Software: DeepPaint 2.0 (FREE) Deep Paint

[DannyRaphael]

Deep Paint 2.0, an exceptionally feature rich program that just could not compete with Corel Painter.

As I recall DP 2.0 was selling for about $299.

You can get this program FREE at
http://download.chip.eu/en/Deep-Paint-2.0_132831.html
(thanks to member oldbaldy for the link)

It's not intuitive to use initially, but the built-in help is pretty good. If you're familiar with Painter's cloning function or Photoshop's Art History Brush, the DeepPaint cloning is similar in operation.

Opens/Saves files in several formats, including .psd (Photoshop).

Bonus: Besides the standalone program, it can be invoked as a plugin from Photoshop's Filter menu. One CS2 user has confirmed compatibility with that version of Photoshop.

Since the plugin is in .8BF format, it may be compatible with other programs such as Elements or PaintShop PRO. That would be one someone else would need to confirm.

Anyway, I've been playing with it for the past hour. For free, it's an exceptionally cool toy.

[Doug Nelson]

Good catch. I was wondering where the regular Deep Paint went, since now all they're offering is Deep Paint 3D.

[Caitlin]

Thanks Danny! Photo art is still a total mystery to me, but I've been thinking I should see what it's all about!

[Caitlin]

Weee...! This is fun! (aka how many paint brush effects can one scribble on one picture)

[Kraellin]

thanks, danny!

it will also work in conjunction with paint shop pro 7.xx. i havent used it much yet, but it does seem to function with psp the same way as it does with photoshop.

K.

[DannyRaphael]

Originally Posted by Kraellin

thanks, danny!

it will also work in conjunction with paint shop pro 7.xx. i havent used it much yet, but it does seem to function with psp the same way as it does with photoshop.

K.

Awesome. That's good to know.

Too bad there is so little in terms of tutorials, info on how to use it. That's probably why it didn't catch on.

Many thanks for the confirmation.

~Danny~

[Doug Nelson]

Perhaps someone could write a tutorial? I know I could use one, I finally gave up trying to scale that learning curve.

[Kraellin]

i installed the program as a stand-alone. i then set its 'photoshop filter location' to my psp filter foldeer in the preferences section. i then added deep paint 2 and its location to my psp filter locations. restarted both to have these locations take effect.

when subsequently calling up psp and looking in 'effects/filters', i saw the deep paint filter, called it up and it opens a window asking if you want to send or receive. this was a bit cryptic, but it seems to mean 'export an image to deep paint to work on it there'. when you've done this and go back to psp that same window now says 'receive' which seems to be the same as 'import an image from deep paint. so, basically, you can call up deep paint from psp and i'm guessing vice versa if you're in deep paint already.

you can also just take the .8bf's from the deep paint install and move them to your psp filter folder.

as for documentation, there is a 'help' which brings up some docs. there are also some adobe acrobat files in the install folders which might help. didnt look at them yet, but saw them in the folder. and, one of the readme's said there was more help online and gave an address, but didnt check that yet either.

i also noted while using deep paint (DP) that it has a few small bugs. nothing crashed when i was using it, but it couldnt undo my magic wand use once and i dont think it's been optimized for speed either and when going from clone mode to paint mode once, it wouldnt return the original image, just a blank window. you can sort of see the wheels turning when you do certain actions. still, it shld make a decent addendum to psp or pshop. the look and feel of the thing is definitely photoshop in the interface. i would think a lot of it would be intuitive to pshop users. one of the readme's also said that they had tried to maintain hotkeys to similar tools and things as photoshop does, so that shld help also.

my guess is, these folks werent going to try to compete with photoshop, but to be a sort of accessory to it and in that regard it's prolly something folks might want to take a look at. i cant really make any comparisons with photoshop, as i dont currently have it. so, make your own evaluations in that regard.

you're welcome, danny, and thanks for the link!

K.

[DannyRaphael]

Important note: There are two versions of Deep Paint.

* Deep Paint 2.0 (the topic of this thread)
* Deep Paint - Digital Artist, the "lite" edition, that's discussed in this thread: http://www.retouchpro.com/forums/photo-art-resources/10245-software-deep-paint-digital-artist.html

[raniday]

This is just a quick little scribbly thing, but it's the first exercise in the Digital Visions book for Deep Paint. My first impression is that the layers behave more intuitively (for me) than the ones in Painter.

