Building an animation sequence from hand drawn painting involves implementing a series of repetitive steps over and over. This process can get very tedious when you do it all manually. This is especially true when working with different paint presets for different stroke elements in the individual sketches, since you constantly have to switch between different paint presets while building up each individual frame in the animation.

Studio Artist provides some powerful tools and features to help you generate hand painted animations.

Keyframe Interpolation

One powerful feature Studio Artist offers is the ability to build up an animation from a series of interpolating keyframes. A paint stroke (or a collection of paint strokes) can be recorded as a single keyframe in a Paint Action Sequence (PASeq). Building a paint animation involves specifying the movement of individual paint strokes over time.  You could do this manually by hand drawing each individual frame of an animation. And Studio Artist provides onion skin tools to aid your manual drawing by showing the contents of previous animation frames or your current source image on a transparent onion skin layer that can be used as a guide for hand drawing. But a much faster approach than hand drawing each individual output frame in the animation is to specify the animation as a series of interpolating keyframe views.

Each keyframe specifies the location and appearance of one or more paint strokes at a given time. Studio Artist will then automatically interpolate the appearance and positioning of paint strokes for the subsequent frames between 2 individual keyframes recorded in a PASeq. So rather than having to hand paint each individual frame, you can just hand paint keyframe views and then let Studio Artist generate all of the tween frames automatically.  This can be a tremendous time saver when building up a hand painted animation sequence.

Keyframe interpolation also gives you the ability to interpolate the individual editable preset parameters associated with each paint stroke (color,brush size, brush texture, etc).  We won’t really get into the details of that in this tip, but it’s something to be aware of since it can be used to give you an extreme amount of control over how an animation looks and evolves over time.

Sequential Keyframe Recording

When recording a series of individual hand drawn frame sketches (either keyframe sketches or individual frame images) there is a repetitive process involved in building up the individual frame images.  Each individual paint stroke needs to be redrawn in it’s new location for each sketch.

The ordering of the individual paint strokes that builds up a frame also needs to be preserved across keyframes when working with keyframe interpolation. Interpolation takes place between individual keyframe cells recorded in the Paint Action Sequence timeline display. Each individual paint action step is a single vertical element in the PASeq list of action steps. Each paint action step in the list has an associated set of individual keyframe cells that are arranged horizontally in the PASeq keyframe timeline. The # of frame times for the keyframe cells displayed in the PASeq timeline is specified with a numeric max frame indicator control at the top of the PASeq palette (it shows 10 frames in the screensnap below).

There is one keyframe cell in the horizontal timeline for each frame in the output animation. Recorded keyframe cells are displayed with a red interior. Notice that each time you record a new action step in a PASeq a recorded keyframe cell is positioned at keyframe 1.

Individual keyframes can be recorded at frame times other than frame 1 by option clicking the appropriate keyframe cell. When a cell is option clicked, the contents of the current paint synthesizer parameters and the current source color are stored in the new recorded keyframe.  If the action step is one associated with manual pen drawing, then the last path drawn is also stored in the recorded keyframe.

So you could manually build up individual keyframe sketches by hand drawing new paint strokes for each action step in the PASeq list followed by option clicking the appropriate keyframe cell in the timeline. As mentioned above, if the paint preset associated with individual action steps changes in any way as the list progresses, then you would need to reload the appropriate paint preset prior to drawing each new individual paint stroke before option clicking the appropriate keyframe cell.

Doing the repetitive option clicking and manual preset loading for each action step can quickly get tiring, plus it’s easy to  mess up the potential preset ordering when manually loading paint presets for individual action steps as you are recording new keyframes.  Sequential keyframe recording automates both of these processes for you.

A Simple Example

Here’s a simple example of working with sequential keyframe recording to build up a short animation example from 2 different facial sketches. The sketches will be made using 2 different source images as reference images for the sketches. The source onion skin feature was used to aid in constructing the sketches. The screen snap below shows the first simple facial sketch.

