Research progress on and prospects for virtual brush modeling in digital calligraphy and painting

As the crown of the scholar’s four jewels, the brush has occupied a cherished position in the culture of traditional Chinese painting and calligraphy since its invention. In virtual painting, virtual brush modeling plays the most important role. A powerful virtual brush model can truly reflect the characteristics of a real brush and enhance the reality of virtual painting. By reviewing the state of the art in virtual brush modeling, we summarize the basic principles, merits, and drawbacks of typical modeling methods, and discuss simulation results based on empirical methods and physical methods separately. The influences of brush-paper, paper-ink, and human-computer interactive devices on virtual brush modeling are analyzed briefly. The main challenges and problems in virtual painting are analyzed, and the prospects for research on virtual brush modeling in the future are put forward.