Computational Mirror Cup and Saucer Art

Abstract

In the mirror cup and saucer art created by artists Yul Cho and Sang-Ha Cho, part of the saucer is directly visible to the viewer, while the other part of the saucer is occluded and can only be seen as a reflection through a mirror cup. Thus, viewers see an image directly on the saucer and another image on the mirror cup; however, the existing art design is limited to wavelike saucers. In this work, we propose a general computational framework for mirror cup and saucer art design. As input, we take from the user one image for the direct view, one image for the reflected view, and the base shape of the saucer. Our algorithm then generates a suitable saucer shape by deforming the input shape. We formulate this problem as a constrained optimization for the saucer surface. Our framework solves for the fine geometry details on the base shape along with its texture, such that when a mirror cup is placed on the saucer, the user-specified images are observed as direct and reflected views. Through extensive experiments, we demonstrate the effectiveness of our framework and the great design flexibility that it offers to users. We further validate the produced art pieces by fabricating the colored saucers using three-dimensional printing.