Non-photo realistic Volume Rendering in Watercolor

In this project, is presented a watercolor inspired method for the rendering of surfaces. This approach mimics the watercolor process by building up an illuminated scene through the composting of several layers of semi-transparent paint. The key steps consist of creating textures for each layer using Perlin Noise, and then calculating the layer thickness distribution using an inverted subtractive lighting model. The resulting watercolor-style images have color coherence that results from the mixing of a limited palette of paints. The new lighting model helps to better convey large shape changes, while texture orientations give hints of less dominant features. The rendered images therefore possess perceptual clues to more effectively communicate shape and texture information.[1]