DreamyPhoto effects on my entry

[JTalbotski]

Here's a comparison for Nancy, of the before and after images when I use the DreamyPhoto effect Photoshop plugin. It slightly zoom blurs a copy of the image, tints it (in this case a soft red) and adds it back on top at whatever opacity you decide. To me it takes away a lot of the hardness and rawness, while retaining the sharp edges of the original image and not blurring everything.

 

This example is from a 1 pass preliminary render (without AA) so that's why the edges are pretty jagged. I can't find the final render without the DreamyPhoto effect. Grr...

 

I'm sure all of this could be done by someone in A:M Composite. But I had already spent enough time on this image.

 

Jim

[NancyGormezano]

Here's a comparison for Nancy, of the before and after images when I use the DreamyPhoto effect Photoshop plugin. It slightly zoom blurs a copy of the image, tints it (in this case a soft red) and adds it back on top at whatever opacity you decide. To me it takes away a lot of the hardness and rawness, while retaining the sharp edges of the original image and not blurring everything.

 

I'm sure all of this could be done by someone in A:M Composite.

 

Thanks Jim - I'm sure your image would have won even without the DreamyPhoto - and yes the blur, bloom, tinting and mixing of the resultant images with the original (using opacity) probably could have been done in composite.

 

I haven't really played with composite - so I'm guessing.

 

I am always looking for a way to soften & abstract images. I had tried modifying mine using a glass distortion filter in Painter, loved the results - and had tried to figure out how to do the same in A:M using refraction - but it just didn't get the same results & it was too difficult to control and figure out for me.

 

Given how Marcel is writing a post plugin filter (sumi strokes) - I am hopeful this is opening up more artsy filter writing. HINT HINT you plug-in writers!

 

Thanks & Congrats again.

[KenH]

Looks great! Is her hair particle hair?

[JTalbotski]

Looks great! Is her hair particle hair?

 

 

Yes, but it's the old shag type of particle hair. I wasn't going to do a fancy hair style, so I just gave it a direction map and pushed it all back with a force object in the chor. It probably looks a little funny from the side, but it was quick.

 

Jim

[DeeJay]

@Jim: You're cheating again!! :-D

Her fingers doesn't intersect the staff anymore ...

[DarkLimit]

NANCY - I myself is always looking for innovative ways to soften my scenes and give them this soft dreamy appearence....

 

What I usually do within THE GIMP is use the SOFTGLOW filter..... this gives an overall softness to the scene...

 

[attachmentid=20484][attachmentid=20485]

 

Am not sure if this is what ur looking for but it's what I use when needed.......AM still looking for other ways to gain more control over it.......

[NancyGormezano]

Darklimit - thanks for posting

 

When I first started composing "Daytime Planet Shinola" (before the sun set & the Busy Bee Cows came out to play) - I had a very simple composition that I ran thru a Glass Distortion Filter - that I really liked the effect - looked like runny soft gooey oils, REALLY got rid of the hard edges, much more painterly (2nd image).

 

I kept trying to achieve a similar effect with A:M - using glass in front of the camera - with refraction - but just couldn't control it - so I kept throwing elements into the scene so that lots of reflections would start to add interest to the composition. I tried soft reflections, which took an inordinate amount of render time for a result that was nowhere near what I wanted. I also ran that final composition thru the glass filter in Painter - but by that time there was too much in the scene for that to work. I would have probably taken that final image and worked with it in Painter - distorting it by hand (no filter) to make it look more like hand painted natural media, so that I could even more control the amount of smush, and where the smush was.

 

So - it was questionable to me, if using post processing was allowed.

 

And if it is - How much is too much ?

[heyvern]

If it CAN'T be done in AM... somehow... then it steps over the line.

 

As Jim mentioned... his tweaks could have been done in composite... an out of focus render... composited over a standard render... with a subtle color shift... etc.

 

If there were a... glass filter effect possible in AM... then I suppose... well... it might be a question call there... I think if the overall... geometry of the image is hidden... then it might be over the top.

 

Nancy... your images are beautiful... you shouldn't hide them with fancy shmancy filters!

 

I think as has been said... the tweaks are mainly for... the artists... most viewers wouldn't know what was missing... since we hadn't seen the tweaks.

 

I know I get sick and tired of my images after a while... I want to do stuff... so they look new... to me.

 

-vern

[NancyGormezano]

If it CAN'T be done in AM... somehow... then it steps over the line.

 

As Jim mentioned... his tweaks could have been done in composite... an out of focus render... composited over a standard render... with a subtle color shift... etc.

 

If there were a... glass filter effect possible in AM... then I suppose... well... it might be a question call there... I think if the overall... geometry of the image is hidden... then it might be over the top.

 

I see no difference between using a glass filter or a sumi stroke or an out of focus or a tone shift or a contrast/brightness post-processing shift.

 

Filters is filters.

 

And I don't buy - well, I could have done it in A:M but it was easier to do in photoshop or painter - hell - every (still) image I do I could have done easier in something else & painted faster - like in 10-15 minutes.

 

I see nothing wrong with having an IMAGE contest - where it's the resultant image that's being judged - as long as A:M was used in the process somewhere.

 

I would think the hard & fast rule would be NO OTHER 3d program can be used in the making of the image. That lets out all those "other program" imported props.

