PLUGIN: Paint Engine (PC)

[DannyRaphael]

PLUGIN: Paint Engine
VENDOR: Fantastic Machines
LINK TO DOWNLOAD Paint Engine Beta:

http://fantasticmachines.com/store/index.php?cPath=24&osCsid=33001ea37bc69f42a06a0aa645bb1f70

PLATFORM: Windows only

PURPOSE: May be used to apply numerous effects to an image with the intent of making it look “painterly.”

The effects generated by this plugin can (and probably should) be combined with other effects to avoid the dreaded "It looks like it was created by a computer" look.

FEATURES:
* Numerous controls…one might argue, “too many.”
* Custom settings can be saved
* Custom settings can be shared with others
* Previews run quickly
* Shareware (nominal donation requested)

Paint Engine (PE for short) comes with over 85 presets, with names such as Arctic, Zap, Impressionist1, etc. The preset definitions are located in the provided .INI file.

I felt some of the presets were quite useful and effective at creating a pleasing painterly effect; others fell into the “way too weird to be useful” category for me; some in between. To each his/her own. Experiment to discover which work for you. I deleted many of the not-so-useful-to-me presets out of the .INI to make the select list more manageable.

BEWARE:
The .INI file, which must be moved into the correct directory. Read the README.txt for details.

More examples will be posted in this thread by their original artists.

MEMBER CRAFTED PRESETS:
* Many are listed in posts that follow this one
* Most of the presets that follow have consolidated into a single file that can be downloaded from this thread:

http://www.retouchpro.com/forums/photo-based-art/16642-paint-engine-presets-installing-custom-uploads-file.html

Have fun!

~Danny~

[DannyRaphael]

Paint Engine compatibility, review, example uses

No Mac version...

Compatible with:
· Photoshop versions 3.0.5 and greater
· Illustrator
· After Effects
· Procreate/Corel/Fractal Designer Painter
· JASC Paint Shop Pro versions 4.12 and greater
· Corel Photo Paint
· Unlead Photo Impact 4 and above
· Image Explorer Pro 4.0 or above
· SPG ColorWorks: WEB version 3.002 and greater
· Ulead Gif Animator 3.0

Nice review with example images: http://www.fortunecity.com/millenniu...editorial.html

A tutorial using Paint Shop Pro: http://www.dreamwater.net/pspgraphics/tutorial1.html

Another tutorial using Paint Shop Pro in which PE is used: http://www.bubblespsp.homestead.com/dvdmaskframe.html

And yet another PSP based tutorial for creating an oil painting background: http://www.fluffykitten.net/~rosepet...intingtut.html

For more tutorial examples, use you favorite seach engine and keywords such as, "fantastic machines" and "paint engine".

Though most of the tutorials I found were PSP centric, this plugin works very slick with plain ol' Photoshop!

~DannyR~

[OhThatGirl2001]

Well, after fooling around with the presets and adding Vikki's two (0wetter2 and vWATERPAPAER) I've learned a few tricks about editing the ini files.

First thing I did, was edit the original and replace it with Vikki's two presets (the ini can be found in your C:Windows directory). I took the old fmachine.ini and renamed it old and replaced it with the new one fmachine.ini. However, I discovered all the other settings were gone when I did this and I was left with only the two new presets.

So, I decided to look at the ini file and see how it was written. I decided to go back to the old ini file. This time I used notepad opened it up and copied and pasted the two presets that Vikki so nicely gave us at the bottom of the ini fileSetting62=0wetter2;1,1,0,0,0,0,4294967172,4294967213,34,2,100,54,56,59,0,2,-7,-1,4294967295,2
Setting14=vWATERPAPER;1,1,0,0,0,1,52,1,38,1,192,41,8,65,17,11,0,0,4294967295,4294967295)
I saved the changes and headed on over to see if that worked. I was so sad to see it didn't

Then I went back to the ini file and noticed that the Setting number at the beginning of the file was the same as another preset #14 and #62 were already used. So, I simply changed the setting number to 92 and 94 which weren't already used.

ie:
Setting92=0wetter2;1,1,0,0,0,0,4294967172,4294967213,34,2,100,54,56,59,0,2,-7,-1,4294967295,2
Setting94=vWATERPAPER;1,1,0,0,0,1,52,1,38,1,192,41,8,65,17,11,0,0,4294967295,4294967295
This time I saved the changes and what to my wonderous eyes did I see... It worked!!!

