Example-based model synthesis

Model synthesis is a new approach to 3D modeling which automat- ically generates large models that resemble a small example model provided by the user. Model synthesis extends the 2D texture syn- thesis problem into higher dimensions and can be used to model many different objects and environments. The user only needs to provide an appropriate example model and does not need to provide any other instructions about how to generate the model. Model syn- thesis can be used to create symmetric models, models that change over time, and models that fit soft constraints. There are two impor- tant differences between our method and existing texture synthesis algorithms. The first is the use of a global search to find potential conflicts before adding new material to the model. The second dif- ference is that we divide the problem of generating a large model into smaller subproblems which are easier to solve.