process Completeness or Communication of Design: Photorealistic rendering can overstate the fidelity and exactness of the scene. A viewer can be helped to understand that an image they see may not accurately represent a scene. Architectural rendering is a great example of this phenomenon. Architects have discovered that building plans can be modified last minute due to variations in regional building codes or on-site conditions. These last-minute changes can shock clients, resulting in angry and disappointed clients. If clients are shown images that are not photorealistic of the proposed building, they tend to accept the design process and allow for changes. Clients will usually accept any changes made on site.
