Gallery Show Explorations

I thought it would be fun to start a forum discussion on different things you can do with Studio Artist 5 gallery show features. We'll start out super simple. and then get more elaborate over time in subsequent posts.

For a basic introduction to gallery show, check out these tips.

Also, here are some different project articles that use gallery show.

Gallery Show is an amazingly versatile V5 feature. You can use it to automatically generate preview images for Studio Artist presets. Or to batch process images with specific Studio Artist presets. Or to generate custom designed dynamic art strategies that mutate and evolve over time. To generate procedural imagery. To use folders of images as input into temporal ip op effects. To generate new automatically generated presets from existing ones. To generate custom designed live art shows that would run in real time in an art gallery within studio artist running in gallery show mode. Etc, Etc.

So, lets start out simple. Let's have gallery show randomly select Studio Artist paint presets, then randomly select a source image from a folder of source images, erase the canvas to white, and then paint in the source image with the randomly selected paint preset. Our first example uses the following gallery show preference settings.

So, note that the gallery show Technique is set to Factory Paint. The technique's TScan is set to Random, so a random factory paint preset will be selected at the start of each gallery show cycle.

The Source Option is set to Folder(random), and is pointing at the A Few Source Images and Movies folder that ships with Studio Artist.  So at the start of each gallery show cycle, a random image will be selected from that folder.

Note that i have the Start Cycle Option set to Reset Background. So, at the start of each gallery show cycle, this setting will erase the canvas to whatever the current erase option is set to. I have it set to erase to white.

Note that i also boosted the paint Max Stroke setting from it's default to 500 paint strokes. This means that the Max Stroke parameter in the path Start control panel of the paint synthesizer will be set to 500, overriding whatever it is set to in the factory paint preset.

So why is there a Paint Max Stroke setting in gallery show? The answer is that many factory paint presets have a Max Stroke setting of 40,000, which means that they are designed to essentially run forever until a user manually stops them by pressing the space bar when running. So these default 'run forever' settings would not make sense when used in gallery show, which is designed to run for multiple gallery show cycle iterations automatically without human intervention.

To run gallery show with the above gallery show preference setup, you just use the Action : Run Gallery Show menu command.

Once you start running gallery show, it will continue running multiple gallery show cycles, until you manually stop it by pressing the space bar. If you hold down the shift key and then press the space bar, you can get it to drop out of the current processing cycle and start a new one. This is useful if you run into a paint preset that is super slow, or you just hate what is currently being drawn and want to get on to the next cycle.

Note that there is also a second action menu command that just runs gallery show for a single processing cycle. This is useful for testing your gallery show preference sets, or for times when you only want to run a single cycle, look at the output, decide whether to save the image or not, then run another one, etc.

Here's an example of the results of one gallery show cycle using the gallery show preference sets shown above.

And here is the painted canvas generated from the randomly selected factory paint preset.

Note that this is one of the the simplest things you could do with gallery show. It's still very useful, because you could setup an image stream to automatically dump out the entire set of gallery show painted canvases, start gallery show, go eat lunch, and then curate the resulting folder of finished images at your leisure to look for ones you like and want to save.

If you had used the Mutate factory paint preset option for the gallery show Technique, then each randomly selected paint preset would have been randomly mutated prior to being used in the gallery show cycle.

So then you would be dynamically creating new paint presets on the fly. You could save the newly mutated presets in case you wanted to use them later if you turned on history recording prior to starting gallery show.

Note that there are also several gallery show preference options right below the main technique that can be used to more selectively automatically modify and mutate paint presets used in the gallery show technique. these include Paint transform and paint Draw Options.

If you had set the Start Cycle Option to None instead of Reset Background, then each new gallery show cycle would paint on top of the last gallery show's painted output. this can be an effective technique for building up visual effects over time to create more complex visual imagery. If you experiment with it, you will see what i mean.

I'll get into more elaborate ways to use gallery show to automatically generate self mutating procedural imagery in further posts there.

You need to be a member of Studio Artist to add comments!

Join Studio Artist

Email me when people reply –

Replies

  • Suppose you want to use dynamically created procedural imagery as your source for subsequent gallery show processing. Studio Artist V5 offers several new ways to go about doing that. In this post, we'll take a look at using a MSG preset that creates a procedural abstract image as an alternative to a folder of source images for gallery show processing.

    Here's the gallery show preference settings setup we will use for this example.

    2472689300?profile=original

    So, note that we are using the factory paint option for the Technique, with a random TScan. So, we're very closely mirroring the first simple gallery show example that started off this post series. Processing a series of 'images' with a randomly selected factory paint preset each gallery show cycle. But instead of randomly selecting an image from a specified source folder, we're going to use a randomly mutating MSG preset.

