Favourite photo-based art Plug ins

[sponge03]

Hi there
I'm new to this photo-based art and have been reading some of the reviews on all the different types of plug ins for oil painting, watercolour, sketch effects etc.

Thought it might be a good idea for us to recommend the top 3 plug ins of our choice for realistic painterly effects from photos.

So far I've only tried.

1. Alien skin snap art
2. Akvis sketch
3. Akvis artwork

and that is my preferred order

[Swampy]

Topaz Simplify and Topaz Adjust are two of my favorites.

[sponge03]

I just had a look at the topaz simplify, good examples on their website, Thanks Swampy

[Trimoon]

How about Buzz Pro? You can now download BuZZ Pro V3 for free.
Steve

[lkroll]

Cool of Steve for passing by, because he hosts one of the most powerful filters there is imo. Check out his site for Impressionist. A must have imo.

http://asnailpace.com/blog/impressionist-plug-in/

[gholmes1936]

Using a Mac my preferred are:
Topaz Labs Simplify
Alien Skin Snap Art
OnOne Photo Tools

and if pushed my 4th would be:
Tiffen Dfx V2

Now can anyone tell me where I might find an impressionist plugin for the Mac as good as Trimoons for the PC, hmmmm?

[Trimoon]

I'm sorry to say that there there isn't a Impressionist plug-in for Mac.

Steve

[sponge03]

Does anyone know of a similar plug-in for a mac, that does what Impressionist can do?

[amica999]

Originally Posted by sponge03

Does anyone know of a similar plug-in for a mac, that does what Impressionist can do?

Look at this thread..a post by Mohammed...
http://www.retouchpro.com/forums/pho...llections.html

[gholmes1936]

Which one is Mohammed's? I can't seem to find that username on the page.......

[gholmes1936]

OOps I found it. forgot that there could be several pages in length for these things.
My bad!

[sponge03]

yeah long thread

[sponge03]

Does anyone know if plug ins or photoshop pre-made actions give better painterly results.
There seems to be so many options out there, I prefer options with quicker quality results.
Thanks

[palms1]

Originally Posted by sponge03

Does anyone know if plug ins or photoshop pre-made actions give better painterly results.
There seems to be so many options out there, I prefer options with quicker quality results.
Thanks

what sort of look are you after ? (can you give a example) the thing is there are lots and lots of painterly looks, and one other thing to take into consideration is the image what works on one might not work on another, so more work is needed


Swampy's tut's are a great place to start (Link is in her sig)

Palms

[Kraellin]

hmm, just three? and just plugins? there are quite a few painting programs, stand-alone, out there also. but, ok, just plugins... for now:

filter forge
deep paint
paint engine

some of those also work in stand-alone mode, but do work as plugins, as well.

[Joeven]

LucisArt is a good one but expensive. I thought Snap Art was useless until I saw what Danny was doing with it. Now I like it. Buzz and Virtual Painter can do some real good things when combined with layer blending.


Joe

[sponge03]

Yes, snap art is good once we get it working

[mcfly201]

for me..........

topaz simplify
buzz
snap art

[Steve Conway]

Would some of you Snap Art enthusiasts reveal your secrets for getting decent things with the program.

I use maybe two or three of the filters and then I only get decent stuff on about 2 out of 10 images I try them on.

Seems really hit and miss. And I shouldn't always have to combine Snap Art with other software to get nice effects, or should I?

I don't have or use Photoshop. Maybe that's my problem.

Steve C.

[Steve Conway]

Originally Posted by sponge03

Yes, snap art is good once we get it working

How the heck did you "get it working?"

Steve C.

[gholmes1936]

Hate to answer a question but I need some help. What is meant by "getting working?"
You just do the usual install and then it works. Of course it helps to have Photoshop or some other program that it works with. Don't think it'll work without them. Just my IMHO.

[amica999]

Originally Posted by Steve Conway

How the heck did you "get it working?"

Steve C.

I wonder, too...especially on lineart and/or sketches....for me a "no-go". Hardly ever use it...

[gholmes1936]

When using it with Photoshop I just activate the plug-in. then when it is loaded I adjust the size using the magnifying glass and adjust up or down as needed. Then I go up to the menu bar in Photoshop and choose filter then select the type of filet effect I want and let it do it's thing automatically. If I don't like what I get I adjust the sliders until I get something I do like. I'll enclose an original and one I did using the "Pencil Sketch" filter.

Of course I got them backwards but you catch the drift of which is the original. D'oh!

[sponge03]

hey gholmes, thats a nice sketch....just out of interest do you prefer photoshop or painter for your photo based art?

[gholmes1936]

Neither, but having said that I do most of my work in PS and add-on's like AlienSkin's Snap-Art, and Topaz-Labs Simplify, etc.

[sponge03]

have you tried Painters AUTO PAINT feature?

I've just been trying Da Painter, really good to use, just wondering how it compares with auto paint in painter?

[gholmes1936]

Yes, and I am never "quite" satisfied with it until I've done additional things with PS and such. But then I am not experienced with it as some folks are.

[Joeven]

Originally Posted by Steve Conway

Would some of you Snap Art enthusiasts reveal your secrets for getting decent things with the program.

I use maybe two or three of the filters and then I only get decent stuff on about 2 out of 10 images I try them on.

Seems really hit and miss. And I shouldn't always have to combine Snap Art with other software to get nice effects, or should I?

I don't have or use Photoshop. Maybe that's my problem.

Steve C.

I've found that when you use the Oil Painting settings if you run Other-Custom on that layer to bring out the highlights then put a copy of the background layer on top and change the blend to Lighten you can play with the opacity of the Oil layer to get a oil look without losing all the detail. The same thing usually works with the Color Pencil one to.

Joe

[Steve Conway]

Originally Posted by Joeven

I've found that when you use the Oil Painting settings if you run Other-Custom on that layer to bring out the highlights then put a copy of the background layer on top and change the blend to Lighten you can play with the opacity of the Oil layer to get a oil look without losing all the detail. The same thing usually works with the Color Pencil one to.

Joe

Sounds plausable Joe. I'll certainly give it a try.

And....thanks!

Steve C.

[gholmes1936]

Originally Posted by gholmes1936

When using it with Photoshop I just activate the plug-in. then when it is loaded I adjust the size using the magnifying glass and adjust up or down as needed. Then I go up to the menu bar in Photoshop and choose filter then select the type of filet effect I want and let it do it's thing automatically. If I don't like what I get I adjust the sliders until I get something I do like. I'll enclose an original and one I did using the "Pencil Sketch" filter.

Of course I got them backwards but you catch the drift of which is the original. D'oh!

I forgot to include this one image with the controls for the image that I wound up showing here. It illustrates my settings as well as the image.