Vectorizing bitmaps has been done for a long time. Even Flash even had a built in feature for this (see "trace bitmap") (I think even Flash 5 had this feature).<p>The significance of this is that it introduces a new algorithm for doing it. The core of the algorithm is diffusion filters.<p>What would be VERY interesting is to see the vector size difference for photorealistic pictures using Diffusion curves vs a typical linear or gradient picture.
Very impressive!<p>But ... Is it just me or is it just <i>really inappropriate</i> for a video demonstration accompanying an academic paper like this to begin with an unrelated 20-second commercial advertisement? Can INRIA really not host the demonstration somewhere that doesn't attach advertisements to their videos?
The link to the source code doesn't work. Did anyone figure out what the correct URL is? I'd love to play around with this.<p>Edit: Nevermind, I found it out myself:
<a href="http://www.henrykorol.net/DiffusionCurves.rar" rel="nofollow">http://www.henrykorol.net/DiffusionCurves.rar</a>
This seems very cool, but I'd really love to see a better comparison with gradient meshes.<p>Because gradient meshes seem far more "intuitive" and exact, exactly matching the artist's "intentions".<p>Whereas diffusion curves look very cool, but produce great complexity of gradients based on very simple curves -- almost too complex/unpredictable, I'd be worried, if I were an artist.<p>Of course, this seems easier to deal with than gradient meshes, at least how they exist today. I'd love to hear from artists who have tried both. I also wonder what other languages/concepts might be developed in the future towards this same end!
This is significant: it allows one programmatically to convert any raster image into a full-color vector drawing. (Think converting JPEGs into similar-looking but much smaller SVG-like files with one click.)<p>Designers would LOVE to have this functionality built into applications like Inkscape and Adobe Illustrator.<p>--<p>Edit: changed "SVGs" to "SVG-like files" per vlasta2's comment (thanks vlasta2!). Also changed "equal-looking" to "similar-looking," because the automatically-generated color gradients may not precisely match the original.
Damn, something exactly like this is one of the problems I've been playing with in my head for years, but never got very far on. Turns out it's been solved for four years. Very, very cool work.
Here's an implementation in WebGL<p><a href="http://blog.calyptus.eu/seb/2010/11/webgl-not-just-for-3d/" rel="nofollow">http://blog.calyptus.eu/seb/2010/11/webgl-not-just-for-3d/</a>