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Animated Impressionism

This tutorial covers a technique for animating paint strokes applied to a still image so that it appears to be a work of impressionistic art.

VG_Animated Expressionism

Animated Impressionism with Adobe After Effects

This tutorial covers a technique for animating paint strokes applied to a still image so that it appears to be a work of impressionistic art. Adobe After Effects is the software application used in this demonstration, but you can take the method outlined here and apply it to your own compositing application. Parts of the tutorial, however, will only work in Adobe After Effects and Autodesk Combustion. To achieve the desired effects as shown in the video above, the following plugins from RE:Vision Effects should be installed into your compositing application.
Click the plugin names to download them from the RE:Vision Effects website:

You should have an intermediate understanding of Adobe After Effects in order to follow the steps outlined in this tutorial. Following along requires the use of the files found in the project archive that you can download from the link below. Unzip the archive file and open the Adobe After Effects CS3 project file to begin. Once open, within the project panel, you will find finalized versions of the compositions that you will eventually build by performing the steps in the tutorial.

Download project files for the Animated Impressionism tutorial | 1.2 MB | ZIP Archive

The first part of the tutorial covers the technique in its most basic form. The sections in the first part show
how to define a direction map for the paint strokes to follow, how to create a map for the stroke velocities, and
the effects design. The second part of the tutorial shows two methods for controlling the paint strokes in a more accurate and precise manner.

Feel free to download a print version of this tutorial in Adobe PDF format as well.

PART 1 | Basic Setup

This part will guide you through the method for preparing all the compositions that will be processed by the Video Gogh plugin. At the end of this part, you should have four compositions, with the final one showing the effect as applied to the image of the apples.

Section 1.1 | Direct The Strokes

The objective in this section is to create a composition that will act as a map for the direction of strokes at each pixel. Defining specific areas of the image with spline masks allows you to control where the strokes will move and in what direction they will move. This is done by utilizing SmoothKit (SK) Directional With Splines operator.

1.1.1

Set the project color space to 16 bits-per-channel (bpc). You can do this by holding
down the ALT key, and then click the color space readout at the bottom of the project panel. Each time you click the readout while holding the ALT key, the color space will change from 8bpc to 16bpc to 32bpc.

1.1.2

Create a new composition by dragging apples_1280x720.tga
to the new composition button in the Project panel. Rename the generated composition to COLOR SOURCE. Ensure the duration of the
COLOR SOURCE composition
is at least 00:05:00 seconds long.

1.1.3

Drag the COLOR SOURCE composition asset in the project window to the new composition button at the bottom of the Project panel. Rename this composition to STROKE DIRECTION MAP.

1.1.4

In the STROKE DIRECTION MAP, ensure the COLOR SOURCE layer is selected. On this layer, draw closed masks around each apple's highlights. As well, create masks around the perimeter of the two largest apples as shown. Each time you add a new mask, set that mask's operation to None from the dropdown menu next to the Mask name.

1.1.5

Add the SK Directional With Splines operator to the COLOR SOURCE layer. Set
View Mode to Len Mod + Dir Map. You should see the image of the apples change from the image to a gradation of colors from a blue to pink hues. Set Length to 1.00. Finally,
set Len Mod Mode to Scale Len - Spline Settting. Leave all other settings as default. The image shows the correct parameter settings for the SK Directional With Splines operator.

Section 1.2 | Defining Stroke Speeds

The next steps show how to create a composition that will behave as a motion vector map used in the final effect. Essentially, you will convert the STROKE DIRECTION MAP composition into a new composition that acts as a motion map which is fed into the Video Gogh Pro operator used in the final composition.

1.2.1

Drag the STROKE DIRECTION MAP composition asset in the Project window to the new composition button in the Project panel. Rename the
new composition to
STROKE VELOCITY MAP.

