Software: Gertrudis Pro

[Diane]

Anyone try the Gertrudis Pro and what did you think of it?

PC-only application.

[DannyRaphael]

Originally Posted by Diane

Anyone try the Gertrudis Pro and what did you think of it?

I had never heard of it until I read your question. I'll be interested to read of any experiences myself.

[Andrew B.]

I've only given it a brief test. Gertrudis Pro is an automated tool for simulating natural media. The emphasis is on the word "automated" because it does the stroking for you. Like Paint Engine and Virtual Painter do the stroking for you. But Gertrudis takes it to a whole new level. Here's why:

1. Most automated brush stroking software cannot tell the best places to make large strokes versus small strokes. With Gertrudis this doesn't matter, because you brush on the effect. So just do it all medium, then go back over details (such as eyes) using the small setting. And maybe do the background with a large setting.

2. Most automated solutions are not good at setting the stroke direction. And Gertrudis is not a genius at this either, although it does pretty well. But again, it does not matter. Because Gertrudis has a special tool that lets you specify an area and direction. So, wherever you disagree with what Gertrudis did, you just tell it the right direction for that area.

3. Gertrudis can also mix styles. So, you can do the sky in a soft style, and the trees and a style with obvious strokes. And it can combine styles, where you place one over another, with the under one showing through a little.

It also needs some improvement. A lot of the sliders are hidden, and need to be popped open every time a change is made. These can be floated, but it is still awkward to do that every time I start the software. Maybe a simple and advanced view would solve this, because I would like an advanced view where I can see all the sliders. Then I can understand how the presets work, and just work more quickly. Also, the sliders under the Color area need values on them. It is impossible to set the hue back to zero as it stands now. It needs to be able to zoom the display, plus easily set it back to 1:1 view.

But overall, I would say Gertrudis is the most powerful automated painter out there, and it's pretty easy to use.

Andrew

[Kraellin]

just one question here that i didnt see answered on their site; is the downloadable version a demo/trial/limited version or the full deal?

Craig

[Andrew B.]

It is limited to using only the eight demo photos that come with the software. You can edit these photos any way you want, and save them. But you cannot load other than these.

[Kraellin]

andrew,

thank you

Craig

[Steve Conway]

This is the type of thing Gert can do.

Steve

[PamSav]

I've just bought it and think it has lots of potential. I've mainly been using it to prepare images before painting them so far. Here are a couple I've done with it:

Artist on the Beach - Mostly done in Gertrudis then tweaked in Painter and Photoshop

For the following two I used Gertrudis to simplify the images before painting in Painter.

Little Kenyan Girl

Fire & Ice

An update is due to be released around February next year which will enable you to zoom in/out of your image and also import your own brush stroke images.

For the price I think it's a great piece of software.

[Kraellin]

pam,

i can see why you like it. i can also see why you might use it as prep tool. has a bit of an unfinished look to it. still, that's pretty impressive.

and since no one else has posted it, here's the link to their page: http://www.gertrudisgraphics.com/index.php

Craig

[CJ Swartz]

Steve C., Pam -- I really like your examples. I'm not likely to get Painter, and just want some different possibilities (without having to know how to actually paint myself )

This sounds interesting -- perhaps use algorithms regarding resolution?

From the Gertrudis Graphics website:
High resolution pictures output: Since the size, position and direction of each stroke is recorded, this lets Gertrudis Pro to render the picture at any resolution.
» High resolution pictures output: Once finished the picture, you can render it at a higher resolution. The high resolution version of the picture is not a simple rescaled version of the original: As the resolution grows, more new details will be visible.

Thanks for bringing up this subject, Diane, I may take a crack at this software.

[Steve Conway]

Originally Posted by CJ Swartz

Steve C., Pam -- I really like your examples. I'm not likely to get Painter, and just want some different possibilities (without having to know how to actually paint myself )

I am sure you will like Gertrudis in that case.

Steve

[raniday]

Does anyone have links for Gertrudis tutorials you'd like to share?

Here's one that's not a tutorial, but they give some screen shots and a little insight.
http://www.webhelperpro.com/Reviews/...ro/default.asp

[Steve Conway]

Gertrudis along the river.

Steve

[Steve Conway]

Harvest time with Gertrudis Pro.

Steve

[Kraellin]

steve,

those are amazing. i love that look. you're going to force me to open the old, tight pocket book if you dont quit

craig

[raniday]

Here are a couple I've done lately with Gertrudis. The first one is one of Janet's photos, and I posted it in her Old Man thread, also here on PBase
http://www.pbase.com/image/55683331

The second is a photo belonging to Jereon Roozendaal
http://www.pbase.com/catbounds/image/55919586

[DannyRaphael]

Originally Posted by raniday

Here are a couple I've done lately with Gertrudis. The first one is one of Janet's photos, and I posted it in her Old Man thread, also here on PBase
http://www.pbase.com/image/55683331

The second is a photo belonging to Jereon Roozendaal
http://www.pbase.com/catbounds/image/55919586

Wow... these are exceptional, Cat.

Does Gertrudis have functionality similar to Painter's cloning for those like me with little to no traditional painting/drawing skills?

Does it support layered .tif files?

