What is the boundary of digital technology? It is now possible to see the immortal works of infamous painter, Vincent Van Gogh in just 20 seconds.

ETRI (Korean Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute's director Ju-Hwan Lim) revealed development of "Digital portrait production studio" that rivals stoke of Van Gogh's brush in its press announcement on the 26th.

Applying the technology of recreating the human artistic expression with unofficial rendering technology (Non Photorealistic Rendering, NPR), as an unofficial ongoing project of animation technology R &D from MIC (Ministry of Information and Communication), since last year. This new technology selected to be displayed to public as a part of gala studio exhibition, "SIGGRAPH 2006" in Boston, US.

Non-photorealistic rendering (NPR) is an area of computer graphics that focuses on enabling a wide variety of expressive styles in water based, oil based and color pencil based paintings for digital art. In contrast to traditional computer graphics, which has focused on photorealism, NPR is inspired by artistic styles and as a technical illustration such as in paintings, video games, movies and animations.

The new technology of combining the Non-photorealistic rendering that can rival the brush techniques of master painters from ETRI is hailed as a new concept in digital oil painting technology. Precisely, ETRI has found a way to mimic painter’s expressions in digital form itself.

Comparison of inputted before and after images using ETRI’s successful ‘Digital Portrait Production Studio’. Left image is actual before image from camera, right is the completed after image.

Live demonstration of ‘Digital Portrait Production Studio’ by a developer

To be more discernable and become more distinctive, team of ETRI and Professor Jin-Wan Park(Chung-Ang University of Korea) has applied the detailed analysis of actual painting /brushing stokes motions of the artists in the digital form. The director Bongi Lee from ETRI CG technology R&D said, "This original technology can aid and promote related individuals to break into entertainment industry and possibly see active rolls in digital contents and related fields."

In SIGGRAPH 2006, participants themselves will be allowed in real live demonstration drawings to see the transformation of their own digital brush strokes that rivals the original master paintings.

The finished digital oil based portrait are sent to internet website (http://npr.etri.re.kr) where both originals and finished images are downloadable and instant photo printing service is provided to entice the interests from the participants explained, ETRI.

ETRI is concentration on development of plug-ins and shaders to support diverse applications and ways (painting, writing, animation, Indian ink painting) to promote active development of the Non Photorealistic Rendering, NPR technology and related industry for the future.

ETRI with two separate international patents (pending) is promoting technology transfers and is seeking for applicable markets such as in movies, 3D Animations and dramas. It is hoping to find possibilities in TV industry with the related computer graphic technology in near future. It's targeting the commercialization within second half of this year.

ETRI, thus has become a pioneer in creating another field in combining arts and technology together.

Makings of ETRI’s successful ‘Oil based Digital Portrait Production Studio’