1.2.2

In the STROKE VELOCITY MAP composition, apply the RE:Map Displace operator to
theSTROKE DIRECTION MAPlayer. Set Process Mode to Show Vectors. Set
Warp Amount to 1.00. Set Displacement Source to STROKE DIRECTION MAP and Modulation Source to STROKE DIRECTION MAP. Open the Modulation Controls set of parameters and set Modulation Channel to Blue. When you finish this step, you should see a similar image as found in the STROKE DIRECTION MAP composition, but the
colors blend from green to red instead of blue to pink.

SECTION 1.3 | Bring In Video Gogh

The next steps show the composition setup for the final rendered effect, and for setting the parameters for the Video Gogh Pro operator. The steps require the use of the STROKE DIRECTION MAP and the STROKE VELOCITY MAP compositions created in the previous sections. When you finish this section, you should have a composition that looks similar to the video on the right.

1.3.1In the project window, select the COLOR SOURCE,
STROKE DIRECTION MAP,
and the STROKE VELOCITY MAP compositions. Drag all three assets to the new composition button at
the bottom of the Project panel. The
New Composition from Selection dialog box will appear. Ensure that Single Composition is selected in
the Create area of the dialog box.
Also, all checkboxes should
remain empty. Click OK to
continue. Rename the new composition to PAINTING.

1.3.2

In the PAINTING composition, ensure the top layer is the COLOR SOURCE
composition asset. Apply the Video Gogh Pro operator to the COLOR SOURCE layer.
Set the Max Brush Size to 0.08. Set Alt Direction Src to STROKE DIRECTION MAP, and Direction Method to Use as Direction Map. Set Alt Motion Src to STROKE VELOCITY MAP. Set Alt Motion Mode to Vectors, Next. You should now see the Vectors: Max Displace parameter become active. Set this paramerter to a value of 4.00.

1.3.3

Preview the animation. Because of the computationally intensive work performed by the Video Gogh Pro operator, it is generally a good idea to lower the preview Resolution to Quarter, and set the Zoom Level of the composition viewport to 25%. By this point, you should see the strokes animate around and within the spline masks that you created on the COLOR SOURCE layer in the STROKE DIRECTION MAP composition. The spline shapes behave like a vortex for the strokes. The next part of the tutorial shows a few methods for controlling the paint strokes in a more precise manner.

PART 2 | Controlling The Paint

The following sections show two methods for controlling the speed of the paint strokes in the PAINTING composition. The first calls for adjusting the masks that were created in the STROKE DIRECTION MAP composition. The second uses a matte image to designate which strokes should remain static.

SECTION 2.1 | Speed Via Opacity

By altering the opacity of an individual mask in the
STROKE DIRECTION MAP, you can effectively control the speed
of the strokes in the PAINTING composition. After completing the steps below, your final composition video should look similar to
what is seen on the right.

2.1.1

Open the STROKE DIRECTION MAP composition timeline, and in its composition viewport, select the mask around the largest apple that is attached to the
COLOR SOURCE layer. Set its Mask Opacity parameter to 0%. After doing this, you should see the pink and blue hues change to red and green hues. Notice this same area of pixels in the STROKE VELOCITY MAP composition is now a flat mustard-yellow color. This color in the velocity map means that paint strokes in that area will move
slower than in other parts of the image.

2.1.2

Preview the PAINTING composition. Notice the area of pixels around the mask that changed color in the previous step. Setting the Mask Opacity to 0% brings the
paint strokes within and around that mask to a complete halt. The masks that are contained within the larger perimeter mask of the apple maintained a Mask Opacity values of 100%. This is why the strokes still move near those masks.

For a complete description of motion vector maps used in this tutorial, see
the motion vector FAQ on the RE:Vision Effects website.

2.1.3

Now vary the Mask Opacity parameters values for each of the masks in the
STROKE DIRECTION MAP composition. In the PAINTING composition, the paint strokes move slower inside masks with low opacity values when compared to the paint strokes inside masks with higher opacity values. In essence, you can use the opacity value of a mask in the STROKE DIRECTION MAP composition to control the paint stroke
speed in the final rendered image.

Section 2.2 | Matte The Motion

The following steps show how to use a matte image to designate which areas of the image should have moving strokes and which should have static strokes. By operating directly on the STROKE DIRECTION MAP composition, it is possible to accurately control the stroke's speed in different areas of the image.

2.2.1

Drag the apples_1280x720_matte.tgaasset from the project window to the
STROKE DIRECTION MAP composition timeline. Ensure this asset is placed in
a layer above the COLOR SOURCE layer.

2.2.2

Set the Track Matte (TrkMat) property of the COLOR SOURCE layer to
Luma Matte "apples_1280x720_matte.tga".

2.2.3

Create a new Deep Yellow Solid (0.5 | 0.5 | 0) solid layer and arrange it below all the other layers within the STROKE DIRECTION MAP composition. The RGB values of this solid will have an influence on the orientation of the strokes within the dark areas of the matte image.

2.2.4

Open and view the STROKE VELOCITY MAP composition. Notice the areas of red pixels in the STROKE DIRECTION MAP composition appear as a flat mustard-yellow in the STROKE VELOCITY MAP composition. This color means that paint strokes in that area will remain static, and will be horizontal in the PAINTING composition.

2.2.5

Preview the PAINTING composition, and you should see the desired effect where the paint strokes within the apples are moving while the horizontal strokes outside the apple are static. Now, experiment with animating those splines or matte images!

Composite Tree

For a different perspective on how footage, compositions, and operators work together to create this effect, take a look at the composite tree for the PAINTING composition. This illustrates the structure of the effect and can be of help when troubleshooting.

Click image for a closer view.

Author Tutorial by Arie L. Stavchansky. Visit his site.

VG_Animated Impressionism

Animated Impressionism with Adobe After Effects

Download project files for the Animated Impressionism tutorial | 1.2 MB | ZIP Archive

Feel free to download a print version of this tutorial in Adobe PDF format as well.

PART 1 | Basic Setup

Section 1.1 | Direct The Strokes

1.1.1

1.1.2

1.1.3

Drag the COLOR SOURCE composition asset in the project window to the new composition button at the bottom of the Project panel. Rename this composition to STROKE DIRECTION MAP.

1.1.4

1.1.5

Section 1.2 | Defining Stroke Speeds

1.2.1

Drag the STROKE DIRECTION MAP composition asset in the Project window to the new composition button in the Project panel. Rename the
new composition to
STROKE VELOCITY MAP.

1.2.2

SECTION 1.3 | Bring In Video Gogh

1.3.2

1.3.3

PART 2 | Controlling The Paint

SECTION 2.1 | Speed Via Opacity

2.1.1

2.1.2

For a complete description of motion vector maps used in this tutorial, see
the motion vector FAQ on the RE:Vision Effects website.

2.1.3

Section 2.2 | Matte The Motion

2.2.1

Drag the apples_1280x720_matte.tgaasset from the project window to the
STROKE DIRECTION MAP composition timeline. Ensure this asset is placed in
a layer above the COLOR SOURCE layer.

2.2.2

Set the Track Matte (TrkMat) property of the COLOR SOURCE layer to
Luma Matte "apples_1280x720_matte.tga".

2.2.3

2.2.4

2.2.5

Composite Tree

Click image for a closer view.

Author Tutorial by Arie L. Stavchansky. Visit his site.

Processing footage for a stylized look with SmoothKit

This tutorial may seem rather specific to creating a stylized look, but processing footage in this way can be useful for many tracking and keying jobs too.

How to make video look more like film

How do I use RE:Vision Effects plugins to help make video look more like film?

For this discussion, we assume you will be starting with video (interlaced at 29.97fps) and ending up with interlaced 29.97fps video with a "film look." This discussion does not particularly cover the details of transferring from actual film to video media, or vice-versa.

The discussion here presents some of the problems when trying to create a film look using a video source. In particular, we present some discussion of the film look issues below as related to RE:Vision Effects products.

You might want to read the "How to Make Video Look Like Film" article by John Jackman in the December 2002 issue of DV magazine. In order to get a better grasp of our Twixtor and FieldsKit products, you might want to read the review of those products available on the Creative Cow (click to read article). In addition, we discuss how ReelSmart Motion Blur might be helpful in the process.

Some considerations:

We will focus on the timing issues related to making video look like film and will not be addressing color correction or grain considerations.

We assume that you are starting with NSTC video which is interlaced at 29.97 fps (which we will notate as "60i" below). We will use the term "30p" for full-frame progressive-scan sequences at 29.97 fps (that is, non-interlaced), and "24p" for 23.976 fps full-frame sequences (it is more convenient to use 23.976 fps results instead of 24fps sequences when transforiming 29.97 interlaced video into something that looks more like film).

Options when creating a "film look"

With respect to timing issues, we have Twixtor, which can convert 60i to 24p very well. It creates new inbetween frames by using motion estimation, and can significantly reduce the amount of unnecessary studder that can be seen when converting 60i to 24p (of course there is even more studder introduced when converting from 24p back to 60i using 3:2 pulldown, so eliminating as much as possible before the addition of 3:2 pulldown can really boost the quality of the end result). Twixtor also adds the appropriate amount of motion blur to simulate the effects of the shutter being open longer. And with Twixtor you can actually control whether or not the motion blur is added, and how much.
When using Twixtor to convert from 60i to 24p, you should really use our deinterlacer of our FieldsKit product first, then use Twixtor. This is because Twixtor’s internal deinterlacer simply does scanline blending, just like AE. If you use our FieldsKit deinterlacer first (to get better deinterlaced results), then you’ll get better 60i to 24p. In AE, the process goes like this:
1. Drop your 29.97 interlaced footage (with AE’s Interpret Footage->Separate Fields set to “Off”) into a 59.94 comp. Convert your footage from 29.97 interlaced to 59.94 fps using the FieldsKit deinterlacer. This gives you one frame for each field of the input sequence
2. Drop the 59.94 comp into a 23.976 comp and use Twixtor to convert
3. Output 23.976fps (or 29.97 using 3:2 pulldown).
4. Voila! You are done.
Sometimes you'll see artifacts when converting 60i to 24p that are unacceptable (whether you are using Twixtor, or some other frame rate conversion process). As such, you might be interested in just using the deinterlacer we have in our FieldsKit product, which converts fields to frames while attempting to retain important edge information (it does a *much* better job than standard deinterlacers on almost all footage). Furthermore, if you have a locked-off camera shot, you can have our deinterlacer perform deinterlacing only where there is motion (and our motion detector is much better than AE's built in motion detector, and has user-settable sensitivity controls).

Just converting 60i to 30p can significantly improve the "film-look-ness" of your footage without introducing the motion artifacts that can happen when converting 60i to 24p. Of course, then you don't get the 3:2 pulldown studder of the telecine process (which, in some people's religious convictions say "YOU MUST HAVE" in order for it to look like film... I leave this decision to you.

sometimes you'll want to convert 60i to 30p using upper fields, and 60i to 30p using lower fields and blend the results together at 50%. By using both fields you can often improve the results of the conversion to progressive frames by capturing information of fast-moving objects that can be lost when using only 1 field.
If you decide to convert 60i to 30p using a deinterlacing process (using ours or someone else’s) instead of 60i to 24p, then you’ll want to consider applying our ReelSmart Motion Blur to the 30p footage... To help simulate the camera's shutter being open longer. I argue that some of what we consider a "film look," is simply the softness (motion-blur-ness) that film has because the film camera's shutter is open somewhat longer.... Giving a other-worldliness, or dreaminess, to the result. Video, when compared to film, has much more definition on moving edges that can be softened with our motion blur plugin.