Jump to content
You must now use your email address to sign in [click for more info] ×

Recommended Posts

Here's a way to make a kind of cartoon of an image.

 

  • Layer/Duplicate layer.
  • Filters/Detect/Detect Edges.
  • Layer/Invert.
  • Blend Mode: Colour Burn.
  • Add Curves above it all and pull up midtones.
  • Play with Opacity to vary strength of effect.

Interesting effect with landscapes and architecture. Not tried it on people.

Dave Straker

Cameras: Sony A7R2, RX100V

Computers: Win10: Chillblast i9 Custom + Philips 40in 4K & Benq 23in; Surface Pro 4 i5; iPad Pro 11"

Favourite word: Aha. For me and for others.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Attached examples. Pier1 is original. Pier2 is edited. Zoom in to see detail difference.

 

It's an experiment that gave an interesting result.

 

 

post-50332-0-48009400-1497090785_thumb.jpg

post-50332-0-75598500-1497090795_thumb.jpg

Dave Straker

Cameras: Sony A7R2, RX100V

Computers: Win10: Chillblast i9 Custom + Philips 40in 4K & Benq 23in; Surface Pro 4 i5; iPad Pro 11"

Favourite word: Aha. For me and for others.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Gave it a shot, not sure I got the results you expected. What do you think?

 

attachicon.gifcartoon-dmstraker-method.jpg

 

DM, maybe if you posted your sample, I could tell if I was in the ballpark.

 

Yes, that's the kind of thing. Looks good!

 

I tried with your original and got the attached. You have more white lines. Did you invert the duplicate or edges? Doesn't matter -- playing with either gives different effect.

 

Dave

post-50332-0-20403500-1497094493_thumb.jpg

Dave Straker

Cameras: Sony A7R2, RX100V

Computers: Win10: Chillblast i9 Custom + Philips 40in 4K & Benq 23in; Surface Pro 4 i5; iPad Pro 11"

Favourite word: Aha. For me and for others.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Yes, that's the kind of thing. Looks good!

 

I tried with your original and got the attached. You have more white lines. Did you invert the duplicate or edges? Doesn't matter -- playing with either gives different effect.

 

Dave

 

Dave, thanks for the samples and especially trying my image. I see, and it looks somewhat like a really intense HDR, doesn't it? Thanks! I'll go through it again to ck on those white lines in my first attempt.

♥  WIN 10 AD & AP  ♥  Lenovo Legion Y520 15.6" Laptop

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Back in the day, I would use online cartoon image converters to get an idea on how to have photos of real people as cartoon characters. But since anyone can design those sites, it may not be safe to download from them, so it's good to know of a technique in Affinity Photo.

The website is still a work in progress. The "Comics" and "Shop" sections are not yet ready. Feel free to connect with me and let me know what you like or what can be improved. You can contact me here, on my contact page, YouTube channel, or Twitter account. Thanks and have a great day!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Update: Convert edges layer to b/w and add Gaussian Blur (adjust to taste). So sequence is now:

 

  • Layer/Duplicate layer.
  • Filters/Detect/Detect Edges.
  • Layer/Invert.
  • Layer/New Adjustment Layer/Black & White
  • Layer/New Live Filter Layer/Gaussian Blur (radius 1 or vary to taste)
  • Blend Mode: Colour Burn.
  • Add Curves above it all and pull up midtones.
  • Play with Opacity to vary strength of effect.

Worked better in some images. Gaussian Blur reduces cartoon effect and copes with irregular edge detection.

Dave Straker

Cameras: Sony A7R2, RX100V

Computers: Win10: Chillblast i9 Custom + Philips 40in 4K & Benq 23in; Surface Pro 4 i5; iPad Pro 11"

Favourite word: Aha. For me and for others.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 years later...

Thanks for the guidance.

Just wanted to record a macro for this, but I'm giving it up. This is harder than it should be.

Windows 10 Pro x64 (1903). Intel Core i7-9700K @ 3.60GHz, 32 GB memory, NVidia RTX 2080
Affinity Photo 1.7.2.471, Affinity Designer 1.7.2.471, Affinity Publisher 1.7.2.471

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Steps...

