A question came up recently about an image i posted that was made by embedding an Image Operation (IpOp) effect into the paint synthesizer. This post is a little tutorial that explains how that works.
The screenshot below shows off the Color Edge IpOp effect configured to generate a vector edge sketch.
Note that i have the Ip Source set to use the Source Image as the input to the Color Edge effect.
Any of the Render popup options that have the word Smooth in them are generating vector sketches (Color Edge is capable of generating raster or vector edge effects).
If you are curious if a particular IpOp effect can generate vector paths, you can look in the Path : Generate Paths sub menu. If the from IpOp menu in there is accessable, then the current IpOp effect can generate vector output. If that from IpOp menu is grayed out, then the current IpOp effect does not currently have the capability to generate vector path output.
Keep in mind that you can always generate vector output from any raster IpOp effect in Studio Artist by using the Vectorizer to convert the raster IpOp output into a vector representation. The next version of Studio Artist we're working on let's you embed an IpOp effect directly inside of the Vectorizer (which can also be embedded into the paint synthesizer).
Now suppose you want to use the vector paths generated by the Color Edge IpOp effect and paint them in with the paint synthesizer.
One approach to do this is shown below along with the associated 3 step PASeq i used to generate the painting.
So i start by erasing the canvas to white.
Then i ran the Path : Generate Paths : from IpOp menu command with the current Image Operation effect being Color Edge with the parameter configuration shown in the first screen shot. This action step generates a set of bezier paths and places them in the bezier path frame.
The last action step paints in the current contents of the bezier path frame using the paint synthesizer. I ran the Edit : Quick Edit : Initialize menu command to initialize the paint synthesizer to a simple raster tube paint effect before running the Path : Paint Paths : Full Layer menu command. This menu command uses the current paint synthesizer settings to paint in whatever is in the bezier path frame (each bezier path is appropriately painted by the paint synthesizer).
One thing to be aware of is that any of the Generate paths menu commands add the new paths that menu command generated to the existing current contents of the bezier path frame. That worked out for me above becase i had just started up Studio Artist and the bezier path frame was empty. But you can't depend on that when building a Paint Action Sequence (PASeq). So a better approach to deal with this is shown below.
I add an additional action step using the Path : Path Layer Commands : Erase menu command to erase the bezier path frame before using the Color Edge IpOp to generate a bezier path sketch of the source image.
Ok, now suppose i want to bypass using the bezier path frame as a buffer for a set of bezier paths and just directly embed the Color Edge IpOp effect into the paint synthesizer.
To do this, i can use the following paint synthesizer QuickEdit command.
Running the Edit : Paint Synthesizer : QuickEdit : Embed : Sketch IpOp menu command embeds the current IpOp effect directly into the paint synthesizer.
At this point i now have the paint synthesizer configured so that if i press the Action button, it will directly use the current IpOp effect to generate bezier paths that are then directly drawn by the paint synthesizer.
You can see above that i duplicated the original effect in a single AutoPaint action step in my now 2 step Paint Action Sequence (PASeq) preset.
If i export a paint preset, the settings associated with the Color Edge IpOp effect are saved in the paint preset in addition to all of the paint synthesizer parameters.
And if i export my new PASeq preset, then the AutoPaint action step in it saves the Color Edge settings in addition to all of the Paint Synthesizer settings for that action step.
I hope you can see that embedding IpOp effects in the paint synthesizer is a powerful new tool available in Studio Artist V5.5.
You can also embed Vectorizer effects directly into the paint synthesizer as well.
And there are 2 different approach to embedding for both IpOp effects and Vectorizer effects. You can embed as a Path Start Regionization paint synthesizer effect. Or as a Sketch paint synthesizer effect. We used the Sketch embed option for this simple example.
I'll add an additional post to this thread that dives into the paint synthesizer programming details that those handy Embed QuickEdit commands do for you automatically.
Replies
Thank you John!
Do the vectorizer settings of a custom vectorizer preset carry over into the embedded paint synth preset, or is it just the two "auto regionize vectorizer" and "sketch vectorizer" options? I've tried different settings in the vectorizer, and then tried the different embed options into a paint synth preset, but I'm not sure what is happening to make the differences. Sometimes something happens and sometimes it does not. Like I made a vectorizer with a red region outline, but that didn't show up in the embedded paint synth preset.
When you embed a vectorizer preset inside of the paint synthesizer, all of the vectorizer parameters are stored in the paint synthesizer preset (or in the PASeq paint action step if you are working with a PASeq).
But the paint synthesizer is currently only using the vectorizer embedding to auto-generate bezier paths using the vectorizer settings associated with vector path generation. The actual rendering of those paths is done using the paint synthesizer settings. How you have configured the paint synthesizer to draw the vector paths. You could be emulating the way they draw inside of the vectorizer. Or you could be drawing them with raster paint nibs. Or running raster brush load effects based on the shapes. Or painting vector paint nibs along the path (something the vectorizer can't do natively).
I've been experimenting with an option in pre_V6 that would let you actually use the vectorizer render engine (the part that takes vector paths and fills them) directly inside of the paint synthesizer. Not sure if that is going to be turned on in the final V6 release or not.
There is a new feature in pre_V6 that lets you run a new variation of the Path : paint Paths : Full Layer menu command that uses the vectorizer render engine rather than the paint synthesizer.
You can also directly embed IpOp and MSG effects inside of the vectorizer in pre_V6. And that embedded vectorizer setup can then be embedded inside of the paint synthesizer, storing all of the associated information in one paint preset or paint action step in a PASeq. This is pretty slick because it's basically a way to turn any raster IpOp or MSG effect into an inherently vector effect. It also opens up an infinte variety of new paint synthesizer effect, because you can be using 3 different operation modes simultaneously in one action to build up a visual effect.
Wow thanks John!