Automating Landscape Illustration with Pen and Ink Style Rendering

This paper introduces object space procedures for extracting silhouettes, slope lines, and drainage features from digital elevation models (DEMs) to direct the rendering of landform features in the style of pen-and-ink landscape illustrations. Unlike image space procedures which generally extract feature information through 2-dimensional (2D) rendered image processing techniques, object space procedures operate directly on 3-dimensional (3D) surface models. The ultimate goal of this work is to produce fully automated tools that can imitate the styles characterized by the traditional pen-and-ink techniques of Lobeck, Imhof, Raisz, and other scientific illustrators to bring the beauty of their effective and economical visual techniques to automated cartographic environments. Through the implementation of a Java 3D application programming interface (API) prototype, a testing platform was established for the application of stylistic elements to linework representing surface form lines. This paper explores the aesthetic effects of silhouette lines, creases, and slope lines on the rendering of terrain features. It also introduces the use of adaptively resampled triangulated irregular networks (TINs) as a basis for perspective rendering applications.