PAVEL: Decorative Patterns with Packed Volumetric Elements

TL;DR

This paper introduces PAVEL, a method for decorating surfaces with packed volumetric elements that are optimally placed and deformed to cover objects, inspired by artisanal crafts, suitable for virtual and physical applications.

Contribution

We present a novel algorithm for packing and deforming volumetric decorations on surfaces, avoiding physical simulations and supporting various motif strategies.

Findings

Effective packing of volumetric elements on complex surfaces

Overlap removal using implicit deformable models

Applications in virtual and 3D-printed objects

Abstract

Many real-world hand-crafted objects are decorated with elements that are packed onto the object's surface and deformed to cover it as much as possible. Examples are artisanal ceramics and metal jewelry. Inspired by these objects, we present a method to enrich surfaces with packed volumetric decorations. Our algorithm works by first determining the locations in which to add the decorative elements and then removing the non-physical overlap between them while preserving the decoration volume. For the placement, we support several strategies depending on the desired overall motif. To remove the overlap, we use an approach based on implicit deformable models creating the qualitative effect of plastic warping while avoiding expensive and hard-to-control physical simulations. Our decorative elements can be used to enhance virtual surfaces, as well as 3D-printed pieces, by assembling the decorations onto real-surfaces to obtain tangible reproductions.