Advanced Tip #2 - How to combine multiple effects

This tip takes advantage of the new clipboard support introduced in version 1.6.

I will show you how to combine two effects (pencil + painting 3) and also some source image improvements to produce a new style of painting.

1- First step
Open an image and choose 'Pencil Sketch' rendering and untick all three boxes 'soften edges', 'add frame' and 'Texture'.

Click on the 'Sketch It!' button to produce a coloured pencil sketch with some dark edges as shown below:


2- Second step
Press CTRL-C to copy the sketch then CTRL-V to paste it as a new source image (you can also use the menu items 'Edit|Copy drawing to clipboard' and 'Edit|Paste image from clipboard').

You now have your pencil sketch as a source image:


3- Third step
Now in the drawing parameters, choose 'Painting 3 (median + bilateral filter)' and click the 'Sketch it!' button:

4- Fourth step
Now press CTRL-C and CTRL-V again, and go to 'Edit|Modify source image|Increase contrast' and 'Edit|Modify source image|sharpen source image'.
Then in the drawing parameters choose 'Frame and texture only' and tick all three boxes 'soften edges', 'add frame' and 'Texture'.

5- Final step
Now click on the 'Sketch It!' button to produce an image like the following one:


Hope you like it!!!

Best regards,

David

New website - with sample images gallery

Hi!

The homepage of FotoSketcher has been redesigned and now sports a gallery of pictures made with the latest version.

Here's a screenshot of the 'about' page:

FotoSketcher 1.6 is released

Version 1.6 of FotoSketcher is now ready for download (at http://www.fotosketcher.com/).

(photo credit : Stock Xchng)

Here are some of the new features in this release :
- more options to improve source image (resample to desktop size, simplify, increase contrast...)
- new rendering : painting 3 (median + bilateral filtering)
- full screen preview (by double-clicking the drawing)
- clipboard support (copy and paste)
- optimized painting 2 rendering (almost 40% speed increase from version 1.5)
- set as wallpaper function
- colour frames: if a white frame is chosen, a cutout effect is applied. If a different frame colour is selected, a white edging is applied.

Best regards,

David

Experimenting a new painting effect

Hi all,

I'm currently testing a new algorithm which seems rather promising, especially when used in conjunction with the "Painting Type 2" effect.

Here's is an example output (click on image to view in original size) :

(Original photo credit : Stock.xcng)

Best regards,

David

Working on version 1.6

Hi all,

Just a quick word to let you know that I'm busy working on version 1.6 of FotoSketcher.

Here are some of the new features you will find :
- improved and faster painting algorithm (40% speed increase)
- smooth resize of source image (useful for desktop wallpaper)
- set as wallpaper in one click
- copy to and from clipboard
- improved appearance
- full screen preview
- etc...

In the meantime, here's a quick painting (photo credit cuteoverload.com) :

Bug-fixed version 1.5 uploaded

The printer-related problem some users experienced with FotoSketcher 1.5 should now be fixed.

I have uploaded a corrected version on http://www.fotosketcher.com/

Thanks for your feedback!

Here are some new "paintings" (photo credit Stock.xnchg) :

New feature/bug (!!) in FotoSketcher 1.5

Despite rigourous testing by a hugely dedicated team (me) it appears that the new version of FotoSketcher (1.5) may actually cause problems to some users...

In fact, if you have no printer installed on your system (or if the print spooler is not started) then you will get a 1722 error code (and you will need to frantically press ctrl-alt-del to stop the FotoSketcher process).

Thanks to Dod for pointing out the problem (and finding the cause!).

I will address this problem ASAP.

Best regards,

David

Version 1.5 is released

Hi all!

Version 1.5 of FotoSketcher is now ready for download at http://www.fotosketcher.com/

The new features are:
- multilingual setup (English and French)
- multilingual application (English and French)
- ***new painting algorithm***
- ***printing function, with preview***
- a few bugfixes
- a few new bugs (I hope not!!!)

Have fun!

Work in progress - new painting algorithm and printing

I'm already working on a new and improved version of FotoSketcher, which will include (at last some will say...) printing capabilities. Here is a preview of the French version:


I have also added a new painting algorithm. Here's an example output:

Best regards,

David

New version 1.4 is finally out!

Hi all!

After weeks of late night programming efforts (thanks to everyone who offered me coffee and biscuits...) the new version of FotoSketcher is finally out.

The most important new features are the pen & ink sketch and painting algorithms. Try them out, they might surprise you (hopefully in a good way).

You can download the English version of FotoSketcher here: http://www.fotosketcher.com

Don't hesitate to let me know what you think, I'm always glad to read your comments, ideas and suggestions.

Best Regards,

David