    If you look at the Source Option in the gallery show preference settings shown above, note that it's set to Random Cur MSG. What this means is that the current MSG preset will be used to generate a new procedural source image for each gallery show cycle.

    Here's the MSG preset i'm using, as shown in the MSG Advanced Editor.

    2472689380?profile=original

    It first sets the canvas to white using SetTo Value processor, then uses 4 chained different '3CAbstract' processor to overlay some abstract procedural vector imagery that vaguely looks somewhat plantlike. I've attached the MSG preset i used below for you if you want to check out how it is constructed.

    The screen shot below show some randomly mutated variations of my MSG preset.

    2472689624?profile=original

    Note that they all have a somewhat similar feel to them, even though they are individually very different.

    So, when using a gallery show Source Option set to Random Cur MSG, my custom MSG preset will be randomly mutated at the start of each gallery show cycle (like the examples of mutated versions of it show in the Evolution Editor), this randomly mutated preset will then be used to generate an abstract procedural source image, which will then be used for the gallery show cycle processing (a randomly selected factory paint preset in this example).

    The other thing to note in my gallery show preference settings is that i have Start Cycle Option set to None. So, each successive gallery show cycle painting will be overpainted on top of the previous gallery show output. This allows more complex imagery to develop over time.

    Here's an example of a randomly generated source image from one cycle of gallery show processing.

    2472689786?profile=original

    And here's the canvas output for this particular gallery show cycle.

    2472690237?profile=RESIZE_1024x1024

    Which you may or may not like depending on your personal preferences for abstract imagery. You can see how the current painting cycle of the abstract 'plant-like' imagery created by the randomly mutating MSG preset is overlaid on top of previous gallery show painting cycle output.

    ...

    So, let's turn on some additional gallery show features to make our gallery show processing more complex. Note that as i do this, i'm essentially creating a unique and custom strategy for creating custom abstract art. All of the decisions i make (what MSG preset i'm using, what set of paint preset i'm using, how the paint is being applied to the canvas, any subsequent gallery show Start Cycle and End Cycle processing i'm using), all work together to help create my custom automatic art generation strategy, and it's subsequent output imagery.

    Here's a screenshot of my new gallery show preference options, which is a modified edit of the first one we used.

    2472697136?profile=original

    So, note that i changed the Technique from factory paint to Current factory. What this means is that i'm now using the current preset category shown in the Preset Browser as the source for randomly selected presets. Paint presets in this example, but i could be using a category in any Studio Artist Operation mode when using this technique option.

    Here's the current Preset Browser Category i'm using.

    2472701379?profile=original

    So, it's one of the factory paint preset categories called Abstract Natural Media - Vector paint.

    Here's an example of a gallery show cycle output using this new Technique, which is more controlled or purposely designed because it choose presets from a specifically selected preset category with a more distinctive collective artistic look than just randomly choosing any factory paint preset (which is extremely visually diverse in terms of the outcome).

    2472701503?profile=RESIZE_1024x1024

    Note that the resulting output of this modified gallery show processing has changed because of how i fine-tuned the technique to be more visually defined.

    ...

    Let's continue to customize this gallery show processing to make it even more visually distinct, and to increase the amount of processing going on in each gallery show cycle.

    We're going to add customized Start Cycle and End Cycle processing to our last example.

    The way gallery show works, a source for processing is first setup, then a potential start cycle process can occur, followed by the main technique, and then a final End Cycle process. So each gallery show cycle can have 3 distinct and very different kinds of processing going on in it. In this final example, we're going to be using customized sets of presets for each of these 3 distinct processing stages (start cycle, main technique, end cycle). And we're also procedurally generating the source based on a MSG preset, so actually 4 different dynamic processes are involved in each gallery show cycle.

    Here's the set of gallerey show preference options i used for this last example. Again, i'm continuing to modify the settings used in the first and then second examples in this post.

    2472701522?profile=original

    Note that i set the Start Cycle Option to use the currently selected Process Folder. And i setup my Process Folder to be a custom Favorites category called myStartCycle, that contains just one PASeq preset in it.

    The PASeq preset stored in my specified Process Folder is shown below in a PASeq Editor screenshot.

    2472701624?profile=original

    It contains just one action step, which uses the Mirror Centered Vertical Warp effect to generate a symmetry effect in the canvas.

    The End Cycle Processing is set to use the Current Preset Favorites category, shown below.

