Waching daily Dec 29 2018

Hello.

Thanks for watching our channel.

Today we're going to show you how to convert any video into an artistic animation or cartoon,

with Photoshop.

Before starting, please watch this short video.

One minute, no more.

It's enjoyable, isn't it?

I think it worths more than a precarious technical quality like this annoying color cast and out of focus…

So why don't we try to improve it?

Redrawing the entire animation by adding some artistic effects might be the way.

Let's see how it can be done using Photoshop, nothing else.

Start Photoshop and open the video file.

The "Timeline" panel activates by default.

All frames are contained in a video layer placed inside of a video group.

In the Layers Panel, the video layer is identified by a filmstrip icon.

You can edit a video layer just like a regular Photoshop layer.

However, to apply a filter to all the frames, a video layer must be converted into a Smart Object.

For the beginning, let's diminish the color cast.

In the Layers panel click the Adjustments icon and then select Curves.

In the Properties panel, Alt-click (Windows) or Option-click (Mac OS) the Auto button.

Under Algorithms in the Auto Color Correction Options dialog box, select Find Dark & Light

colors and Snap Neutral Midtones.

Now, let's enhance the colors.

Convert Video Group to Smart Object.

Switch to 16-bit image and then change to Lab color mode.

Don't rasterize.

Apply a Curves Adjustment layer and choose the convenient settings.

Include Video Group and Adjustment Layer in a new group.

Convert it to Smart Object.

Change to RGB color mode and then switch back to the 8-bit image.

Don't rasterize.

This new 8-bit RGB group, as a Smart Object, retains all of the previous color-setting information.

We can access it with a simple double-click.

If needed, we can make changes to these internal .psb files at any time, save them and return

to the 8-bit RGB group without any loss of information.

Duplicate and rename these two groups "Outline" and "Color" respectively.

We are now ready to apply artistic effects to the entire video.

We'll start using the "Outline" group for sketching the scene with

a few adequate Photoshop filters.

Because "Outline" is a Smart Object, each filter will affect equally

all the frames this video group contains.

First, hide "Color" group.

Then, apply to the "Outline" group the Poster Edge artistic filter.

This filter finds the edges of the image and draws black lines on them.

That's the main reason I am using it here.

The specific sliders allow setting edge thickness, edge intensity, and the posterization

(the number of colors in an image).

For the moment I prefer the minimum value for Edge Thickness,

a medium value for Edge Intensity, and the maximum value for Posterization.

As long as we work with Smart Filters, these settings can be reviewed if needed, at any time.

Now, what will be the next filter to add?

Well, it's not exactly a filter.

It is the Threshold adjustment I prefer to apply here as a Smart Filter.

The Threshold command converts a color image into high-contrast, black-and-white image.

The slider position sets a certain luminosity level as a threshold.

The pixels lighter than the threshold are converted to white, and the pixels darker

are converted to black.

It is an effective way to extract outlines from an image.

In this particular case, the minimum value for the threshold level seems to be the best option.

However, this sketch we just created has jagged lines and a dusty appearance.

For cleaning it, I prefer the Oil Paint filter.

That's an effective means to smooth the details, control the image stylization and

the fluidity of the lines.

Stylization slider is controlling the smoothness of the stroke, ranging from a splashed appearance

at 0 to smooth strokes at 10.

Cleanliness slider is controlling the length of the stroke, ranging from shortest and choppiest

at 0 to longest and fluid at 10.

As a result, the combination of the smallest values for Stylization and Cleanliness has

no significant effect, while the high values can strongly distort the details.

Let's limit the Stylization to 1 and Cleanliness to 3.

The jagged lines and dusty appearance of the image are conveniently corrected.

Scale slider is controlling the apparent thickness of the paint, moving from a thin coat at 0

to a thick coat at 10.

Bristle Detail slider is controlling the apparent paintbrush-hair indentation, from soft at

0 to strong grooves at 10.

Scale and Bristle Details options are ineffective if the Lighting option is not activated or

the Shine slider is set to zero.

Otherwise, the details controlled by the Scale and Bristle Detail options become visible.

When running an animation that includes this effect, these thin lines might disturb the viewer.

That's why, in this case, I will keep these options inactive.

Now let's move onto the Color group, unhide and activate it.

Set the Blending mode for the layer to Multiply.

Apply the Poster Edge filter with these settings: zero for Edge Thickness, zero for Edge Intensity,

and 5 for Posterization.

Next, apply the Oil paint filter with these settings:

5 for Cleanliness,

1.5 for Stylization,

Lighting inactive.

As can be seen, the scene needs a little sharpness.

For this, I prefer the High Pass filter.

Set Radius to 3.

Apply Linear Light blending mode and keep 100% opacity.

These settings look nice for now.

If needed, we can come back later for review.

Next, can be helpful to apply here some adjustments as Smart Filters.

For instance:

Levels to adjust the tonal range and make the scene a little lighter.

Vibrance to gentle enhance the color saturation.

Color Balance to equilibrate the colors of the scene.

Before finishing, it is helpful to visualize a few other frames.

If it's OK, the work can be saved.

You can save it as any regular Photoshop file or, if its size exceeds 2 gigabytes, as a

Large Document Format file.

Each video layer references to the original video file.

You can come back to edit it at any time, without altering the original video or image

sequence file.

To maintain the link to the original video file, you must keep it in the same location

relative to the Photoshop file.

Now, the last step:

Choose File > Export > Render Video.

Choose the file name and define the destination folder.

From the first pop-up menu, select Adobe Media Encoder and choose H.264.

This format is the most versatile, including presets for high-definition and widescreen

video, and output optimized for tablet devices or web delivery.

Select the rendering options.

In this case, I prefer this YouTube preset.

Check All Frames button and press Render.

You can see here the final video compared to the source.

Before ending let's resume.

Over time, Photoshop has offered, from one version to another, more and more useful tools

for video processing.

Now, for instance, you can easily add painted effects using the large Photoshop's built-in

filters gallery.

And, more important, helping with Smart Filters, you don't have to process each frame independently.

The technique I've just presented uses two video layers, each created starting from the

same video source.

All the frames in the first layer were converted to outlines.

On the other layer were applied painting effects, then it was set to Multiply blending mode.

Poster Edges and Oil Paint are the most important filters used.

You can also experiment with various other filters, adjustments, and settings.

Notice that the rendering processing can take some time depending on the performances of

your computer.

It can significantly increase with the number and the complexity of the filters and adjustments used.

If you're ready to spend two more minutes, please watch a few video clips created by

this method using different settings, filters, and adjustments.

Thank you for watching.

For now, that's all.

If you enjoyed it, please "Like" it and leave your thoughts in the comment section below.

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