Note that the simple facial sketch is composed of 5 different hand drawn paint strokes. A PASeq was recorded to capture the hand drawing associated with this simple sketch. To do this, the record checkbox in the PASeq palettes was turned on, the canvas was erased to white, and the individual paint strokes were hand drawn. The resulting recorded PASeq action list is shown below.

Note that after the initial SetCanvas-white action step there are 5 Interactive Pen action steps.  These correspond to the individual manually drawn paint strokes used to build up the simple facial sketch. As an aid in generating further animation sketches, i renamed these action steps according to the facial feature they represented as shown below.

As mentioned above, it’s important when building up new keyframe sketches that the ordering of the individual paint strokes i preserved. This is necessary so that the appropriate interpolated movement of the individual paint strokes is generated in the final interpolated animation output. Appropriate naming of the individual paint strokes can be very useful as an aid to properly match up individual paint strokes for new keyframe recorded sketches.

We’re now ready to record a second keyframe sketch using sequential keyframe recording.  To do this, turn on the rec checkbox as well as the SeqKF checkbox at the top of the PASeq palette. To record a new sequential keyframe sketch, you start by clicking the first keyframe cell at the appropriate keyframe time for the new sketch to be recorded at. For this simple example i recorded the keyframe cell for the SetCanvas -white action step at keyframe time 10 (the top right most cell in the timeline).

When i clicked on the initial keyframe cell at frame time 10 the setcanvas-white action step was run, the clicked keyframe cell turned red, and then the next keyframe cell at frame time 10 associated with the left eye paint stroke turned blue. The blue color means that that keyframe paint stroke is ready to be drawn. After the new paint stroke was drawn it is automatically recorded at the keyframe cell at frame 10,the color of the keyframe cell then turns to red to indicate it has been recorded, and the next keyframe cell at frame time 10 associated with the right eye turns blue, indicating it is ready to be drawn.

You can continue hand drawing the appropriate paint strokes for your sketch at frame time 10 until all of the vertical frame cells at frame time 10 have turned red. you can then turn off sequential keyframe recording by turning off the SeqKF and Rec checkboxes.

Note how sequential keyframe recording removed the drudgery from building up a series of keyframe recorded sketches. You can just click the first keyframe cell at the frame time you want to build up a new sketch at, and then concentrate on your drawing. When a cell turns blue (which means its ready to be drawn), Studio Artist automatically loads the appropriate paint preset for drawing that particular part of the sketch. So sequential keyframe recording automates the whole process of swapping paint presets for individually recorded paint strokes as well as automatically records the individual keyframes for the various hand drawn paint strokes that make up the sketch.

The second sketch used for this simple example is shown above (again with the source onion skin turned on that was used as a guide for building up the hand drawn sketch). Note that i used a different source image for the second sketch.

At this point i had generated a simple PASeq that consisted of a hand drawn sketch at frame time 1 and a second sketch at frame time 10. The 2 sketches were both composed of 5 individual paint strokes drawn on a white background. I then used the Action : Animate with Paint Action Sequence : to Movie menu command to generate a movie file of my simple animation example. The resulting output movie shown below is looped several times to show off the interpolated motion generated from the 2 hand drawn sketches recorded in the finished PASeq shown above.

Click here to view the embedded video.

The paint animation example above is extremely simple, and only shows off the use of 2 keyframes. The goal was to showcase a simple example to get across the mechanics of working with sequential keyframe recording. If you were generating a real hand painted animated movie you would probably use many more keyframe sketches than the 2 hand painted sketches we used in the example.

The second paint animation example below was generated using the same approach as discussed above.  After the intial 11 action step PASeq was recorded, 9 additional keyframe sketches were recorded using sequential keyframe recording.  Rather than space each keyframe sketch 15 frames apart, each keyframe sketch was initially recorded on adjacent frame times in a 10 frame timeline. The 10 frame timeline was then expanded to 135 frames using the Action : PASeq Timeline : TimeCompress/Expand menu command with a 15 frame expansion ratio.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Again, the goal of the sequential keyframe recording feature is to help automate some of the repetitive mechanical and housekeeping tasks required to build up manually painted animation recorded as a series of keyframes in a timeline. So you can concentrate on the task of physical drawing and let Studio Artist deal with recording your paint strokes as new keyframes and auto-loading any paint preset variations associated with your repetitive drawing.