    2472701657?profile=RESIZE_1024x1024

    This Favorites category contains 15 different custom presets that are designed to perform different kinds of enhancement or finishing effects. So they may sharpen the canvas, automatically boost contrast, generate multi-octave gradient shading effects, etc. they mix and match different preset operation modes, so some of them are PASeq presets, some are image operation presets, etc.

    Here's an example of the output of one cycle of this new custom designed gallery show processing.

    2472701858?profile=RESIZE_1024x1024

    Again, note that the visual appearance of the resulting automatically generated abstract imagery continues to change from the first and second examples in this post. Again, this is totally a function of the gallery show design process i went through. The additional start and end cycle processing i set up, the specific presets used for the start and end cycle processing, etc.

    Just to re-interate, we worked through 3 successive stages of gallery show design to build up a custom gallery show automatic art generation process that uses 4 different kinds of processing working together in each gallery show cycle to build up even more elaborate visual imagery over time. For each cycle, we automatically mutate a custom MSG preset to use as the source for gallery show processing, then we process the previous gallery show canvas output with a symmetry effect, then randomly select a new paint preset from a specific custom chosen paint preset category, over paint on our existing symmetry canvas background, then post process that painted canvas with a randomly selected optimization finishing preset from a custom designed favorites category.

    Again, we're barely scratching the surface of how you can work with gallery show features in studio artist 5 to automatically create abstract visual imagery from custom designed automatic art processes that you develop and build.

    AlienLandscape1_msg

  • Suppose you want more 'tight' and 'directed' control over the randomization and mutation process of gallery show strategies that work with paint effects. We'll take a look at some more advanced features and approaches to building 'strategies' in this post.

    Here's the gallery show preference settings we're going to start off with for this new set of examples.

    2472689477?profile=original

    Note that i selected the Technique option called Cur Favorites. This technique uses the current preset favorites category folder as a source for paint preset to be used in each gallery show processing cycle. Note that the TSCan Option is set to random, so a randomly selected preset will be selected from the current preset favorites folder each gallery show processing cycle.

    Here's my current favorites preset category that i will be working with. It's called TubePaintT1, and includes  17 different paint preset that have a 'tube-paint' visual appearance and drawing style.

    2472689440?profile=RESIZE_1024x1024

    The first thing to note is that by building a custom category in a folder of specific paint presets, i can have a very direct and customized effect on the behavior of the gallery show painting in each cycle. The key point to take from this is that while you are building a custom automatic visual art generation process using gallery show features, the individual artist has a lot of specific control over the behavior and subsequent visual appearance of the outcome of the automatic generation process with this approach we will be following.

    Gallery Show is not randomly choosing any paint preset in the entire set of factory presets, it's specifically choosing from a small set of custom designed paint presets with very specifically selected paint style and visual appearance. By carefully designing your own custom favorites folder, you can have a very direct and powerful control over how gallery show behaves.

    Here's an example of the output of one gallery show cycle using my custom tube-paint favorites folder.

    2472689746?profile=RESIZE_1024x1024

    if you look at the gallery show preference setting used to generate this example above, you can set that because StartCycle is set to None, i'm just overdrawing on top of the previous gallery show output. this was part of my intelligent design of how i wanted gallery show to behave.

    Now, in a previous post here we mentioned that there are several additional gallery show features that allow for more directed control over paint randomization and mutation.

    2472690039?profile=original

    They include the Paint Transform and Paint Draw Option settings. Let's start by working with some of the Paint Transform options. Let's start by using the Edge Focus Tighten option.

    2472695920?profile=original

    Selecting this will automatically edit each paint preset being used for the main technique so that it focuses on only painting the edges of the current source image. You can see the subsequent visual effect of this paint behavior modification in an example of gallery show output with this new preference settings change.

    2472696433?profile=RESIZE_1024x1024

    Note that we see a lot more of the underpainting of previous gallery show cycles, since each new cycle focuses on only painting in areas of the canvas that correspond to edges in the current source image.

    let's try a different paint Transform option I'm going to select the make Dynamic Path Start Regionize option in the Paint Transform preference popup.

    2472696576?profile=original

    This Paint Transform option will automatically convert the current paint preset being used by the gallery show technique into one that uses a combination of path start regionization along with the new V5 dynamic brush features.

    Path Start Regionize Generator options in the path Start control panel of the paint synthesizer intelligently analyze the source image, breaking it up into a series of intelligently generated regions. Dynamic Brush features dynamically change the brush size on the fly based on the overall size of each individual region. This paint Transform option mutates a number of different individual paint synthesizer editable parameters to generate randomized dynamic brush paint presets. one example of gallery show output using this new paint transform edit is shown below.