[gholmes1936]

.....a product can be used on when mentioning one in a post. Such as this area does about Gertrudis. I would have loved to get that one, but i am using the Mac platform. I get this all the time, so it would save me from usiong even more of my time searching thru URL's about applications that turn out to be worthless to me.

Just a request and a tip to all.

thanx,
GHolmes

[DannyRaphael]

Originally Posted by gholmes1936

.....a product can be used on when mentioning one in a post. Such as this area does about Gertrudis. I would have loved to get that one, but i am using the Mac platform. I get this all the time, so it would save me from usiong even more of my time searching thru URL's about applications that turn out to be worthless to me.

Just a request and a tip to all.

thanx,
GHolmes

You make a good point and I can appreciate your frustration. I updated the first post in this thread to note pc only.

[Steve Conway]

Outside of Buzz Pro, Gertrudis is the best manip software I have shelled out the bucks for. So far that is. 8-)

Steve

Originally Posted by Kraellin

steve,

those are amazing. i love that look. you're going to force me to open the old, tight pocket book if you dont quit

craig

[Steve Conway]

Danny, those of us who use PSP exclusively also feel the frustration when great tutorials are posted using only Photoshop.

Steve

Originally Posted by DannyRaphael

You make a good point and I can appreciate your frustration. I updated the first post in this thread to note pc only.

[raniday]

Thanks, Danny. Gertrudis is a cloning software, much more simplified than Painter. You'll paint an entire painting the first time you open it. Working in layers isn't offered yet, but I believe it's coming.
Steve, in another forum where I post, some folks take up the challenge of translating PhotoShop tutorials into PSP tutorials, as there are a lot of members who have both.
GHolmes, I know the feeling. The only software that is for Mac exclusively that I want is Studio Artist. A couple of my friends are doing amazing stuff with it, so I'm sitting (somewhat) patiently and waiting for the PC version.

[Steve Conway]

If you care to post the site I would really like to see what they have.

Steve

Originally Posted by raniday

Steve, in another forum where I post, some folks take up the challenge of translating PhotoShop tutorials into PSP tutorials, as there are a lot of members who have both.

[DannyRaphael]

Originally Posted by Steve Conway

If you care to post the site I would really like to see what they have.

Steve

Catherine's one of the very talented moderators at http://www.innographx.com/forum, a great site for people who enjoy this sport.

[Steve Conway]

Thanks Danny.

Wow! Even the name sounds intimidating, but I may pay it a visit.

Steve

Originally Posted by DannyRaphael

Catherine's one of the very talented moderators at http://www.innographx.com/forum, a great site for people who enjoy this sport.

[DannyRaphael]

Originally Posted by Steve Conway

Thanks Danny.

Wow! Even the name sounds intimidating, but I may pay it a visit.

Steve

In fact you'll find many of the folks who participate there to be quite friendly and helpful, not to mention talented. Several play along here as well. By all means do not let the name hold you back!

[raniday]

Thanks, Danny.
Steve, the Inn is a friendly, helpful place like this one.

Several play along here as well

You'll be surprised at how many folks you already know. I enjoy both forums and am constantly learning from both.

[Steve Conway]

Appreciate the good words from both you and Danny re this site.

Is there any way to search for the Photoshop conversion thread? That is, is it a separate thread?

Steve

Originally Posted by raniday

Thanks, Danny.
Steve, the Inn is a friendly, helpful place like this one.

You'll be surprised at how many folks you already know. I enjoy both forums and am constantly learning from both.

[pregan]

Steve -

I really like the 2 pictures that you attached. I recently bought Gertrudis and am starting to play with it. Can you mention what brush styles you used for those 2 pictures and also briefly go over your workflow?

Do you know of any good tutuorials? I haven't found many. I have been following some of the workflow ideas shown in these tutorials :

http://www.gertrudisgraphics.com/wp/

So far, I am enjoying using this tool, it is very easy to use. Hopefully, this weekend I will be able to play some more and post something up. Here are a few things I dislike about it :

1 - No way too zoom in or out at all

2 - Does a poor job along the edges of the photo, the paint just blocks up, as you can see in Steve's pictures

3 - Project files can get huge since it records each paint stroke which is used later when you want to create a hi-res image

4 - Small number of default brush styles (scratch, oil, crayon, watercolor, pastel, and a couple others)

5 - No layers

6 - No way to make the source and target windows landscape

7 - Agreed with a previous poster that the output you get oftentimes has an unfinished look (I think with practice and some minor photoshop tweaks, its still workable)

Here are some of the things I like :

1 - Easy to use (bug plus)

2 - Ability to work in low res and output high res since it records brush strokes

3 - You work very quickly with the auto-sketch mode

4 - Does a good job with brush stroke directions (you can also tell it what direction as well)

5 - Ability to mix styles as a previous poster noted

More to come...

[dkcoats]

Originally Posted by pregan

2 - Does a poor job along the edges of the photo, the paint just blocks up, as you can see in Steve's pictures

I bought Gertrudis yesterday after playing with the demo a little. I noticed the problem at the edges of the image, too. My workaround is to increase the canvas size in PS by a half inch or so before opening the photo in Gert.

I, too, lament the lack of layers and zooming. Seems to me I read somewhere they're coming.

I've been having a heckuva good time with it so far. Would also love to stumble across some good tutes for it.

dc