Dripping Thin Films for Real-time Digital Painting
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Date
2026
Authors
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
The Eurographics Association and John Wiley & Sons Ltd.
Abstract
We present a real-time method to capture and simulate the dynamic behavior of watercolor painting. We develop a physically accurate, grid-based real-time fluid simulation based on a reparameterized Thin Film model. The equations are rewritten to create principled parameters that finely control the length, thickness, and frequency of dripping. Our close connection with physics allows both theoretical and experimental validation of our method. The resulting system reproduces dripping, fluid-air interfaces, and pigment advection and diffusion, all controllable by the user in real time. Our experiments show that artists can use the system to create interesting and varied digital paintings.
Description
@article{10.1111:cgf.70416,
journal = {Computer Graphics Forum},
title = {{Dripping Thin Films for Real-time Digital Painting}},
author = {Herson, Zoé and Paris, Axel and Michel, Élie},
year = {2026},
publisher = {The Eurographics Association and John Wiley & Sons Ltd.},
ISSN = {1467-8659},
DOI = {10.1111/cgf.70416}
}