What is it about?

This work takes inspiration from the fine crack patterns seen on Song Dynasty ceramics. These cracks, known as "crazing," develop over time and reflect both the passage of time and traces of human use. We created a digital tool that mimics this process using a quadtree algorithm. Artists and designers can use it to generate evolving patterns that respond to time and interaction, opening new possibilities for expressing aging and emotion in digital materials.

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Why is it important?

This work presents an innovative integration of traditional aesthetic thinking and contemporary algorithmic design. While most digital pattern-generation tools focus on precision or randomness, our system is guided by the logic of Song Dynasty ceramic crazing—a gradual, time-based process influenced by both natural forces and human use. By translating this into a quadtree-based digital system, we offer a method for visualizing material aging and user intervention over time. This approach provides new possibilities for artists, designers, and researchers interested in temporal aesthetics and emotional materiality in digital environments.

Perspectives

This project grew out of our fascination with how materials hold traces of time. I was especially drawn to the delicate crack patterns on Song Dynasty ceramics—not just as surface textures, but as quiet records of age, use, and care. Developing this digital tool allowed me to reflect on how we might bring similar sensibilities into computational design. I hope this work inspires others to see aging and imperfection not as flaws, but as meaningful aesthetic choices in digital creation.

Hsiao Ching Chou
National Yang Ming Chiao Tung University

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This page is a summary of: Digital Crazing: Applying Quadtree Structures to Simulate Time and Human Intervention, Proceedings of the ACM on Computer Graphics and Interactive Techniques, July 2025, ACM (Association for Computing Machinery),
DOI: 10.1145/3736786.
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