New Paint Synthesizer Regionization Presets

[Synthetik]

Here's a set of some new paint synthesizer path start regionization presets i was working on this afternoon. These all started with the same oil paint preset and showcase some different options for automatically building the paint regions and the region colorings.  It's easy to modify these presets if you want, trying different coloring or path start regionization options.

Regionization is an automatic process where the paint synthesizer analyses the source image and intelligently breaks it up into different individual regions that are then painted one by one. There are different Region Pattern Types you can select when you set the Path Type to Path Start Regionize in the Path Shape control panel, whihch will fill in the generated regions in different ways.  All of these presets are using the Outline Fill option.

I'm using the 'DM' path start regionization options.  The 'DM' options split the initial generated regions to better track edges internal to the initial generated regions. So you end up with a tighter rendition of the original source image details.

I also wanted to prevent spillover outside of the generated regions as the paint paths were being drawn.  One approach to this is to use the if Region Nib Masking option in the Paint Fill Apply control panel. This generates a really tight auto-masked effects since the paint nibs are masked by the region edges.  This can be effective in certain situations but was not what i was looking for in these particular presets.  I wanted a more natural painted look , so i wanted the paint paths to mask but not the individual paint nibs.  this gives a more natural look, like the path masking option when using the mask checkbox to mask to the current region selection. If i had used Path End parameters the region painting could stop prematurely.  Fortunately there's a Path Application Probability option called Current Selection, which i turned on to get the path masking i wanted.

All of the techniques above work because path start regionization in the paint synthesizer automatically sets the current region selection to the current region being painted as painting progresses from region to region.  

The different color options i used were all different start probability options in the Color Mode control in the Paint Color Source control panel. I wanted start probability coloring options since they choose a color variation at the start of the paint path and then keep it for the entire paint path.

These are all version 4 presets, so you need Studio Artist 4 to use them.

regionizePaintEx1.zip

[John Stevenson]

John,
Were your Regionizer presets configured from scratch? As written before, I like the concept of partitioning of the image as an initial setup step. See the first image here. And think that the Watercolor Regionizers which came as a standard part of the 4.0 package are also very distinctive and intriguing. As per the result in second image. However, I've tried taking a "classic" Watercolor category SA preset and adapted (forced?) it to behave with a regionization other than the Adaptive Block option activated - that often leaves a lot of white space in the resulting image. See the third image. Maybe there's a configuration step which I've overlooked ...?
John

oil_AdaptiveBlock_regionize.jpg

watercolor_AdaptiveBlock_regionize.jpg

watercolor_non-AdaptiveBlock_regionize.jpg

[Synthetik]

Yes, some of the regionization options will leave a 1 pixel hole at the edge of the region. And if you do anything to modify the path shapes int he paint synthesizer you may see this effect with other path start regionization options that normally would provide a full solid fill. There's an easy way to fill it in. Studio Artist has several image operation effects called interpolators that can extrapolate image information and fill in solid color areas. (So perhaps they should be called extrapolators but they aren't). The Geodesic Interpolation Ip Op is a good place to start for filling in the cracks. Just run the regionization on a solid color canvas (like a white canvas), then run the Geodesic Interpolator after it'a finished to fill int he cracks. You will see some factory PASeq presets that do this kind of thing.

[John Stevenson]

John,
I only just found this portion of the forum.
Thanks for the work you're sharing here. I had started down a somewhat similar path. My previous experience (summarized elsewhere last week) with ArtMasterPro involved image rendering routines somewhat similar to the Regionization concept - they were based on the work on image sieves developed and published by Andrew Bangham. There is an early summary available here: www.eurasip.org/Proceedings/Eusipco/1996/paper/ss_1_8.pdf
With StudioArtist, I first created first a set of three, related test pattern images and then converted some of the simpler "natural media" presets into Regionization mode(s) of rendering. I'll try and finish that work later today and figure out how to post it here.
John

[Synthetik]

Here's a tutorial post that discusses how to fine tune the visual appearance of regionization presets.