Synthesis and Transfer of Time-Variant Material Appearance on Images

The modeling of weathering effects in still images is a powerful editing tool for many graphics applications. Although most of these effects can be generated by manually creating textures through graphics editing applications, performing such artist work is time consuming. More sophisticated and automatic solutions to simulate a wide variety of weathering effects become essential. We present a method to generate and transfer weathering effects on images based on chroma distribution and luminance manipulation. Our solution has three main contributions over prior work. First, we propose an alternative solution to appearance manifolds, called appearance maps, to help synthesize variations in appearance in objects due to weathering effects. Although powerful, appearance manifolds are costly to build. The use of appearance maps allows real-time editing of images. Second, we extend the technique by using texture mapping ideas to allow the inclusion of weathering effects on images without them. Finally, we provide a mechanism to properly handle highlights, extending the range of possible images for manipulation. The results illustrate the flexibility of our solution and we also present results comparing real and virtual decay processes. Applications of this technique include virtual restorations of objects and images, as well simulation studies on future appearance of objects under environmental influence.