Creating a Virtual Wooden Sculpture and a Woodblock Print with a Pressure Sensitive Pen and a Tablet

Shinji Mizuno¹*, Daigo Kobayashi², Minoru Okada³, Jun-ichiro Toriwaki⁴ and Shinji Yamamoto⁵

1Information and Media Center, Toyohashi University of Technology, Toyohashi 441-8580, Japan
²Department of Knowledge-based Information Engineering, Toyohashi University of Technology, Toyohashi 441-8580, Japan
³Graduate School of Information, Production and Systems, Waseda University, Kitakyusyu 808-0135, Japan
⁴School of LifeSystems and Technology, Chukyo University, Toyota 470-0393, Japan
⁵School of Computer and Congnitive Sciences, Chukyo University, Toyota 470-0393, Japan
*E-mail address: mizuno@imc.tut.ac.jp

(Received January 31, 2005; Accepted June 9, 2005)

Keywords: Computer Graphics, Virtual Sculpting and Printing, Interactive, Pressure Sensitive Pen

Abstract. In this paper, we present an interactive CG creating system with a pressure sensitive pen and a tablet. This system is based on the virtual sculpting and printing method which are simulations of the real sculpting and woodblock printing. In the virtual sculpting process, the user operates virtual chisels with the pen to sculpt a virtual wooden object which has a 3D shape. The user can control the carving depth and the carving angle to the surface of the object with the pressure applied to the pen. The system can take the change in the hardness of wood that originates from grain and the surface shape. In the virtual printing process, a woodblock print is generated from woodblocks which are created in the virtual sculpting process. The pressure sensitive pen is used to operate a Japanese printing squeegee, Baren (disk-shaped pad). The user can control the thickness of the print by changing the pressure of printing operation. It is possible to synthesize a realistic Ukiyo-e print in the same process with the same carving and printing techniques as creating it in the real world.