cartoon/comic background question

[Ogrus]

I want to try 2 experiments

A) three guys in a room. The guys look real (mask'em) the surroundings should look "comic-like" Im thinking Marvel Comics or similar from the 70's. (archie-jughead etc)
http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c24/improvedarchie/archiepage.jpg
What would you use.... Posterize? Find Edges? What parameters... has anyone tried this b4?


B)Two soldiers walking side to side in a battlefield. Soldiers masked, battlefield should be comic black and white a la "Sargeant Rock" Comics
(here is an example of the sort of B/W im looking for)
http://www.kubertsworld.com/gallery/joe_sgtrockrep15.jpg
http://http://www.kubertsworld.com/gallery/joe_sgtrockrep15.jpg

[graymachine]

I draw the environment in a cartoon style.

If you can't do that, maybe use "Cutout" in Photoshop.

[Ogrus]

I dont want to greenscreen the people
I want to transform the filmed background. Photoshop would only be good for a frame, this is a 30sec clip!

[Blaine]

I dont want to greenscreen the people
I want to transform the filmed background. Photoshop would only be good for a frame, this is a 30sec clip!You might want to take a look at Studio Artist.

http://www.synthetik.com/

[zoostory]

A) This IS greenscreen territory.

B) If You don't want to do it, I would lock the camera off, shoot a clean plate of your background. Then shoot it again with your actors.

Overlay your actor layer over your background layer and.. .well... rotoscope them, I guess, or try and feather them into the BG. Have fun with that.

In terms of the BG... any cartooner filter will work ok. Studio artist is fine, you can do the same thing in AE or even better, Shake, just by clamping down on the colors, posterizing, etc.

If you really want it to have the looks you are going after, you're gonna have to draw it. You can use the bg as reference and trace over it in photoshop or something, do like 6 frames a second.

Any filter or plugin is gonna look cheeseball in my opinion. Even that Studio Artist stuff... a little better... but... eh... And anyone that uses photoshop is gonna call a cutout filter from a mile away.

[R!ff R4ff]

@ zoostory: It's blue screen territory if you want to keep the shadows isn't it? Or can you get good shadows from green? Last I heard you couldn't. Just wondering.

The only thing I can think of that comes close to this is Elmo's segment on Sesame Street. All the action takes place in front of a blue or green screen and Elmo and guests interact with props that are made to look like the background. I have to agree, this is color key territory.

[kai]

Any filter or plugin is gonna look cheeseball in my opinion. Even that Studio Artist stuff... a little better... but... eh... And anyone that uses photoshop is gonna call a cutout filter from a mile away.

True dat

[Duct Tape Films]

@ zoostory: It's blue screen territory if you want to keep the shadows isn't it? Or can you get good shadows from green? Last I heard you couldn't. Just wondering.

The only thing I can think of that comes close to this is Elmo's segment on Sesame Street. All the action takes place in front of a blue or green screen and Elmo and guests interact with props that are made to look like the background. I have to agree, this is color key territory.


Screen choice has nothing to do with shadows. It generally has far more to do with workflow. Green screen is used far more often these days because no skin tone or clothing has that puke green color, whereas that shade of blue may actually exist in skin tones (arteries, shadow areas), and more often in clothing. This simple fact makes it easier, quicker, and more complete, to key out green. Oh, yeah. Another thumbs up for Studio Artist.

[onedog]

Any filter or plugin is gonna look cheeseball in my opinion. Even that Studio Artist stuff... a little better... but... eh... And anyone that uses photoshop is gonna call a cutout filter from a mile away.

So true. I recently did a clip for an artist using the cut out filter. Exported frames from AE and then set a batch edit in PS. While the clip was a success for the artist, humanity will not benefit from my artistic stumblings :(

[Ogrus]

Yes, studio artist is the choice.... only for mac thou! and i aint got one :(

This is personal "learning" project, i dont want to blue/green screen anything
I want to experiment with a clip...see what i can manage to do...
Im more into getting the "comic look" than worrying about shadows...
Just by rotoing the people and then playing with the clips color settings etc is the game... i am interested in how to get the look playing with filters CC etc
doesnt have to be perfect.... just experimenting!
The post "a scanner darker" or whatever the movie is called has some interesting ideas...check it out

[zoostory]

A Scanner Darkly used a proprietary program for the basic effect, but then the rest was meticulously hand drawn over a very long period of time. If you want to experiment, great, go for it, there are an infinite amount of things you can do with the stock FX just in Shake or AE or something using your imagination and some basic color math. But, if you really want to learn to create something unique stylisically, you have to draw it. It's the difference between eating a pre-packaged microwave dinner, or making a home cooked meal. The latter will be way tastier.

As for Blue/Green. Doesn't matter for shadows as mentioned. Greenscreen also work better with a lot of DV and HD formats because they have less noise in their green channels than their blue channels.

[sumoafro]

... It's the difference between eating a pre-packaged microwave dinner, or making a home cooked meal. The latter will be way tastier...

That is an excellent analogy.

[Ogrus]

Drawing the background and greenscreening is the way to go obviously but i dont know who can draw me a battlefield just like the guy for Sgt Rock did.... that is the problem!

[Duct Tape Films]

A Scanner Darkly used a proprietary program for the basic effect, but then the rest was meticulously hand drawn over a very long period of time. If you want to experiment, great, go for it, there are an infinite amount of things you can do with the stock FX just in Shake or AE or something using your imagination and some basic color math. But, if you really want to learn to create something unique stylisically, you have to draw it. It's the difference between eating a pre-packaged microwave dinner, or making a home cooked meal. The latter will be way tastier.

As for Blue/Green. Doesn't matter for shadows as mentioned. Greenscreen also work better with a lot of DV and HD formats because they have less noise in their green channels than their blue channels.

I shot the BTS for "Scanner", so I want to clear up some misconceptions people are having about the way it was made. Animation is not an "effect", it is a process, or a method if you will. The proprietary program in question, Rotoshop, is a tool that aids in animation, by providing an enviroment condusive to animation, and "tweening" in between the hand drawn frames using vectors, giving that flowey motion; there were no effects or filters that the frames were put through to get that "look", other than being hand drawn, using WACOM tablets, in a particular style. The look itself is based on the "Scanner" bible, a line and color drawing guide, assembled by the producers and lead animators in order to maintain continuity throughout the animation process (making sure lines are equally weighted / colors are the same throughout, etc.). It is exactly the same method, and processes that were done with all the Walt Disney films of yore, save for tweening instead of doubling.