Computer-Generated Papercutting

Abstract

The craft of papercutting is part of the folk art traditions of cultures all over the world. From the point of view of computer graphics, papercutting can be seen as a method of composing bi-level images under a set of geometric connectivity constraints. In this paper, we present a technique for composing digital paper-cut designs. The elements of a design may be images, which are processed via a multilayer thresholding operation, or they may be procedurallygenerated arrangements of shapes. Elements are composed using a set of boolean operators that preserve connectivity. The resulting designs are well suited to being cut by a new generation of inexpensive computer peripherals.