Generating Virtual Wire Sculptural Art from 3D Models

Abstract

Wire sculptures are objects sculpted by the use of wires. In this article, we propose practical methods to create 3D virtual wire sculptural art from a given 3D model. In contrast, most of the previous 3D wire art results are reconstructed from input 2D wire art images. Artists usually tend to design their wire art with a single wire if possible. If not possible, they try to create it with the least number of wires. To follow this general design trend, our proposed method generates 3D virtual wire art with the minimum number of continuous wire lines. To achieve this goal, we first adopt a greedy approach to extract important edges of a given 3D model. These extracted important edges become the basis for the subsequent lines to roughly represent the shape of the input model. Then, we connect them with the minimum number of continuous wire lines by the order obtained by optimally solving a traveling salesman problem with some constraints. Finally, we smooth the obtained 3D wires to simulate the real 3D wire results by artists. In addition, we also provide a user interface to control the winding of wires by their design preference. Finally, we experimentally show our 3D virtual wire results and evaluate these created results. As a result, the proposed method is computed effectively and interactively, and results are appealing and comparable to real 3D wire art work.