WORLDBEAT - Algorithm turns photos into digital art

Academics have published advanced algorithms, but employing them is difficult for nontechnical users, often involving lots of controls for very low-level aspects of the artistic process, Collomosse said. Those low-level parameters include the angle and length of brush strokes.

End users, however, are more interested in higher-level controls, such as if they want a bright and cheery painting or a dark, gloomy one, Collomosse said. Consequently, few of those advanced algorithms have made their way into consumer products, he said.

"I think that's why this research is interesting," Collomosse said. "The empathic painting is trying to look at how we can make these sophisticated algorithms more usable."

The team, which included Maria Shugrina and Margrit Betke of the computer science department at Boston University, set to work using a simple Web camera and off-the-shelf hardware. The researchers used a machine with a Pentium 4 2.8GHz processor and a GeForce 6000 graphics accelerator made by Nvidia Corp.

The customized digital painting starts with a real photograph. The software takes the image and breaks it into segments. In a photo of a boat, the boat's body may be one segment.