Designing a user interface for painting applications to support real watercolor painting processes

Abstract

While research on non-photorealistic rendering provides simulation-based realistic watercolor painting effects, the current digital painting interfaces have yet to be improved to provide a realistic watercolor painting experience. This study proposes a digital interface to support real watercolor painting processes. We compared the new interface with a conventional digital watercolor painting interface with respect to effectiveness, efficiency, and user satisfaction. The new interface was not different in terms of efficiency, but it was more effective than the conventional interface in enabling the users to produce better paintings. It was also favored in terms of user satisfaction. This result suggests that a user interface supporting real watercolor painting processes is important for the usability of a digital watercolor painting application. © 2013 ICIC International.