Topaz Software / Discuss

Scott (sfinley_nh)    says:

Suziqb asked me to put together a "how I did this" for this effect, so here goes:

I use Paint Shop Pro - but that shouldn't matter - really I use Topaz Denoise, Adjust, Detail and Simplify - all work with a few other editors as well ...

By the way, sometimes I just mess around until I think it looks good - that doesn't always happen - often I end up over doing it - so if it isn't working for you either - start over! Making a copy is, of course, a good idea - that way you have your original.

1. Run the image through Denoise - the painting works better on a clean image

here is my cleaned image:



2. Sharpen the image - for me depending on how sharp it already is I may run the image through Detail and Adjust. I find that slightly over sharpening works best when I go to apply the painting effect. The "Feature_Enhancement" or "Micro_contrast_enhancement" presets in Detail work well.

In Adjust I have a setting I use:
Adaptive Exposure: 0.18 Regions: 15
Contrast: 0 Brightness: 0
Highlight: .03 Shadow: .03
Strength: 1.05 Boost: 0.74
Threshold: 0.15 Radius: 20
Sharpen: 4
Adaptive Saturation: 0 Regions: 1
Saturation: 1 Saturation boost: 1 Hue: 0


3. This might be different for you but sometimes I find I need to run the image through Denoise again after processing in Detail - not always be sometimes.

here is sharpened image:



4. Now open the image in Simplify. I work slowly here - maybe running the image through Simplify multiple times rather than trying to get the effect all at once - that way you don't lose detail.

I have a preset I made:
Simplify Size: 0.13 Feature Boost: 0
Details Strength: 0.53 Details Boost: 1 Size: 0.2
Remove Small: 0 Remove Weak: 0.01
Brightness: 0.01 Contrast: 1.08
Saturation: 1.31 Saturation Boost: 1.15
Edge Type: Color Line-fine
Edge Strength: 0.17 Simplify Edge: 0.3
Reduce WEak: 10
Reduce Small: 0.2
Fatten Edge: 0
Mode: Combine

Press OK

Here is the image after 1 pass through Simplify:



5. Open in Simplify again. This time I might use the "BuzSim" preset or the "Image_CrispEdge" preset. For this image I am going to use "BuzSim" but with a few changes:

Change Simplify Size to : 0.2
Change Saturation to : 1
Change Saturation Boost to : 1
Change Edge Strength to : 0.13 or so
Change Edge Type to : Color Line-fine
Mode: Combine

Press OK

You'll notice that some of the details are gone and it is more "painterly" in appearance.

6. Return to Simplify as many times as you think necessary.

7. Sometimes I run the image through Denoise again - it helps give a nice clean feel to the image.

8. Paint Shop Pro has a Texture effect - I like to pick a canvas texture

Here is the image after multiple passes in Simplify and with a texture:



9. If you want, you can give your image a frame too: Big Huge Labs has a nifty frame maker here: bighugelabs.com/mat.php

I hope this is something you can use - write me if you have questions.

Enjoy!
Scott
Posted at 6:34AM, 30 October 2009 PDT (permalink)