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[Richard Briggs Profile]

Hi all,

If there's one type of effect I use again and again its the 'sky replace'. Especially living in England where dull, grey skies are a major 'feature'. But I seem to be running out of skies. I seem to end up using the same half dozen or so. So, I'd love to see loads more sky effects to use with replace sky.

Regards

[andrewb2012 Profile]

Hi Richard,

I have been collecting sky images for quite a while now and certainly intend to create more 'replace sky' effects in the near future. I will make it more of a priority now, but it will still be a little while before I can commit to making them. But I will let you know when they are up and running.

Cheers,

Andrew

[andrewb2012 Profile]

Richard,

Got the finger out and uploaded 10 new replace sky effects. The series (which I will build on) is simply called 'Replace sky' - my series is numbered 0001-0010 (and this number will grow as I do more of these). I've also tagged them 'white', 'blue', 'summer' and 'day' so that is another way of locating them. You know Richard that you have to use the 'Select Area' feature and mask the sky, but anyone who wishes to reveal such effects must carry out this procedure first before being able to apply these kinds of effects. Check out this video - Quick & Dirty Sky Replacement here: http://vimeo.com/72822099

Kind regards,

Andrew

PS In replace sky effects 0001-0002 the sliders work - I set the structure up using a Merge Node, I altered that for the rest of these effects by using a Place & Merge Node instead, but for some reason the sliders don't work in these ones - I'm not sure why. However, I just did the effects in a hurry at your request Richards, so sorry that these sliders don't work. I might just leave them out in future.

[admin]

I've updated the gallery. It seems to have exposed some bugs in SPE, as you say some of the sliders aren't working and also I found that some of the textures didn't appear in the gallery immediately. To work around both of these issues you just need to 'nudge' the sky and you'll see it update. Obviously I'll try and fix them in a future version of SPE.

Tony

[andrewb2012 Profile]

Cheers Tony

Kind regards,

Andrew

[andrewb2012 Profile]

Let me reiterate the process of replacing the sky in an image for those who are not sure:

1. Load your image
2. Click on 'Select Area'
3. Select 'The Sky' from the menu box
4. Create a sky mask using an appropriate brush
5. When you are satisfied with your mask click on 'Confirm Selection & Browse Effects'
6. Immediately a range of appropriate effects will be shown.
7. To specifically select my 10 new effects - type 'Replace Sky' in the Effects Gallery search box.
8. This should bring up ALL my 'Replace Sky' effects and that of other contributors
9. Choose an effect that you like and carry on as normal once that has been applied.

Hope this is helpful, if not go back over this discussion to find link to a replace sky video.

Have a great day,

Andrew

[Richard Briggs Profile]

Thanks Andrew, some great additional skies. Also, not too extreme. Much of the time I just want to change a pale grey wash to something normal. These fit the bill. Maybe I should work out how to create sky replacement effects myself.

Thanks, Richard

[andrewb2012 Profile]

Hi Richard,

I am glad you will find the new replacement skys useful - I tried to use skys that were not too dominant but would just make dull skys more interesting and help balance an image. Would like to see how you use these.

Here is how to make your own replace sky effects:

Apply an existing Replace Sky effect to one of your photographs having first created a sky mask.

After that effect has been applied right click on the effect thumbnail image at the top right hand of the screen and select 'Manual Edit'

This will open up the Effect Editor workspace and it should look something like this:

Sky 1.jpg (184.64 KiB) Viewed 10247 times

Click on 'Load Image' as shown, then 'Delete' - the node diagram should now look like this:

Sky 2.jpg (149.49 KiB) Viewed 10247 times

Use the 'Add Image' button to select a new sky from one of your files and open it. The diagram will now look something like this:

Sky 3.jpg (210.68 KiB) Viewed 10247 times

A new 'Load Image' node appears (your new sky) attached to a 'Scale' node, however, it is necessary to 'Delete' the 'Scale' node as shown. When this is done the diagram will look something like this: (see next comment)

[andrewb2012 Profile]

Sky 4.jpg (157 KiB) Viewed 10247 times

The connection between the 'Load Image' node and the EXISTING 'Scale' node will have to be made manually as shown:

The new effect is almost complete:

Sky 5.jpg (132.58 KiB) Viewed 10247 times

Click on the 'Place & Merge' (or in some effects simply a 'Merge' node) and adjust parameters as required.

Your effect is complete.

Click on the 'Publish' button and complete the process by giving your effect a name (may I suggest 'Replace Sky') and selecting up to 4 tags - perhaps 'blue', 'white', 'day' and 'summer' depending on the mood of the new sky - the name and tags are your choice, but if you choose 'Replace Sky' it will be easily found in the gallery.

You can either save the new effect for your own use only, or share it with the community.

Hope this helps you to make your own sky replacement effects for yourself Richard - GOOD LUCK with your efforts.

Cheers,

Andrew

[Arwin Profile]

Great Andrew, I just had the same idea to do what you just did!

I add just one image, because he's seeing a 'Load internet image' instead of the 'Load image' and 'Scale' node, just to make sure it's clear

Thanks Andrew!
Arwin


(Click image to enlarge)

Sky.jpg (146.72 KiB) Viewed 10244 times