Complete Me

[Janne807 Profile]

Complete Me.jpg (157.83 KiB) Viewed 10783 times

I would like to figure out how to do something like this. Can anybody advise me?

[eadams Profile]

Hi Janne807,

The image you posted (very nice, by the way) has several different features to it. When you say "something like this", it is hard to know if you want to re-create those exact features or only want to know how to create something that looks different but along the same lines.

If you are asking if Smart Photo Editor can reproduce the exact effects displayed in the image you posted (a cartoony look for the center part of the face and a sketchy look on a tan colored canvas for the outer part of the image), I don't know the answer.

In my opinion, the strength of Smart Photo Editor is in boosting creativity by showing the user a myriad of beautiful effects that can be applied to an image. At the same time, if I am looking for something specific, I find it is almost impossible to find it without scrolling through hundreds of pages of effects, which is impractical. Of course, you can save an effect to your favorites list, but you have to find it first.

If you are simply looking for a way to apply two different effects to one image within Smart Photo Editor, there are different ways to do this. One way is to simply apply an effect to your image, click on the "Mask Area" button under the effect controls on the left of your screen, and erase part of the effect with the "Erase from Selection" option. Then apply the second effect to your image and do the same. In the example below I first applied the Rustic times 00 effect to the entire image. Then I erased the effect from the center of one of the flowers. Then I applied a cartoon effect to the entire image and erased the cartoon effect from the edges of the image, leaving it only on the center flower.

mask on flowers.JPG (24.53 KiB) Viewed 10773 times

[Janne807 Profile]

I wish I could figure out how to enlarge your flowers so I could see them better. Thank you so much for your input.

Is there an effect that creates an outline/sketch?

[DennB Profile]

Try FotoSketcher, it's a free program, works well.

[eadams Profile]

Hi again Janne807,

I will post the images again, this time adding a larger version of each step. I found a nice comic effect (comic book - fine detail) which I used this time.

These are the steps again:

Mask on flowers1.JPG (25.83 KiB) Viewed 10757 times

The original image:

Original flower_pe_pe.jpg (40.2 KiB) Viewed 10757 times

This is the second step: The effect "Rustic times 001" is applied and the effect is masked out in the center of the flower.

Rustic times 00 with mask on original_pe.jpg (48.96 KiB) Viewed 10757 times

I seem to be unable to upload more than three images in this post so I will make a new post for the last image.

[eadams Profile]

The last step: The effect "comic book - fine detail" is applied and the effect is masked out on the edges of the image, leaving the comic effect only on the exposed center.

Comic book - fine detail with mask_pe.jpg (50.96 KiB) Viewed 10755 times

I should add that I don't like this technique on the flower image. I only used it for demonstration purposes.

I still haven't found a Smart Photo Editor effect that makes the kind of outlines you are looking for.

@DennB: I did look for such an effect in FotoSketcher, but didn't find this particular effect. If there is a way to do it in FotoSketcher, I would be grateful if you pointed out how to do it.

I am a great fan of Topaz Simplify (http://www.topazlabs.com/simplify), which is not free, but not too expensive at $39.99. Since it is a plug-in, it needs a host program to start it from. One host program is Irfanview, which I have never used, but as far as I know it is freeware. The below rendering of the flower image was done with Topaz Simplify:

Topaz simplify_pe.jpg (26.73 KiB) Viewed 10755 times

[eadams Profile]

I just discovered an effect in Smart Photo Editor that makes outlines - it is called "Black and white lines". Below is the flower image with that effect applied.

Black and white lines.jpg (54.97 KiB) Viewed 10752 times

[DennB Profile]

It does work much better in Topaz Simplify as one can select just the edges. FotoSketcher gives much fatter lines. Pen & Ink Sketch 2

[DennB Profile]

Also in Sagelight (not free but cheap) and can do most everything all the Topaz plugins can do at a fraction of the cost.

[eadams Profile]

Sagelight may be a great program, but it is impossible to purchase it. I tried and only got an error message.