For More Information

For an introduction to Paint Action Sequences check out this tip. This tip also shows off some additional simple examples of interpolating paint strokes using the PASeq timeline in addition to providing a general introduction to PASeq features.

The Studio Artist User Guide pdf chapter on Actions includes detailed information on sequential keyframe recording, the PASeq timeline, and PASeq features in general.

An alternative approach to building keyframe animations is to encapsulate bezier paths in a single paint action step. An advantage of this kind of animation approach is that you don’t need to worry about matching up paint strokes when initially constructing your sketches. You just generate a series of sketches, and then use PASeq Timeline menu commands after the fact to normalize stroke count and auto-associated neighboring paint strokes across keyframes to build smooth animations. For more information on this alternative approach to building a paint animation check out this tip.

An old Studio Artist 3.5 blog post that includes some simple examples of paint animations built using sequential keyframe recording and bezier encapsulation is available here.

Currently there’s only one PASeq Editor control panel labeled PASeq Generic, available in the Editor window when in Paint Action Sequence operation mode. All of the PASeq Editor options are stored as a part of a PASeq preset. So when you load a new PASeq preset file, the Editor will update to display the user adjustable PASeq parameter options stored in that preset file.

The actual PASeq action list and keyframe timeline are displayed and edited in the Paint Action Sequence window. So most of your normal PASeq recording and editing will actually take place in that special PASeq window. The user adjustable Editor parameters provide some additional fine tuning control over how PASeq playback interfaces to other workspace features like masking or layer adjustment.

Depending on your current workflow requirements, you might want a PASeq to remember the original state of canvas masking or which layer you were working on for each individual action step as it plays back. Or you might want the PASeq playback to ignore the original state of these workspace features when the PASeq was first recorded and just use their current state during playback. The PASeq Editor parameters give you the ability to adjust these kinds of PASeq playback behavior.

Many PASeq presets are designed to perform specific visual processing effects to your working canvas. The default off behavior of the PASeq Editor options allows you to grab a prebuilt PASeq preset effect and just run it on whatever current layer you are working on. If PASeqs always adjusted the canvas to work on the layer they were originally recorded on you would not be able to use them for visual effect processing on some arbitrary layer you might be currently working on.

However, sometimes you want to build specific processing effects that use multiple layers to build the effect. So in that case having the ability to record and playback layer changes as a part of the PASeq associated with individual action steps is very important.

The same arguments hold for other workspace features like masking, the path layer record options, or the states of the source area color memories and color palettes. Depending on your current workflow you might want the original state of these workspace features to playback or not when you run the PASeq. Studio Artist gives you the flexibility to control this fine tuning behavior of PASeq playback, and to associate it with specific PASeq presets.

Some of the PASeq Editor parameters like Mask or Layer playback were global PASeq Configuration Preferences in previous versions of Studio Artist. However, their desired state is usually associated with specific PASeq presets, so it made more sense in Studio Artist 4 to make these adjustable features directly tied to specific PASeq presets as opposed to global PASeq playback preferences.

Mask Playback

Mask Playback determines whether a PASeq adjusts the state of the canvas mask controls as each individual PASeq step is played back. When this option is turned on then the mask state is updated to match it’s state when the action step was initially recorded. When off the current state of the canvas mask is used for PASeq playback, and individual action steps will not change that current mask state.

Layer Playback

Layer Playback determines whether a PASeq adjusts the current canvas layer as each individual PASeq step is played back. When this option is turned on then the canvas layer is updated to match it’s state when the action step was initially recorded. When off the current canvas layer is used for PASeq playback, and individual action steps will not change that current layer.

Layer playback adjustment is based on the physical index in the layer stack. That index state is what was recorded and played back if this parameter is turned on.

