Paint Synthesizer v4 vs v5.5

[GSymon]

I haven't used StudioArtist for several years, when I used v4 for a reasonably large project, specifically for the Paint Synthesizer.  I have a new larger project,  along similar lines and am wondering if there are any significant changes to the Paint Synthesizer in v5.5?

[Synthetik]

The quick answer is that the paint synthesizer in V5.5 is compatible with V4, so everything you could do with it in V4 you can do in V5.5.  However, there are a ton of new features in the V5.5 paint synthesizer when contrasted in V4.  That is really true for every other aspect of the program.

[GSymon]

Thank you for the reply.

Is there a doc available somewhere, that would explain some of the new features?

[Synthetik]

We're finishing up the V5.5.5 update right now, so after that is out we'll probably do another full round of 'hey, here are the new features'.

The synthetik website has a V5.5 new feature list.

This manifesto talks about some of the new features and the underlying principals.

The new vector paint effects were a huge new thing in V5 as compared to V4.  Including vector wet paint, which is unique to Studio Artist.

V5.5 extends those vector paint features. V5.5.5 adds some additional new twists.

You can embed vectorizer or ip op effects that generate vector paths directly into the paint synthesizer in V5.5.  This adds a whole new dimension to what one can achieve with the paint synthesizer.

You might want to read through the new generative ai paint features in gallery show in V5.5.

There are lots of new options for generating traveling salesman problem (TSP) sketch effects in V5.5.

You might want to take a look at some of the recent video examples here.

I could spend the entire day describing new stuff out and not cover everything.

 

If you want to talk about your new project a little bit, i can point you at some specific things that might be applicable.

 

[GSymon]

The previous project involved creating impressionist style paint textures/effects and the new project will probably be along the same lines, though it's not set in stone.  I won't be using vectors at all, much as I love them.

[Synthetik]

There are a ton of new presets between V4 and V5.5 that show off the new features, and the V5.5.5 update will include an extensively re-worked set of new presets that expands beyond what we provided in the initial V5.5 release.  So many new paint presets, and also new paint action sequence presets that show how to combine different Studio Artist effects together to create more finished visual effects.

You might like the new color clip modulation in the paint synthesizer in V5.5 for impressionistic effects.

I also wanted to point out that vector paint effects in Studio Artist can be output as raster images.  And most of them don't look lik traditional vector effects, they look like natural media kinds of things.   The paint synthesizer in V5.5 allows for hybrid paints that are combinations of raster and vector paint in a single preset working together to build a rich hybrid look.  

You can also configure the vectorizer in V5.5 to output things that you would swear were painted with some kind of natural media raster paint.

[GSymon]

Sounds good.  Thanks for the replies.

Just a quick unrelated question:

Is the Supersizer similar to Adobe's AI interpolation?

[Synthetik]

Supersizer is certainly useful, but it isn't neural net based.  We have more sophisticated neural net interpolation things under development for inclusion in V6.

Studio Artist also has this whole concept of re-rendering a Paint Action Sequence (PASeq) to upsize a recorded action script for building an effect.  So the idea is that you build your image at a lower working resolution, recording everything into a PASeq.  Then you can resize the canvas with the Rerender PASeq (or History) check box (s) checked, and not only is the canvas resized, but the action steps in the PASeq are adjusted to scale up what they do for the larger canvas size.

How well this works right now is really a function of what you are doing in the PASeq.  When Studio Artist was originally released, our implementation of digital paint consisted of a series of raster paint nibs laid down on a vector path. So by resizing the individual paint nibs, and rescaling the associated vector path they were laid down on, the individual paint strokes could be re-rendered into a larger canvas.

As more and more different things, different effects, different approaches to painting, etc were added to the program, that whole re-render part got way more complicated over time.  For example, some paint effects appear to have a certain fixed size brush nib to a user, but actually the brush is virtual, and might consist of a cloud of much smaller particles interacting in different ways.

In practice, rerendering right now is kind of like an edition print.  Which could be a cool feature, or the inherent randomness in it associated with some paint settings might be a distraction from what you really are trying to do.  And you definitely want to run some experiments with the specific paint presets and other SA effects you want to use to see if it makes sense or not.

We tweaked the re-render code in V5.5 to improve it.  We also have new exciting big plans for this whole re-render concept for V6.  The whole notion of how one could work with resolution rescaling of effects in V6 is going to be dramatically reworked in the Studio Artist interface in some really cool and interesting ways.  

There is a new video tutorial on how to rescale your work via re-rendering that will go online once V5.5.5 is released, so fairly soon.

[GSymon]

Very useful.  I did indeed use the PASeq in the past and just as you say, found it to work sometimes better than others according to my needs.

Many thanks again for all the info.