| In this thesis,we report our research results in past two years of graduate study.We focus on the computational analysis of Chinese ink paintings.In the domain of aesthetics,the nature of beauty has been debated for more than 2500 years,and a variety of measurements of beauty have been developed to identify critical contributors to beauty.But there is limited research on the complexity of paintings in a quantitative fashion.We began this thesis by exploring the effect of white space on perception of Chinese paintings,in which we studied the effect of one visual attribute on the perception of paintings firstly.Our goal is to investigate whether white space in Chinese paintings is not simply a blank background space but actually meaningful for aesthetic perception.We applied a computational saliency model to analyze the influence of white space on viewers’ visual information processing and conducted an eye movement study to confirm significance of white space.Specifically,we analyzed paintings of a well-known artist Wu Guanzhong,and we also collected users’ subjective aesthetic rating.Our study results showed that white space is not just a silent background: it is intentionally designed to convey certain information and has a significant effect on viewers’ aesthetic experience.Complexity is a key factor influencing aesthetic judgment of artworks.Then in following study,we performed a computational method to describe various visual attributes of Chinese ink paintings and indicated how physical attributes influence the perceived complexity of paintings with different semantic transparency.Using a well-known artist Wu Guanzhong’s paintings as examples,we provide quantified methods to gauge three visual attributes which influence the complexity of paintings,i.e.color richness,stroke thickness and white space.By conducting regression analysis,our research validates the influences of given visual attributes on perceived complexity,and distinguishes the complexity measurements for abstract paintings and representational paintings.Specifically,all three factors influence the complexity of abstract paintings;In contrast,mere white space influences that of representational paintings. |