So, in conclusion: I've discovered I can produce my very own presets and edit the ini file accordingly!

Voila!

Now if I could just find some time to work on some! LOL

Lisa

[DannyRaphael]

Lisa:

This is excellent information.

Having run into similar problems myself this past weekend, I SURE could have used your advice about 48 hours ago!

Further customizing the .INI
After experimenting a bit I could see that only a small number of the factory supplied presets would be useful to me.

While it would be easy to DELETE the settings that didn't float my boat, instead I went into the .INI file and RENAMED the ones of greatest interest. This was my scheme: I preceded my favorites with the "@" symbol, for example "Arctic" was renamed to "@Arctic." Other symbols could be used as well, such as, # or !.

The setting names preceded with the "@" are listed before all the rest, regardless of the Setting01, Setting02, Setting03, etc. labeling scheme.

Having the presets named and grouped this way makes it a lot easier to find my personal favorites. Renaming will also enable me to take another look at the rest down the road, something that would be more difficult if they were deleted outright.

============

Thanks again for sharing your discoveries and workarounds, Lisa. Hopefully folks will discover your post before they have to struggle like I did.

Danny

[OhThatGirl2001]

Wonderful advise. Editing the ini in this manner, makes the program more customized. I suspect Vikki added the 0 (zero) infront of "0"wetter for the same reason - easier to locate.

Lisa

[lglogan]

I haven't experimented with Paint Engine as much as some of the others, but here is an image where I have tried mixing some filters.

Duplicate background.
Paint Engine:
1. bad brush
2. brush strokes
3. artic
4. oil angles

Each filter was applied on top of the other.
Flatten and save.

Lynda

[Corrected spelling of setting specified in step four fro 'Ail' to 'Oil.' Before checking I didn't know if it was supposed to be 'All' or 'Oil.' - DannyR]

[Vikki]

Per Danny's suggestion, I'm posting the PE settings I used in the art challenge in this thread.
Challenge 3:
PE filter.....Setting101=z;1,1,0,0,2,10,27,0,9,1,200,48,54,26,3,-4,0,0,0,0

[Vikki]

Another example.
For Art Challange No. 4, I used one of the default settings - artic.
Here's a closeup of the effect. (no other manipulations were performed on this)

[qom]

All this time I never knew that Paint Engine had bulit-in settings! So, if there's anyone else like me that didn't know about the "ini" file for paint engine, here's a tip.

I had several saved settings that I didn't want to loose while being able to also access the default PE settings. Before copying the "ini" file into your Windows folder, use a text editor, like notepad, to open the ini file that comes with PE and also one you should already have in the Windows folder with your own custom saved settings. Using copy and paste, append your settings file onto the default ini file, then copy it to your Windows folder. You may wish to rename your custom ini settings file before or move it to another folder, just in case...

[qom]

sample PE and importing settings

I wrote that tip about importing your custom settings. However I seem to have found a problem with that. I did what I wrote, but none of my imported settings to the ini file seem to show up! I know they're there, having rechecked in a text editor and even saved a couple of new settings in PE, and they are there too, below the ones I copied and pasted. So maybe my tip isn't so great after all! Sorry!

Anyway here is an image I did using PE in PhotoBrush 1.95 and adding one if PB's artistic emboss effects too. I used one of my digital photos resized of course, and the PE soft paint 2 setting.

[jeaniesa]

Beautiful QOM!

Another tip when copying your settings into the default .ini file:

Make sure there are no duplicate numbers! Each setting is given a number after "Setting" in the first field. If any of those "Settingxx" labels are duplicated, I don't think your new ones will show up.

Jeanie

[qom]

That was it!

Jeanie and Danny, Jeanie had the right answer as did you in private mail. So all who might be interested... you can import your custom settings but have to make sure the setting numbers do not duplicate what is in the default .ini file. After 15 minutes of checking and changing setting numbers, the updated .ini file works fine.

[qom]

My custom settings for PE

Here are my custom settings for PE taken from it's .ini file. There is nothing spectacular here... but you may find one or two of interest.

