Sumi-nagashi: creation of new style media art with haptic digital colors

This installation provides painters with a method for feeling attributes of digital colors and a fluid canvas. When a user of this installation moves the stylus paintbrush over the digital canvas, he/she senses the "weight of the colors" through the brush. For example, the user experiences dark colors as heavy in weight and light colors as light in weight. Complex painting is expressed as a mixed tactile sensation using a new desk-style force feedback system called the "Proactive Desk." Other existing digital painting systems that use haptic cues usually aim to be physically and visually correct. In this approach, however, we invested effort in enhancing the relationship between digital colors as a virtual material and the sense of touch. Additionally, we took the importance of co-located drawing work space for creative tasks into account. We believe that this experience will arouse new inspiration and give digital painters the opportunity to experience again how important touch is for creativity in art.