Virtual Painter (VP)

is software that creates digital paintings based on photographs supplied by you. There is no need for you to "paint" the pictures - that's the job of the "virtual painters" (filters). All you have to do is supply them with the materials and then set them to work.

You will be surprised how easy it is to get VP to create paintings. But the resulting pictures, based on your materials, are all originals. These unique paintings come about as a result of the interaction between your photographs and the VP filters.

VP is not a painting tool that you must master to create your own works of art. Rather, the filters it offers are like agents, virtual artists who have their own characteristic techniques and methods. You can preview their art and even request a few changes, but you can leave the hard work to them. Sit back and watch them paint. You're sure to be pleasantly surprised, time after time. Happy virtual painting!

Copyright (C) 1995-2001 Umemura Taka Software Design, Inc.

How to use Virtual Painter

Using the VP dialog box

From the plug-in filter menu of your master application choose Virtual Painter. The VP dialog box will then appear. For further details regarding plug-in filter selection, see the instructions for your master application.

Original & Preview Clicking the Preview button allows you to quickly see what sort of result you will achieve. Clicking the Original button redisplays the original photograph.

Adjust Clicking Adjust opens the Adjust dialog box. This provides a visual representation of how the various settings will affect the end result.

OK Click OK and Virtual Painter will begin generating your painting.

The larger the picture, the longer it will take to execute. You can cancel at any time by pressing ESC on your keyboard. There may be a short interval while processing is aborted.

Cancel

Clicking Cancel closes the dialog box without generating a painting.

Size Select the desired output size from the pull-down list. Your painting will be executed at the optimum resolution for the chosen output size. For example, if you wish to print out at postcard size, select Postcard. If the output is for viewing on screen, select Screen. If Master is specified, the resolution will be the same as that chosen in the master application. Usually, Screen is the appropriate choice.

Tuning You can make the following adjustments to the way in which an individual VP filter is applied: [Material] ...Degree of Background texture [Rendering] ...Degree of rendering [Colors] ...Degree of coloration [Deformation] ...Degree of deformation [Focus] ...Degree of differentiation between subject and background

You can choose from 3 degrees of expression: [Intense] ...Free expression (more removed from the original photograph) [Normal] ...Standard expression

[Subtle] ...Restrained expression (closer to the original photograph)

Choosing the material You can also choose from various types of paper, canvas, etc. as the texture for your picture. The selected texture will form the backdrop inside the preview window. Move the mouse cursor onto this area and it will change shape thus:

When the cursor changes to the material icon, click the mouse button and you will be able to select or change the background material for your painting.

Identifying focus points VP automatically detects the principal subject(s) within the original photograph, and these are treated differently when the painting is executed. However, if necessary you can decide on what portions of the original photograph are important and identify your own focus points accordingly.

Popup menu Right-clicking anywhere on a blank area inside the dialog box brings up the popup menu, which offers further options.

Copyright (C) 1995-2001 Umemura Taka Software Design, Inc.

Users of Paint Shop Pro 4.2

If you are using the plug-in version of Virtual Painter with Paint Shop Pro 4.2, make a selection of the image you want to process before activating the plug-in. To select the target image you can either choose Select All from the Selections menu of Paint Shop Pro 4.2, or use the Ctrl-A shortcut. If you attempt to run the plug-in without first selecting the target image, you will receive the following error message: "The plug-in module made an invalid request to Paint Shop Pro. The plug-in module will be terminated."

If this happens, click OK to close the dialog box, and start again. This error will not adversely affect the operation of either Paint Shop Pro or Virtual Painter. If you select the target image and activate the plug-in, but then click the Cancel button, you will receive the following error message: "The plug-in module returned an undefined error." Click OK to close the dialog box. This error will not adversely affect the operation of either Paint Shop Pro or Virtual Painter.

Memory requirements Image processing is typically memory-intensive, and the memory required by VP depends on the size (area in pixels) of the image being processed. Even when processing compressed images, such as those in the JPEG format, the amount of memory required depends not on file size but on image size. Therefore, avoid processing very large images that are likely to demand more memory or hard disk space than is available on your computer. If the amount of memory required to process an image is greater than available memory, part of the hard disk will be used as virtual memory.

Virtual memory is slower than RAM so there may be a significant drop in processing speed. If the demand for memory exceeds even virtual memory then processing will not be possible. Virtual memory is controlled by your Windows settings, but it typically employs unused space on drive c: of your computer. Should there be insufficient space on your hard drive, VP will not be able to process multiple large images. If possible, open only one or two images at the same time. The amount of memory required by VP for processing can be calculated from the size of the image thus:

Memory (in bytes) = height (in pixels) x width (in pixels) x 10

Processing time VP processing time depends on image size (in pixels). Thus, an image of 2x2 pixels will require four times what it takes for an image of 1x1 pixel in size, and an image of 3x3 pixels will take 9 times that figure. Such calculations assume that all memory is accessed at the same speed. In reality, larger images may require virtual memory, which is slower to access.

Effect of focus points

Manual focus points are a good idea for photographs that have little contrast or when you want to draw attention to a small but important detail near the edge of the photograph. Note that the effect is not absolute but relative to the other parts of the picture, so creating more ellipses will not necessarily make that portion increasingly distinct. In fact, it is best to avoid such attempts at over-emphasis as they can result in "muddying" the effect. If the ellipsis shapes can be clearly seen in the final painting, then the effect is overdone.

You should therefore take especial care when overlapping ellipses in the same area.

Copyright (C) 1995-2001 Umemura Taka Software Design, Inc.

Caution The pictures created with this software are your own works and may be used to freely by you. Publication, sale, etc. of these works is entirely at your discretion. However, this may not be the case if the photograph on which you base a painting is the copyrighted work of someone else or if it infringes a person's privacy/publicity (portrait) rights. If you use a photograph taken by somebody else and/or of somebody else, ensure that you are not infringing any copyright (usually the photographer's) or the portrait rights of the subject. While it is true that famous or public figures who seek recognition may have thereby surrendered some privacy, they may have the right to control the commercial use of their likeness.

Copyrights, trademarks Copyright (c) 1995-2001 Umemura Taka Software Design, Inc. All rights reserved. Virtual Painter is LiveCraft brand software. LiveCraft is a registered trademark of Umemura Taka Software Design, Inc. in the USA and Japan. Reverse engineering of this software is expressly forbidden.

Copyright (C) 1995-2001 Umemura Taka Software Design, Inc.