Combine Art Effects in FotoSketcher
This was a little experiment I did a few months ago which may or may not be useful so I’m archiving it here.
There is a free program called FotoSketcher which I use with PortableApps but it also has a standalone installer.
Its main function is to turn photos into different art style effects, some of which are better than others… it is fun to use on 3D renders as well.
Here I will discuss how it could be used to combine different pictures more selectively with a function it has called Merge Source and Result and manual brush.
I hand painted this picture using PD Howler.
I was pretty happy with the main subject of the picture (the dog) but I left the background a bit rough.
I ran the picture through FotoSketcher to see what would happen for fun:
Watercolour effect (there are a few variations in the program to try)
I liked the way it blended the rough strokes of my original painting for the background, but I don’t like the loss of details on the main subject.
Using the Merge Source and Result and manual brush option in the program after running the effect we can fix that problem.
The manual brush can be used to adjust the size and contrast of the merge effect where you want it. So the details of the original picture can be preserved where you want the focal point (s) by increasing the contrast slider and painting them back in.
So the nice blended background can be combined with the original details.
The same principle could of course be used in most photo editing software with the use of layers and transparency masks, but I thought it was a quick and simple way to do it so I thought I’d mention it here.
The effects don’t need to be created in FotoSketcher.
First open the original picture. Then import the picture with a different effect by copying the image you want to import (CTRL C) and then right click on the left hand plane and select “paste image from clipboard” or press CTRL V. You can then use the Merge and Combine feature. The images have to be the same size as each other.
Swapping the left and right images may be useful for this feature as well by right clicking on the right hand plane and selecting “swap left and right images” or by pressing F12.
You could create different styles for a picture any way you want (auto effects, hand drawing/painting collage etc.) and then experiment with combining them on the computer in different ways.