 

But this is not my image contest to set the rules, and I definitely don't want anything to be done about the results of this one.

[Stuart Rogers]

As Jim mentioned... his tweaks could have been done in composite... an out of focus render...

I think he said it was a zoom blur, which is slightly different (although for such a subtle blur we probably wouldn't be able to tell the difference). But even a zoom blur would be possible in A:M by making a short animation in which the camera moved forwards a little, with motion blur turned on.

Nancy... your images are beautiful... you shouldn't hide them with fancy shmancy filters!

Seconded.

[NancyGormezano]

Nancy... your images are beautiful... you shouldn't hide them with fancy shmancy filters!

Seconded.

 

Thanks to both of you.

 

Actually I'm not trying to hide them with filters. I'm trying to get rid of the obvious CG look (which is not appealing to me) by smushing, blurring, obscuring in any way that looks good (to me).

 

I've never been a purist when it comes to media.

 

The works that I use to sell in galleries were Mixed Media on Paper - I would start with full pigmented watercolors, then enhance (if needed) with pastel lines, oil pastel, ink, torn paper, acrylic - anything I thought that would work. The imagery would be abstractions combined with elements that were definitely recognizable (mainly wild crazy loveable fancifully colored animals).

 

None of my stuff had all hard lines - it would be a mixture of smush & blend with just enough definition, an iterative process between media. They were obviously irreproducible - and would fly off the walls, along with my soul. I got tired of selling my soul. I wasn't charging what they were worth (to me).

 

I'm just trying to do the same process with computer. For my own purposes, I would even print these works out - mush em up with natural media - scan back in - and reuse in CG - back & forth, back & forth.

 

I really want to make an animation that would look like animated smushy 3D artwork

 

I don't enter these contests to win. I enter just to challenge myself (and cause Martin's such a nag loaded with bribes of Animate CD's)

[heyvern]

This is... slightly off topic... but I will share anyway.

 

When Jim first mentioned "DreamyPhotoEffect"...

 

... the first thing that popped into my head was an episode of "Father Ted" when father Jack drank a whole bottle of "Dreamy Sleepy Nighty Snoozy Snooze".

 

So now... I think "Dreamy Sleepy Nighty Snoozy Snooze" in my head when ever I look at this topic subject line.

 

-vern

[JTalbotski]

 

 

 

Actually I'm not trying to hide them with filters. I'm trying to get rid of the obvious CG look (which is not appealing to me) by smushing, blurring, obscuring in any way that looks good (to me).

 

 

 

Seconded!

 

 

Nighty-night, Vern.

 

Jim

[John Bigboote]

Hey Jim-

Firstly...congratulations on a 'Grand-Slam' winner...that sure looks good at Hash.com You must have a couple of 'Frazetta-inspired-3D' images now huh? Just like the last one, I would sure like to petition you to do a slight camera move on it, whenever you have some spare render time.

 

Secondly- Where would one find this 'DreamyPhoto' filter for Photoshop? I googled it...nothing.

 

HATS OFF!

[luckbat]

http://www.autofx.com/freeplugins/dreamyphoto.asp?id=12

[martin]

Hey Jim-

Firstly...congratulations on a 'Grand-Slam' winner...that sure looks good at Hash.com You must have a couple of 'Frazetta-inspired-3D' images now huh? Just like the last one, I would sure like to petition you to do a slight camera move on it, whenever you have some spare render time.

 

Secondly- Where would one find this 'DreamyPhoto' filter for Photoshop? I googled it...nothing.

 

HATS OFF!

Jim donated both this data and the data for "Leopard Queen" (which in on the existing "Extras" CD). It would be great if somebody did an animation with these scenes!

[trajcedrv]

Hey Jim-

Firstly...congratulations on a 'Grand-Slam' winner...that sure looks good at Hash.com You must have a couple of 'Frazetta-inspired-3D' images now huh? Just like the last one, I would sure like to petition you to do a slight camera move on it, whenever you have some spare render time.

 

Secondly- Where would one find this 'DreamyPhoto' filter for Photoshop? I googled it...nothing.

 

HATS OFF!

Jim donated both this data and the data for "Leopard Queen" (which in on the existing "Extras" CD). It would be great if somebody did an animation with these scenes!

 

I absolutely second this idea!

 

Jim's models have always been true inspiraton and source of amazing modeling ideas (simple, yet elegant and absolutely lovely)

Also, his feeling of composition and form, have been a source of endless frustration (why I am not half that good)...

[gschumsky]

Another way of doing this, which might be easier to do with Composite, is the process used in "Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow".

 

In Photoshop, I've been able to imitate that look (which is kind of the old process of hand-tinting black and white photos...) by making two layers of the said image (actually, I do two and have a third layer which is the original for backup, and that stays hidden). The bottom layer is desaturated, the top layer is then gaussian blurred depending on how much you want of the effect, and the size of the image. So for a 1024x768, I'll set that to 5 or 7. Then I knock the opacity down to anywhere around 30 to 60 percent. Again, based on how you want it to look. The idea is the black and white gives all the nice detail, while the color blurred image provides the hand-tinted feel, and images take on a kind of dreamy look due to natural bleed from the blurring.

 

So, I'm thinking this could be done right in AM using composite, and filtering two instances or layers of the image.

 

I'll see if I can find an example of this when I get home.

 

Greg

[gschumsky]

This is an example: