String Art: Towards Computational Fabrication of String Images. (May 2018)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Birsak, Michael; Rist, Florian; Wonka, Peter; Musialski, Przemyslaw
• Is Part Of: Computer graphics forum. Volume 37:Number 2(2018)
• Page Start: 263
• Page End: 274
• Publication Date: 2018-05
• Subjects: Computer graphics -- Periodicals; 006.605
• DOI: 10.1111/cgf.13359
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0167-7055

Abstract

Abstract: In this paper we propose a novel method for the automatic computation and digital fabrication of artistic string images. String art is a technique used by artists for the creation of abstracted images which are composed of straight lines of strings tensioned between pins distributed on a frame. Together the strings fuse to a perceptible image. Traditionally, artists craft such images manually in a highly sophisticated and tedious design process. To achieve this goal fully automatically we propose a computational setup driven by a discrete optimization algorithm which takes an ordinary picture as input and converts it into a connected graph of strings that tries to reassemble the input image best possibly. Furthermore, we propose a hardware setup for automatic digital fabrication of these images using an industrial robot that spans the strings. Finally, we demonstrate the applicability of our approach by generating and fabricating a set of real string art images.