• Journal of the Korea Computer Graphics Society
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• v.25 no.3
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• pp.143-152
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• 2019

This paper presents two new techniques for solving the two problems of the water curtain: 'shape distortion' caused by gravity and 'resolution degradation' caused by fine satellite droplets around the shape. In the first method, when the user converts a three-dimensional model to a vertical sequence of slices, the slices are evenly spaced. The method is to adjust the time points at which the equi-distance slices are created by the nozzle array. In this method, even if the velocity of a water drop increases with time by gravity, the water drop slices maintain the equal interval at the moment of forming the whole shape, thereby preventing distortion. The second method is called the minimum time interval technique. The minimum time interval is the time between the open command of a nozzle and the next open command of the nozzle, so that consecutive water drops are clearly created without satellite drops. When the user converts a three-dimensional model to a sequence of slices, the slices are defined as close as possible, not evenly spaced, considering the minimum time interval of consecutive drops. The slices are arranged in short intervals in the top area of the shape, and the slices are arranged in long intervals in the bottom area of the shape. The minimum time interval is pre-determined by an experiment, and consists of the time from the open command of the nozzle to the time at which the nozzle is fully open, and the time in which the fully open state is maintained, and the time from the close command to the time at which the nozzle is fully closed. The second method produces water drop sculptures with higher resolution than does the first method.