[Alcar]

Catherine...I'm impressed. I had that version of Deep Paint ages ago and couldn't do a thing with it. Then I got version 2 and still didn't have the vaguest idea of what was going on. The book, Digital Visions, was terrible, from my standpoint.
Alan

[raniday]

Hi, Alan. Thanks for the encouragement. My Deep Paint is version 2.0.0.23. When the book first came, I thumbed through it, and it seemed like the author spent too much time with composition, etc., and I wanted to get to the tools! But then I took a hint from one of Danny's posts and have been going through and highlighting the instructional parts (under ACTIONS), and it's working better for me. I was hoping that those of us who have the book might work through it together and post our "masterpieces" here.

I learn best by doing. I could read instructions all day long and still not know much about a program, but when I get in there and have to figure things out as I go, it sticks in my brain a little better.

[Alcar]

Catherine...great idea. Perhaps in addition to showing off our masterpieces we can combine on tutorials, such as painting a portrait. Meanwhile, I going to start marking up my book!
Alan

[byRo]

Originally Posted by DannyRaphael

......I believe I read the plugin does not work under CS or CS2.)....

Just to put the record straight...
Deep paint works perfectly under CS, its just that it will not install the plug-in automatically as it does for 7.0.

For CS, you need to go to the folder

(program files)\Right Hemisphere\Deep Paint\Plugins\PSplugin

and copy the file

DeepPaint.8bf

to the CS2 plugin folder here:

(program files)\Adobe\Adobe Photoshop CS2\Plug-Ins

Works just fine, the way Craig described earlier.

I am very impressed with this program. As I remember what got me into this painting stuff was one of cat's "impasto" paintings.
I never seemed to get it right with Painter, but with Deep Paint the impasto is easy and very real (ah, so that's why it's called Deep Paint, duh )

This is fun.

Rô

[Bob Mc]

I downloaded a 50 + meg zip file that contains an .exe and a .txt file.
? Does the exe file contain the 8bf file? ... and are there any other components that are needed to use Deep Paint in either Photoshop or Psp.

? Anyone try the plug-in within Painter too?

Regards and Merry Christmas and Happy Bowl Games

Bob Mc

[byRo]

Bob Mc, just unzip the .exe file to anyplace. This is the installer program.
Run the installer and it will set up all the DeepPaint folders for you and take care of all the rest.
And, if you have PS 7.0 installed, it will ask if you want to install the plug-in.

Haven't tried in Painter yet, but it ought to work - just have to let Painter know where to find the .8bf file.

Attached one of my try-outs. The "image processing" brush is fun, I used "Emboss from Layer Below" to bring out the roses.

Rô

[raniday]

Perhaps in addition to showing off our masterpieces we can combine on tutorials, such as painting a portrait.

That would be wonderful, Alan!

As I remember what got me into this painting stuff was one of cat's "impasto" paintings.

I'm honored if I helped in any way, Byro; your "tryout" is beautiful. I'm glad you've been using Deep Paint already and can point the way. I've been working hard in Painter, but I'm excited about learning Deep Paint as well. It's a great program on its own and not just a freebie version of Painter.

[byRo]

Not up to tutorial standard yet, just a few interesting things I stumbled upon....

- You don't need to stay on the "Clone" screen while cloning. When you select the Clone screen it will set up the two new layers (one for you to paint and the outline layer). After that you can go straight back to the Paint screen where you have full control over your brushes (just don't stray away from the cloner set);

- On the Paint screen, you can make a new layer and clone to that. Helps get things organized - background on one layer, subject on the other;

- Use the shortcuts: <Ctrl> + drag up/down for size and <Ctrl> + drag left/right for opacity. You can even combine them;

- The "Deep"ness of the paint is controlled by the S and B parameters that you find on the tool palette. Clicking on the letter will turn them on and off. Changing their value (greyscale) will control the depth;

- Experiment the "image processing" brush. The adjustments are not Pro-Retoucher standard, but great for arty stuff;

- Experiment changing the lighting. As you are (sort of) painting n 3D then the lighting is very important.

