Traditional Oriental ink painting is more easily done with real brushes than with a computer program because you need to model how the ink is flowing into an absorbent surface such as paper. In this brief article, Technology Research News writes that "researchers from the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology have developed a brush-and-ink-style paint program, dubbed MoXi, that uses a model of pigment particles in water flowing into paper." These virtual Chinese brushes simulate in real time the ink dispersion and could be available on your PC within two years. Read more.
Here is some general information about MoXi provided by Technology Research News.
The software models the gritty details of paper absorbing water and pigment moving through water, including the way pigment concentrates at ink boundaries as water evaporates from drying ink. The technique promises to make computer paint programs with more realistic and could also be used in computer animation packages, according to the researchers.
The simulation is based on mathematics -- the lattice Boltzmann equation -- that physicists use to model the complex behaviors of fluids. The model simulates more complex effects than previous work, and is also fast enough to deliver ink dispersion simulations in real-time on a reasonably large canvas, according to the researchers.
Below are two images generated with MoXi, the first one being called "Lotus leaves" and the second one "Planet" (Credit: Hong Kong University of Science & Technology)
Here are two links to larger versions of these images, the "Lotus leaves" (1.30 MB) and the "Planet" (1.47 MB).
The researchers behind the MoXi project are Chiew-Lan Tai, Associate Professor at the Department of Computer Science, and Nelson Siu-Hang Chu, her Research Assistant.
For more information about their projects, you can read these two pages about the Virtual Chinese Brush and about MoXi. On this page, you'll have access to several videos and images. The two pictures above come from this page.
You yourselves are our letter, written on our hearts, to be known and read by all; and you show that you are a letter of Christ, prepared by us, written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts.
—Bible: New Testament, 2 Corinthians 3:2-3.
The MoXi project will be presented at SIGGRAPH 2005 under the name "MoXi: Real-Time Ink Dispersion in Absorbent Paper." Here is a link to the paper submitted by the researchers (PDF format, 1 page, 145 KB). Here are an excerpt from the introduction.
Our paint system, MoXi, allows users to paint in the spontaneous style of Eastern ink painting, on a computer. The simulations of both brush and ink are essential for a successful extension of this traditional art into the digital domain. For real-time performance, we have implemented our ink flow model entirely on the GPU, leaving the CPU for the brush simulation.
According to the researchers, this technique "could be used practically in one or two years." But is this possible that this technology can be sold under the name MoXi? There already is a Digeo service named Moxi which offers High Definition TV (HDTV). And Digeo claims in its press releases (check this one for example) that Moxi is one of its registered trademarks.
However, it's not so clear. I visited the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) to know more. And for more information about this trademark, you can either click on the "Status" button in the Trademarks section, and enter the serial number 76279215 on the next screen, or go directly here. Here is the status of this trademark application as of April 25, 2005.
A non-final action has been mailed. This is a letter from the examining attorney requesting additional information and/or making an initial refusal. However, no final determination as to the registrability of the mark has been made.
If I correctly understand English, this means that Moxi IS NOT a registered trademark. But at the same time, Digeo writes it is registered. Who is right?
If one of the readers of this note is familiar with the USPTO procedures, please post an explanation below. Thanks.
Sources: Technology Research News, June 29/July 6, 2005; and various web sites
The palest ink is better than the best memory.
—Chinese proverb.
Related stories can be found in the following categories.
Computers
Graphics
Mathematics
Patents
Software.