Note that Studio Artist assumes you have the correct number of layers instantiated in the workspace before you start playing back a PASeq that references them. When Layer Playback is turned on, Studio Artist will not add new layers to the existing layer stack.

View Playback

View Playback determines whether a PASeq adjusts the current canvas view state as each individual PASeq step is played back. When this option is turned on then the canvas view state is updated to match it’s state when the action step was initially recorded. When off the current canvas view state is used for PASeq playback, and individual action steps will not change it.

PathOption Playback

PathOption Playback determines whether a PASeq adjusts the current Path Layer Record Option menu flag states as each individual PASeq step is played back. When this option is turned on then the Path Layer Record Option menu flag states are updated to match their state when the action step was initially recorded. When off their current states are used for PASeq playback, and individual action steps will not change them.

SrcColorMem Playback

Source Color Memory Playback determines whether a PASeq plays back the state of the Source Area’s color memories, color palettes, and color gradients as each individual PASeq step is played back. When this option is turned on then the state of these Source Area color memories are dynamically changed as each individual PASeq action step plays back to reflect what they were when the action steps were initially recorded.  When off then their current state is used for PASeq playback, and they aren’t changed in any way during playback (unless the action step specifically modifies them like what would occur with a generate source color gradient action step).

For More Information

An introduction to Paint Action Sequence features is available here.

The PASeq preferences tab in the main preference dialog provides access to the PASeq preference settings. You can access the main preferences dialog under the Studio Artist menu on a mac, and under the File dialog on windows.

Editor Update

The Editor Update preference option lets you control when the Editor updates during PASeq playback. The During Playback option means that the editor is updated on the fly during PASeq playback as each individual action step is executed. The After Playback option means the editor controls are not updated as individual action steps execute, so the Editor controls will not update until the end of the complete PASeq playback.

Updating the Editor controls dynamically during playback can potentially slow down processing. So if you are interested in real time video processing, real time animation generation, or movie processing then it’s best to leave it set to only update After Playback is completed.

Loop Action Canvas Update

The Loop Action Canvas Update option lets you specify when the canvas will be updated during PASeq playback. This control is associated with PASeq playback when in loop action mode, or when generating  animation or movie processing output.

Again, you can choose to update as each Action Step is individually executed.  Or you can choose to wait until Cycle End, which means the canvas won’t be updated until the complete PASeq is executed.

How you setup this preference option is a function of how you want the PASeq to update the screen when being run in a repetitive loop. If you are using PASeq presets in a live performance while running loop action, then typically you only want the canvas to update after the complete PASeq processing cycle is finished (cycle end). The same thing is true for in general for movie processing.

However, if you are trying to understand how a PASeq works, then you probably want to see the canvas update after each individual action step is executed, so you can follow what is happening. So in particular when you are building a PASeq you should set this preference to Action Step.

Interpolation Type

The default interpolation algorithm used for keyframe interpolation when a PASeq is playing back over time is a linear interpolation algorithm. However, you can use the Interpolation Type PASeq preference option to switch from Linear to a non-linear Ease In-Out option.

You can use the Ease In/Out Adjust option to adjust the degree of ease in-out curvature added to this non linear interpolation option. A setting of 50 would be a linear curve. Depending on whether you reduce this value or increase it you can pull the resulting nonlinear interpolation curve towards or away from the end points.

A simple example is shown below.  It’s based on the PASeq shown above, which interpolates between 2 hand drawn circular spots. The resulting canvas image when this PASeq is animated over 20 frames is shown below for the case of linear interpolation.

The image below shows what happens if we use this same PASeq and run the animation with a 30% Ease In-Out Adjust using the Ease In-Out interpolation type preference option.

The image below shows what happens if we use this same PASeq and run the animation with a 70% Ease In-Out Adjust using the Ease In-Out interpolation type preference option.

The 3 examples above should help make clear what the ease in-out interpolation adjustments are doing over the course of the animation while moving between the 2 keyframe settings.

For More Information

An introduction to Paint Action Sequences features tip is available here.

