"Heroes" comic book effect... [Archive]

Bonsai

01-03-2007, 04:47 PM

Is this possible to do from video?

What do you mean? Like Batman and Robin? OOOOFFF! POW! Zowie! ?

I have a program on my laptop called Comic Life, but I think it's more for photos than video (then again, I've never used the program.)

JC/DV

01-03-2007, 04:52 PM

Well, if you've seen the show, you'll notice how they end the segments before commercials, the regular video fades into a comic book / cartoon style...even with motion.

Bonsai

01-03-2007, 04:56 PM

Well, if you've seen the show, you'll notice how they end the segments before commercials, the regular video fades into a comic book / cartoon style...even with motion.

Oh, Jeeze, the TV show Heroes. I tried to watch it once, and I was totally lost. What time/day/channel is it on? That effect sounds pretty interesting. I'd like to take notice of it. Hopefully someone has an answer for you.

JC/DV

01-03-2007, 05:14 PM

Its not on now, but will return Jan 22. You can watch shows here: http://www.nbc.com/Video/rewind/full_episodes/heroes.shtml (not sure if this effect is on the online shows or not)

sheilaorsi

01-04-2007, 01:53 PM

WindyHillsVideo

01-04-2007, 02:30 PM

Speaking of the cartoon effect... did any of you see the previews for the new movie coming out where the whole thing looks like that cartoon flavored video... like the old insurance commercial! Looks way cool!

S

NOt sure what preview you're talking about. But, I think I know the insurance commercial you refer to, and I always thought that was done in FLASH...

Michael

Bill Grant

01-04-2007, 02:36 PM

you mean this?

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0405296/

Already on DVD.
I'm pretty interested.
Bill

tbanucci

01-04-2007, 05:43 PM

Called rotoscoping. They had a good article about it in Videography magazine about how intense the process is. It's basically drawiing onto each frame of your video, been used for years (in fact, the original Lord of the Rings was done with this).

There is a "fake" way of going about it by using Synthetic Studio Artist. Does not look anything like the real way though.

MediaConcepts

01-04-2007, 05:59 PM

Here's some effects including a B&W comic book effect for iMovie...
http://digitalthoughtsoftware.com/de/deEffects/Examples.html

Joe

sheilaorsi

01-05-2007, 06:03 AM

you mean this?

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0405296/

Already on DVD.
I'm pretty interested.
Bill

Yes, that is it exactly... I thought it was going to the theatre - I am SOOO behind the times.. at least I can save a bizillion bucks by renting instead of hitting the theatre...

anyway - I think that process is really cool looking! ... I cant even imagine the work that must go into that process...

Getting back on track though ... I am REALLY looking forward to the new season of Heros starting in 3 more Mondays! ...

Monday night is NOT for football anymore! HA!

( then again - it's the playoffs... )

vegas06

01-05-2007, 12:07 PM

There are some cool plug ins that I recently purchased for Sony Vegas 7.

They're by a company called NewBlue:
http://www.newbluefx.com/videofx.html

http://vasst.com/product.aspx?id=5daf3255-0491-4011-a88a-ce3eb2811fde

http://vasst.com/product.aspx?id=9519c50d-9f4f-4a09-8273-2e81cd73e321

The line drawing effect is very cool. Kind of reminds me of the old "Take on Me" Ah-Ha video from the 80's.
Anyway, you could combine several of the filters to get a similar effect: "Air Brush" "Line Drawing" "Pastel Sketch".

JC/DV

01-05-2007, 01:05 PM

chucksav

01-05-2007, 05:35 PM

Take a look at Studio Artist,

http://www.synthetik.com/

Lots of sketchee, drawee, paintee looks.

chucksav

01-05-2007, 05:39 PM

Take a look at Studio Artist,

http://www.synthetik.com/

Lots of sketchee, drawee, paintee looks.

Oops, sorry, it's Mac only. Forgot which forum I was in.

Vin

01-07-2007, 09:06 AM

I get decent cartoon-like fx using the Edge Detective plugin from Vaast...

ssvp

01-07-2007, 09:10 AM

Is this possible to do from video?

dMb did something like this and Josh Fozzard (Clip on his website, It's a groom style video) and of course DR I think has done this..I did see dMb do it first though..:)

ssvp

01-07-2007, 09:11 AM

http://www.moonlightmemory.com/screeningroom.htm

JC/DV

01-07-2007, 09:20 AM

http://www.moonlightmemory.com/screeningroom.htm
That was pretty cool.

