I have been experimenting with a new way to render my images. Previously it was done in an animated fashion using a bunch of randomly placed ellipses. I explained this in an earlier post. The intent behind this method was to render the scenes in a painterly style. I wanted the end product to resemble an oil painting. It didn’t really work. I liked the style somewhat but it felt cluttered and too random. So now I am attempting something new. The program generates an image like the one below and instead of displaying it, it uses the image as a reference to draw another image.
Above, we have the reference image which generates in a fraction of a second. And then you watch as the computer paints the other image (below) for you. This takes 1-2 seconds but is really fun to watch.
Below is the old method of rendering. It takes around 3-4 seconds to draw the drawing process is not animated as is the case for the others
I have started playing around with this method for everything. Here is another example with the reference image above and the stroke based rendered image below
Essentially to render in this style the program spawns a bunch of random points which derive their color from the reference image, these points are then given a velocity based on a perlin noise field and they draw lines as they move. It’s that simple. You can change the length of the lines and the thickness quite easily and create a variety of styles.
I’m also testing out using a similar system to draw the crowns on the trees, you can see a few examples of the old system above, using (again) a bunch of points to render the crown, vs the new test system below where brushstrokes are used. Both have a nice style I think, but with enough work I think the method below will prove to be the nicer of the two.
Between now and the last time I posted I have also made large improvements to the generation of the trees. You can see from above that you get many regular looking trees. But you also get trees like the one pictures below, where the tree is squatter and has a more elliptical shaped crown.
Low-Polygen 