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The Simulation of Paint Cracking and Peeling
Author(s): Eric Paquette, Pierre Poulin, George Drettakis.
Proceedings: Graphics Interface (GI'02), pp. 59--68, May,
2002.
[BibTeX] 
Abstract:
Weathering over long periods of time results in cracking
and peeling of layers such as paint. To include these effects
in computer graphics images it is necessary to simulate
crack propagation, loss of adhesion, and the curling
effect of paint peeling. We present a new approach which
computes such a simulation on surfaces. Our simulation
is inspired by the underlying physical properties. We
use paint strength and tensile stress to determine where
cracks appear on the surface. Cracks are then propagated
through a 2D grid overlaid on the original surface, and
we consider elasticity to compute the reduction of paint
stress around the cracks. Simulation of the adhesion between
the paint and the underlying material finally determines
how the paint layer curls as it peels from the surface.
The result of this simulation is rendered by generating
explicit geometry to represent the peeling curls. We
provide user control of the surface properties influencing
the propagation of cracks. Results of our simulation and
rendering method show that our approach produces convincing
images of cracks and peels.