Introduction

Existing methods for creating realistic graphics are largely uninteractive and usually in "batch mode" such as in Renderman API [10]. The user usually first describe a scene using various texturing parameters, lighting conditions, and other surface parameters. Then, the scene description is compiled and sent to a rendering pipeline. After many minutes, the user receives the rendering results which may be far from his/her desired appearance and quality. There is a significant "tweaking" and trial and error time involved in rendering the final, right image.

MeshPaint implements a subset of Renderman shaders and applies them in real-time. It tries to shorten the time to generate complex surface appearances by allowing the user to interactively "paint" very complicated meshes using a variety of "3D brushes". These brushes offer the same 3D texturing and material functions as traditional shaders such as those found in Renderman. MeshPaint focuses on interactive painting of 3D textures, cellular textures, displacements on surface in addition to surface material properties. It also has a novel way to "paint" fractal terrains interactively.

hits since 5/18/97