AndrewMSV

01-07-2007, 06:33 PM

you mean this?

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0405296/

Already on DVD.
I'm pretty interested.
Bill
Maybe Sheila was talking about this: http://www.apple.com/trailers/miramax/renaissance/

I posted about this a while back. HERE (http://www.wedvidpro.com/forums/showthread.php?t=174&page=2&highlight=movie+talk).

RatVega

07-08-2007, 08:59 PM

I don't know how I missed this thread before... just spotted it.

For those of you with Macs, Synthetik Software makes Studio Artist, a painting program that will automatically rotoscope your video. It's not a plug-in or a few presets, it's a full-on painting system. I used it to do a "Monet-esque" painting of a young lady that comes to life after a few seconds. I've seen several features done with it. You can create your own painting style, make a preset, then paint your movie.

As far as I know, there is no PC equivalent.

Hitman Jr

07-09-2007, 09:49 AM

RatVega

07-09-2007, 10:11 AM

With Adobe CS2 you can export a video clip as frames to photoshop and use one of the filters in photoshop to create this effect. The problem with the process is its massive amount of render time needed.

The same thing can be accomplished with other NLEs by exporting each frame of the video as a tiff or jpg and creating an action in photoshop to apply the filter to the images. Drop the images as single frames back on the timelline and you have your artist like video.
Yes, that's the "old school" way...

What's great about Studio Artist is that once you have the stroke (painting style) you like, you just tell the SA to apply it to the video clip. Yes, there is rendering time but it's in seconds per frame and it runs unattended.

Hitman Jr

07-09-2007, 10:26 AM

Yes, that's the "old school" way...

What's great about Studio Artist is that once you have the stroke (painting style) you like, you just tell the SA to apply it to the video clip. Yes, there is rendering time but it's in seconds per frame and it runs unattended.

$379 for an effect that will probably be considered cheesy next year or use the tools I already have installed and make greater profits...

I'll take the old school way. And render time can't be any lower than photoshop's.

WindyHillsVideo

07-09-2007, 11:42 AM

$379 for an effect that will probably be considered cheesy next year or use the tools I already have installed and make greater profits...

I'll take the old school way. And render time can't be any lower than photoshop's.

The nice part about being a pessimist is that you are constantly being either proven right or pleasantly surprised. :laughing7:

Hitman Jr

07-09-2007, 02:07 PM

The nice part about being a pessimist is that you are constantly being either proven right or pleasantly surprised. :laughing7:

It's not pessimism, it's good business practices. Running out to buy the latest special effect because it's hot is a waste of money. I have been around long enough to remember when a lot of what is now cheese-wiz effects were the latest and greatest. Frankly most videographers should be more worried about their camera work and editing ability, than the latest special effect. I know of 5 people with unused blue screens in their basements from when making the groom appear to be in the palm of the bride's hand was all the rage.

Keeping you money and using the tools you have is only good business sense. Things like this effect come and go quickly. If it actually hangs around for more than 5 years and customers are demanding it, then invest, but this one will hang around no longer than the Titanic song.

ssvp

07-09-2007, 02:26 PM

Is this possible to do from video?

I remember seeing something from DMB where it appeared to me frame grabs of the video then photoshopped into a comic book which he panned with AE and then the frame grab came to life and zoomed into the full video..

ppatton

07-09-2007, 05:03 PM

It's not pessimism, it's good business practices. Running out to buy the latest special effect because it's hot is a waste of money. I have been around long enough to remember when a lot of what is now cheese-wiz effects were the latest and greatest. Frankly most videographers should be more worried about their camera work and editing ability, than the latest special effect. I know of 5 people with unused blue screens in their basements from when making the groom appear to be in the palm of the bride's hand was all the rage.

Keeping you money and using the tools you have is only good business sense. Things like this effect come and go quickly. If it actually hangs around for more than 5 years and customers are demanding it, then invest, but this one will hang around no longer than the Titanic song.

but seein as time is also money and the old school way is very time intesive maybe a plugin is the cheaper of the two wevils, (evils):devil-smiley-076:

tbanucci

07-09-2007, 06:05 PM

I've recently bought a plug-in named Toon-It (by Digital Anarchy) which has already been used on a corporate project and has been easily reimbursed. It's really inexpensive for what it does and the rendering time, and it gives an effect very close to the Charles Schwab ad type of rotoscoping and to the "Scanner Darkley" rotoscoping.

To Hitman- Sometimes clients ask directly for a look so in cases like this, is it buying something because it's hot? Who cares, I'm getting paid by a client to do it so I will. Not to mention, now I have it as part of my repitoire for other projects.

D-RayVideo

07-09-2007, 06:48 PM

Paul's rockin' the Natural State flag!:dance1::dance1:

ppatton

07-09-2007, 07:32 PM

Ya I figured it was time to let it fly

Hitman Jr

07-09-2007, 08:51 PM

but seein as time is also money and the old school way is very time intesive maybe a plugin is the cheaper of the two wevils, (evils):devil-smiley-076:

1 I experimented with a similar effect in photoshop over a year ago. Exporting frames is a piece of cake, I did it while slept. Not time lost there. In Photoshop You set up your action and let her rip. Dragging the complete frames back to the timeline took 30 seconds.

2 no one has said it is any faster than processing through photoshop. In fact I'd bet it isn't faster. Photoshop is very good at grabbing all possible system resources it can and putting them to use. I'd be willing to bet that photoshop is pretty snappy compared to this program. And the last time I did something similar in photoshop it was pretty damn fast.

3 The computer I am typing this response from is my render computer when I'm working on the nle. Computers are very cheap and probably a better investment than this program, to do some off line rendering.

But go ahead, buy the program. I'll skip it, accomplish the same thing with the tools I'm already invested in AND charge the client for the effect. Heck most of the time for major renders I just trigger them when I quit for the day and they are waiting when I return the next day. :laughing7:

RatVega

07-10-2007, 09:23 AM

Sorry, I didn't mean to start a shouting match...

What I'm talking about is not a gimmick, it is an auto-rotoscoping and painting system. It takes time to learn and requires that you actually understand what you want to do.

It is definitely faster than manually photoshoping, provides more flexibility, and will run on a "render machine" just as well as Pshop.

Somehow I always had the impression that you were an "anti-render" guy who did everything in real time. I thought that was the point of all that hopped up PC hardware... :laughing7:

Hitman Jr

07-10-2007, 10:11 AM

What I'm talking about is not a gimmick, it is an auto-rotoscoping and painting system. It takes time to learn and requires that you actually understand what you want to do.

So if the results between the two programs are the same the point would be? Spend money, take a lot of time to learn and then shelve the gimmick one or two uses?:devil-smiley-076:

Somehow I always had the impression that you were an "anti-render" guy who did everything in real time. I thought that was the point of all that hopped up PC hardware... :laughing7:

The point of the PC hardware is that all macs do is render and render and render oh and let's render again because once wasn't fun enough. :laughing7: No i don't like to render, but render is part of reality, SpeedEdit flys, FCS renders...:devil-smiley-076:

WindyHillsVideo

07-10-2007, 02:14 PM

So if the results between the two programs are the same the point would be? Spend money, take a lot of time to learn and then shelve the gimmick one or two uses?:devil-smiley-076:

The point of the PC hardware is that all macs do is render and render and render oh and let's render again because once wasn't fun enough. :laughing7: No i don't like to render, but render is part of reality, SpeedEdit flys, FCS renders...:devil-smiley-076:

Hey Hit Man...

Visit your nearest Apple store and 'test drive' a new Mac Pro. No one likes to render, but a quad core with 6 gigs of RAM and a phat video card is the ultimate workaround. :devil-smiley-076:

Michael

RatVega

07-22-2007, 11:53 AM

So if the results between the two programs are the same the point would be? Spend money, take a lot of time to learn and then shelve the gimmick one or two uses?:devil-smiley-076:

The point of the PC hardware is that all macs do is render and render and render oh and let's render again because once wasn't fun enough. :laughing7: No i don't like to render, but render is part of reality, SpeedEdit flys, FCS renders...:devil-smiley-076:
The point is time savings and a better product...

As for your rendering comments, we've come a long ways from the 450GHz G4 that you use as reference... Even my poor little 2.5GHz dualie will playback HD with multiple filters without rendering. Next time, use a reference from this century... :laughing7: