Computer Framework Generates ‘Shadow Art’ From Scan of an Object

By Tom Fleischman, Cornell Chronicle

Some people have a gift for creating beautiful works of art. Others appreciate art but do not have the talent to create it.

Researchers at Cornell Tech and the Cornell Bowers College of Computing and Information Science have created an artificial intelligence framework, ShadowDraw, that can create “shadow art” – partial line drawings that are completed by the shadow cast from an object – by simply scanning the object.

ShadowDraw generates a shadow of the scanned object, then produces a line drawing that is completed with the cast shadow.

“Shadow art requires iterative trial and error, but with our system, even for people with limited artistic talent, they can take any object from their daily life to create this art,” said Rundong Luo, a doctoral student in the field of computer science. “It takes no trial and error; our system outputs the result in one shot.”

Read more in the Cornell Chronicle.