    2472696734?profile=RESIZE_1024x1024

    Note that the visual appearance of dynamic brush painting is very different than the normal tube paint styles stored in the favorites paint preset category being used for the gallery show technique.

    Any randomization or mutation created in gallery show is generated on the fly. The original preset files are not changed at all. You can use history recording if you want to record the mutated paint presets being used in the gallery show cycles as action steps in the history sequence.

    Let's try one more variation. As shown below, i set the Paint transform to Rnd Src Color and i changed the Paint Draw Option to Sketch Edge.

    2472696953?profile=original

    So now i'm using 2 different automatic controlled mutation options. the first (Paint Transform = Rnd Src Color) means that a random Color Mode choice in the Paint Color Source control panel is used for each gallery show cycle. The second  (Paint Draw Option = Sketch Edge) means that instead of the normal path generation process specified in the paint synthesizer, gallery show will use the Sketch Edge ip op effect to generate a series of Bezier paths, and then those bezier paths will be painted in with the paint Transform modified paint preset randomly selected in the gallery show technique.

    An example of the output from this new gallery show setts is show below.

    2472697356?profile=RESIZE_1024x1024

    Notice how all of these different edited gallery show options using the same limited set of 17 paint presets in a favorites category look extremely different. So the individual artist programming gallery show can have a great degree of artistic control in the gallery show output depending on how they work with the different features that automatically mutate paint presets in controlled ways.

    You should try playing with the different Paint Transform and Paint Draw Option features to get a sense of how they work individually.

    • Would you please help me:
      I have 10 images in Directory c:\A\ each image has its own dimensions(widt/height),
      and I have A favorite directory New_Painting_Mode with 5 Presets
      I want to generate c:\B\ with generated of Directory A (with the main dimensions for each one not only one dimension ) with my presets plus having each modified preset to the same directory with the name of generation file, because in my test SA changes the preset properties (I like this because I find new world) but I have not the changed values and Can not regenerate the painted image again.
      thank you.

      • Gallery Show output is always going to be based on the existing canvas size you have setup before you start processing. That's just the way it works.

        Studio Artist 3.5 and earlier allowed for batch processing via PASeq of folders of images that either conformed to the existing canvas size, or resized based on the incoming source size. Starting with V4 the canvas size never changes when batch processing. The same is true for gallery show.

        What you are asking for is on a list of potential features for the future.

        As to saving the modified presets generated while running gallery show. They are not saved as individual preset files in the output image stream directly. You can record them by turning on history sequence recording. You could then drag and drop appropriate action steps to the PASeq editor individually, saving them as individual new presets.

        You can of course also save the entire history sequence as a PASeq preset.

        There are some different options for how the image stream is named at the bottom of the gallery show preferences dialog.

        Again, we're thought about adding an individual preset output option as a future feature. It's a little problematic, because as explained in this forum post, the complete gallery show cycle can get pretty sophisticated, and might require a multi-step PASeq to fully replicate. Since multiple PASeqs might be used over the corse of the full processing cycle, we'd have to either circumvent the history sequence (remove it from user control), or add a new internal PASeq object to allow for the recording and saving of full cycle recorded presets to individual files.

This reply was deleted.

Interdimensional Coincidence Control

Hi everyone, I am glad the site is still here! Here is a new short video I made. All made in Studio Artist, several separate videos with alpha channels, then combined in layers with the music in Blender. A lot of MSG running through brushes, with several of the brush Path Starts being controlled by the MSG Scan Generator in the Generator part of the Path Start in the Paint Synthesizer. Also some MSG running through a brush, then making a video of that with an alpha channel, then making that a…

Read more…
3 Replies · Reply by Thor Johnson Mar 22

Whats going on with this site?

Has anyone else gotten a warning about this site disappearing? An email form just popped up, asking me to contract the owner and leave a message to let them know that they may loose their "network"Did Synthetik forget to pay it's bills, or is something else going on?I think 8 months is more than enough vacation time. Is anyone at Synthetik doing any development work at all? 

Read more…
4 Replies · Reply by Emil G. on Saturday

Having difficulty exporting canvas as image

I'd like to export a canvas as a .tiff/.tif image file to a folder I made on my desktop.I select that from a dropdown menu, I can name the exported file, change the extension, etc, and I press save but nothing happens.It's always worked until now. It seems like a simple task. Any ideas?I'm on Mac OSX 12.6, if that matters, and my system hasn't changed since the last time I was able to export successfully.Thanks  

Read more…
2 Replies · Reply by Tony Bouttell Mar 5