Realistic and efficient rendering of free-form knitwear

We present a method for rendering knitwear on free-form surfaces. This meth od has three main advantages. First, it renders yam microstructure realisti cally and efficiently. Second, the rendering efficiency of yam microstructu re does not come at the price of ignoring the interactions between the neig hboring yam loops. Such interactions are modeled in our system to further e nhance realism. Finally, our approach gives the user intuitive control on a few key aspects of knitwear appearance: the fluffiness Of the yarn and the irregularity in the positioning of the yam loops. The result is a system t hat efficiently produces highly realistic rendering of free-form knitwear w ith user control on key aspects of visual appearance. Copyright (C) 2001 Jo hn Wiley & Sons, Ltd.