Here's the macro you wanted. I named it "Dave's  Cartoon Effect" in order to give credit to Dave Straker who, after all, came up with the process. The only thing I changed was to set the blend mode of both the inverted outline pixel layer and the live Gaussian Blur layer to Color Burn. I also set the default blur to 0.5 pixels, as this was a bit more to my own liking. As you'll see, though, it is user-customizable. I didn't put in a step to alter the opacity, but clearly you can do that after the fact.

Note that I've made this an importable macros category, and not a single macro. When imported (through the Library) this will become a new category with a single macro in it. This will also let the macro be imported into the iPad version, if you want.

Dave Straker's Cartoon Effect.afmacros.zip

Affinity Photo 2, Affinity Publisher 2, Affinity Designer 2 (latest retail versions) - desktop & iPad
Culling - FastRawViewer; Raw Developer - Capture One Pro; Asset Management - Photo Supreme
Mac Studio with M2 Max (2023}; 64 GB RAM; macOS 13 (Ventura); Mac Studio Display - iPad Air 4th Gen; iPadOS 17

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thanks, @smadell. I checked it out. It works good.

I was close to finish the macro several times, but made mistakes and had to start all over.
It's hard to record a macro if you can't go a step back.

I believe this method is the closest thing to an cartoon effect that can be achieved by now due to the lack of artistic filters - as I recently learned.

It's not good enough to actually use it in my case, but it can serve as template for tracing a picture into a vector by hand using Affinity Designer.

Windows 10 Pro x64 (1903). Intel Core i7-9700K @ 3.60GHz, 32 GB memory, NVidia RTX 2080
Affinity Photo 1.7.2.471, Affinity Designer 1.7.2.471, Affinity Publisher 1.7.2.471

Link to comment
Share on other sites

If you're not completely satisfied with that effect, you might want to check out a macro I posted a while ago. It's called "Paint by Numbers" and it gives a somewhat different result.

https://forum.affinity.serif.com/index.php?/topic/83173-paint-by-numbers/&tab=comments#comment-438291

Affinity Photo 2, Affinity Publisher 2, Affinity Designer 2 (latest retail versions) - desktop & iPad
Culling - FastRawViewer; Raw Developer - Capture One Pro; Asset Management - Photo Supreme
Mac Studio with M2 Max (2023}; 64 GB RAM; macOS 13 (Ventura); Mac Studio Display - iPad Air 4th Gen; iPadOS 17

Link to comment
Share on other sites

@smadell

Thanks. Yes, the result of that macro looks cleaner and better overall.

Only thing is that the black outline is gone. That thing is of course essential for a comic look.

I'm looking for something in the direction of the sample photo I posted in this thread.

 

Windows 10 Pro x64 (1903). Intel Core i7-9700K @ 3.60GHz, 32 GB memory, NVidia RTX 2080
Affinity Photo 1.7.2.471, Affinity Designer 1.7.2.471, Affinity Publisher 1.7.2.471

Link to comment
Share on other sites

As another alternative, here's a macro that I just posted a couple of moments ago.

 

Affinity Photo 2, Affinity Publisher 2, Affinity Designer 2 (latest retail versions) - desktop & iPad
Culling - FastRawViewer; Raw Developer - Capture One Pro; Asset Management - Photo Supreme
Mac Studio with M2 Max (2023}; 64 GB RAM; macOS 13 (Ventura); Mac Studio Display - iPad Air 4th Gen; iPadOS 17

Link to comment
Share on other sites

On ‎9‎/‎25‎/‎2019 at 5:10 PM, smadell said:

Steps...

Here's the macro you wanted. I named it "Dave's  Cartoon Effect" in order to give credit to Dave Straker who, after all, came up with the process. The only thing I changed was to set the blend mode of both the inverted outline pixel layer and the live Gaussian Blur layer to Color Burn. I also set the default blur to 0.5 pixels, as this was a bit more to my own liking. As you'll see, though, it is user-customizable. I didn't put in a step to alter the opacity, but clearly you can do that after the fact.

Note that I've made this an importable macros category, and not a single macro. When imported (through the Library) this will become a new category with a single macro in it. This will also let the macro be imported into the iPad version, if you want.

Dave Straker's Cartoon Effect.afmacros.zip

Help needed here as I've downloaded the file, but cant get AP to see it to import. Something I'm doing wrong for sure but cant figure it. Simple guidance please

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

Loading...
×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

Terms of Use | Privacy Policy | Guidelines | We have placed cookies on your device to help make this website better. You can adjust your cookie settings, otherwise we'll assume you're okay to continue.