[PaintEngine:Settings]
Setting00=oil 01;1,1,0,0,2,1,4294967256,154,13,0,100,124,112,8,-4,-3,0,0,4294967242,4294967198
Setting01=oil 02;1,1,0,0,2,0,0,98,35,0,100,118,122,59,-1,5,0,0,60,180
Setting02=oil 03;1,1,0,0,0,2,11,180,39,2,104,119,5,86,-5,-6,7,0,4294967212,4294967193
Setting03=oil 04;1,1,0,0,2,7,4294967206,4294967176,3,0,100,110,13,66,9,7,0,0,45,144
Setting04=wc 01;1,1,0,0,2,11,0,4294967206,35,2,100,86,80,35,-3,-7,0,0,144,4294967218
Setting05=fresco 01;1,1,0,0,1,8,4294967132,72,16,1,148,78,64,91,-1,-3,0,0,40,80
Setting06=wc 02;1,1,0,0,0,12,0,65,25,0,100,157,64,62,-1,1,0,0,4294967233,80
Setting07=fresco 02;1,1,0,0,0,2,180,4294967166,36,0,100,121,115,33,-7,-10,6,-4,4294967142,80
Setting08=fresco 03;1,1,0,0,0,9,4294967206,49,26,0,100,113,3,105,6,2,0,2,4294967132,32
Setting09=oil 05;1,1,0,0,2,11,4294967217,4294967251,16,1,100,131,55,66,-10,-2,0,0,45,146
Setting10=oil 06;1,1,0,0,2,7,4294967206,4294967251,20,2,142,115,1,68,-5,5,0,0,0,90
Setting11=oil 07;1,1,0,0,0,1,120,4294967203,30,0,62,130,57,69,-9,-4,0,0,4294967224,4294967224
Setting12=plastic 01;1,1,0,0,2,10,120,163,36,2,100,103,78,73,6,9,0,0,0,4294967224
Setting13=wc 03;1,1,0,0,0,9,0,4294967193,38,1,100,117,85,60,8,8,0,0,4294967176,4294967267
Setting14=wc 04;1,1,0,0,2,11,4294967165,66,34,0,100,75,73,84,-8,-4,-17,0,4294967227,32
Setting15=water05;1,1,0,0,0,12,4294967224,120,26,2,100,172,91,29,-8,0,0,11,72,4294967236
Setting16=water06;1,1,0,0,0,5,4294967224,120,26,2,100,172,91,29,-8,0,0,11,72,4294967236
Setting17=dry brush01;1,1,0,0,0,3,4294967236,62,25,0,112,124,57,85,-3,-1,0,9,22,0
Setting18=oil 07;1,1,0,0,2,12,4294967260,40,16,0,100,168,19,77,-6,-1,0,0,45,180
Setting19=dry brush 02;1,1,0,0,0,4,4294967236,62,25,0,112,124,57,85,-3,-1,0,9,22,0
Setting20=oil 08;1,1,0,0,0,10,4294967197,144,13,2,99,88,19,82,-9,9,-6,0,120,0
Setting21=dry brush 03;1,1,0,0,0,3,4294967236,62,4,0,112,124,57,85,-3,-1,0,9,22,0
Setting22=fresco 04;1,1,0,0,0,1,4294967206,49,28,0,100,113,3,105,6,2,0,2,4294967132,32
Setting23=plastic 02;1,1,0,0,2,6,4294967141,45,20,0,100,122,62,45,-7,-6,-20,0,0,102
Setting24=oil10;1,1,0,0,0,9,4294967193,150,36,1,100,134,63,74,3,-8,-11,0,90,36

[DannyRaphael]

Very cool, Jim, and MUCH appreciated.

To make it easier for me to try these out, before I load them into my PE .ini, I'm going to rename each as follows:

Before the name you assigned to each, e.g., Oil01, Oil02, etc., I'm going to insert a "#" ... #Oil01, #Oil02, etc.

That way when they are listed in the PE dropdown box, yours will be listed first because of the sort order (# comes before A)! It will also distinguish your creations from the PE default settings.

- - - - -

Thanks to your contribution here I can see I'll be having more fun this weekend!

~Danny~

[DannyRaphael]

Click HERE to see an example of an "oil painting" effect achieved using Paint Engine in conjunction with few other tweaks.

It's very good.

~DannyR~