Rô

[Alcar]

byRo...thanks for the tip. Every tidbit helps. It's hard to believe that Deep Paint has been around so long, both as a commercial product and now free, without any significant tutorial.
Alan

[raniday]

Thanks very much, ByRo. All your tips will help us to get more familiar with DP.
Alan, there are a few tutorials out there, but I've had to scratch deep for them. Here's one that I haven't even tried yet.
http://www.perpetualvisions.com/arti...ressionism.htm

[Cassidy]

took a quick look at deep paint, but the plugin seems to hang under cs2, maybe standalone is the best idea

[raniday]

I use DP as a stand alone, Cass.

[Bob Mc]

For those that are interested, an informative review is here - as are reviews for other painting and graphic software.

http://www.perpetualvisions.com/arti...review-dp2.htm

Bob Mc

[Chance_1]

byRo: Great Information and based on it, my Rendition with Deep Paint. Just used many of the Cloners Ex, just fooling around randomly.

I just used a lot of the brushes in Cloners Ex in random and painted all over this image. Great find, especially since it is free.

The original image is located here: http://www.retouchpro.com/forums/att...chmentid=26910

[byRo]

Originally Posted by Cassidy

took a quick look at deep paint, but the plugin seems to hang under cs2, maybe standalone is the best idea

Actually calling Deep Paint a plug-in is very misleading.
The only thing that the plug-in in does is transport your image to and from Deep Paint. There is no interaction between the two programs.

So you don't need the plug-in at all.
Just save the file in one program and open in the other.

Rô

[Kraellin]

as Ro says, you dont need the plugin, though i do find it a tiny bit more handy. in psp 10 you can direct your program to look for plugins. you can either send it to wherever your .8bf file is, or you can send it to the main folder of deep paint. it will call it up either way.

and like Ro said, it is a bit misleading to call this a plugin in. all it really is is a 'hook' or a 'call'. basically, you use your native paint program to 'call' deep paint up and you'll get a screen that asks you to 'export or send'. you hit that button and it calls up deep paint and exports the image from your native program over to deep paint. when you're done in deep paint it will send your finished image back to your native one, which is sort of a nice touch.

also, just to reassert what someone else said, you MUST install deep paint to get the .8bf file. it's hidden in the .cab files (or whatever they're packing this up in). after the installation you can find and move the .8bf over to your native plugin folder.

also, for anyone that needs help with the program it's actually fairly familiar ground if you have the Gimp, PS or PSP. there's really not that much different in the way of the interface and most of it shld be fairly recognizable. though i do see Ro has figured out a few things i wasnt aware of

oh, and make sure you set up deep paint with your other plugins. they shld mostly all work in deep paint, at least the .8bf types.

Craig

[byRo]

More news from the DP front.........

You can clone everything to just one layer, if you wish.
However most folks around here are layer maniacs, so we end up organizing ourselves with different layers for each part of the painting.

Problem is, DP doesn't have masks. So if you want to clean up the outlines of the layer you have two choices - use the eraser in DP, or transport back to PS and make a nice mask for the layer.

DP says that it exports a .PSD file, but on closer inspection it doesn't work out to well. The colour information is OK, but the 3D stuff gets all mixed up. A layer which was perfectly flat while in DP, arrives via the .PSD with bumps inherited from other layers.

So.....if you want to transport the layers to PS, without messing them up an alternative is to turn on each layer in turn in DP and save as a .TIF.
Back in PS, open all the .TIF files and remount the layers.

...or come to think about it, just using the eraser in DP isn't such a bad option!!

I tried this on cat's Autumn Girl . Used three layers with different B/S (no that's not bullsh*t - that's Bump and Shine):
Background: Full Bump, no Shine;
Face: No Bump, no Shine;
Leaves: Full Bump, full shine.

Have fun - I am!

Rô

[PamSav]

Thanks for the tips Ro, I've not been able to get skin to look good with Deep Paint yet

[ydelle]

I downloaded DP in my plugins and opened it up but it is been connecting for 15 minutes. did anyone else have that problem.

[Alcar]

Ydelle...perhaps you should try using it as a stand alone program. I have DP both ways, but I find that using the stand alone is best for me. My only problem is learning how to use the program.
Alan