The Paint Action Sequence window is where you record and edit a PASeq. Like all Studio Artist windows (also referred to as palettes), it can either be docked in the main workspace, or used as a floating palette. You can display or hide the paint action sequence window using the associated menu in the main Window menu.

The Paint Action Sequence window is composed of 3 main parts.  There’s an integrated toolbar at the top of the PASeq window that contains a series of individual controls associated with playing and recording a PASeq.

Below the PASeq integrated toolbar is the main PASeq action step list (left side), and it’s associated keyframe timeline (right).  A PASeq is composed of a series of individual action steps. Each action step represents some action you can manually or automatically run in Studio Artist.  A manual action could be anything from a manually drawn paint stroke to an interactive warp to an interactive adjustment. An automatic action could be an image processing effect, or an auto-paint step, or anything run by pressing the main Action button.

Each individual action step is displayed with an associated name, status, and layer indicator.  You can adjust the positioning of their associated column displays in the action step list by dragging the list header boundaries to reposition the associated vertical columns in the list.

The status display indicates whether the associated action step will play (on) or not (off) when the PASeq is played. So, to mute an individual action step, turn it’s associated status control off. If an action step is muted then it doesn’t run when the PASeq is played. Muting an action step is useful to turn it off but still keep it in the list as a placeholder.

You can edit an action step’s name or status by double clicking on it’s display and then adjusting the activated text edit or popup control. The action step’s layer control cannot be directly edited, but will update accordingly if you run the interface to action step context menu. This menu will be discussed in more detail in the context menu commands section.

Recording a PASeq

To record a new PASeq, click on the Rec checkbox at the top of the PAseq window. This activates PASeq recording. Any individual manual or automatic actions you perform in Studio Artist will be recorded as individual action steps in the PASeq action list if PASeq recording is turned on.

For example, if we turn on PASeq recording, erase the canvas to white, and then paint a single paint strokes in the canvas, we will record the 2 action steps shown below.

The first action step named ‘SetCanvas -white’ erases the canvas to white. The second action step named ‘Interactive Multi Pen’ is associated with the single paint stroke we painted (using the ‘default : general : a gradient brush’ paint preset). Note that the name of the paint preset we used for the painting is also tagged onto the name of the recorded action step. As long as the preset we are using is active (unedited) this additional preset name tagging will take place. If we modify or edit the current preset, then the preset name is not added onto a recorded action step (since the preset is no longer active but has been edited and hence no longer specifically corresponds to the original preset file stored on your harddisk).

To play your new recorded PASeq, first turn off recording by unclicking the Rec checkbox. Then press the Play button at the top of the PASeq window.

To delete a specific action step, just select it by clicking on it and then press the delete key. To erase the entire PASeq action step list, just press the Erase button at the top of the PASeq window.

PASeq Keyframe Timeline

Each action step has an associated set of individual keyframes that are displayed in the PASeq keyframe timeline (on the right side of the PASeq window). The action step list and the keyframe timeline are separated by a vertical splitter control, which can be adjusted to determine the positioning the of the 2 component views.  If you drag the splitter all the way to the right side of the PASeq window, then the keyframe timeline will be hidden from view.  You can always mouse down in the vertical splitter and adjust the positioning of the action list and the keyframe timeline based on your current workflow. If you aren’t working to build an animation you might want to hide the timeline display for clarity when working.

Each action step has a horizontal row of individual keyframes.  There’s a numeric control in the integrated PASeq toolbar at the top of the PASeq window that can be used to specify the # of keyframes in an animation. Each vertical column in the timeline represents a specific frame time in an animation. The horizontal strip at the very top of the PASeq timeline is a frame header that displays the associated frame times of the vertical columns. Clicking on the frame header will adjust the current time to that frame time.

To play a keyframe associated with a specific action step, just click on the appropriate keyframe cell at the frame time you are interested in playing back. Playing a PASeq keyframe both resets the associated operation mode Editor controls to the settings recorded in the action step keyframe as well as runs the specific action associated with the action step’s operation mode.

A recorded keyframe is displayed with a red interior.  To record a specific keyframe, just option click on the keyframe. To erase a recorded keyframe, just hold down the command key and click the red recorded keyframe and it will be removed.  The first keyframe for each action step must always be recorded, so you can’t erase it to be empty.  But the first keyframe can be a mute keyframe if you don’t want it to playback at frame 1.

A muted keyframe is displayed with a black interior. To record a mute keyframe, hold down the m and option keys and then click the keyframe. When an action step is muted at a specific frame time, then it won’t playback in an animation until the next active recorded keyframe (a red one) is reached.

Parameter values associated with 2 red recorded keyframes for a particular action step will interpolate for frame times between the 2 recorded keyframes. This is true for editable parameters that can be adjusted in the Editor window for the action step. It’s also true for any recorded path information associated with an action step.

Keyframe interpolation is generated using a linear interpolation algorithm, However, you can adjust additional ease in and ease out PASeq preference parameters for keyframe interpolation if you want the interpolation to be nonlinear.

Here’s a simple example of using PASeq timeline keyframe to build a paint animation based on path interpolation. The variation on the initial PASeq we used for recording a single manually interpolated patin stroke is shown below.

I generated this modified PASeq by painting a second paint path with a different source color, and then option clicking the keyframe at frame 10 for my interactive multipen action step to record the second keyframe for that action step. My original paint stroke was a vertical stroke drawn on the left side of the canvas. My second paint stroke keyframed at frame 10 was drawn on the right side of the canvas with a blue source color (as shown below).

Note that i have the PASeq controls setup for a max of 10 frames in my keyframe timeline. I erase the canvas to white in the first action step at frame time 1 and then mute that step for the remaining frames in the animation. This is followed by a single interactive multi pen manual paint step that has 2 keyframes, at frame time 1 and frame time 10. If i press the Animate button art the top of the PASeq window i get the following generated canvas image.

The animation over 10 frames recreates the first manually drawn paint path at frame 1,and the final manually drawn paint path at frame 10. Additional interpolated paths are drawn for the intermediate frame times. Both the path shape and the path color are interpolated for the intermediate frame times.

If i wanted to create an animation output where the paint path appeared to move over the course of the animation without seeing the previous painted strokes in the current frame i would not incorporate a mute step in the first erase to white action step.

I could also interpolate any Editor parameters associated with the paint preset i used for the interpolated manually drawn paint path. For example, i could have edited the path randomization of the paint preset before drawing the paint path associated with the second keyframe at frame time 10. I did this by going to the Path Randomize control panel in the paint synthesizer and changing the Displace Amount option from 3 to 200 as shown below. This editing change in the paint synthesizer creates a more randomized dispersed paint path.

I then repainted my paint stroke on the right side of the canvas and option clicked the existing keyframe at frame time 10 for the interactive multipen action step. If i run the animation with this modified PASeq the result is shown below. Note how the path randomization of the manually drawn paint stroke is interpolated over time in addition to the path shape and coloring.

In the example above we only interpolated one of the editable parameters in the paint synthesizer over time. But we could have interpolated multiple parameter values in our single action step at the same time if we wanted to.

PASeq keyframing and PASeq recording in general works like snapshot automation (if you are familiar with audio mixer terminology). What the term snapshot refers to is that the entire set of interface parameters associated with a particular effect operation type is recorded in a single PASeq action step. And interpolation between individual keyframe cells in an action step also occurs across the entire range of available parameters. As opposed to other potential keyframe interpolation schemes where each individual parameter has it’s own individual horizontal keyframe track over time.

Context Menu Commands

There are a set of individual context menu commands that can be run on specific selected action steps in a PASeq.  To select a particular action step, just mouse down in it.

On a mac if you hold down the control key while mousing down on an action step then a contextual menu will appear with a series of context commands that can be run on the selected action step. On windows this is equivalent to clicking while holding down the right mouse button.

There are contextual menus to play the selected action step, or just set the interface controls to what is recorded in the action step (action step to interface), or overwrite the recorded action step with the current interface parameter settings (interface to action step).

There are also additional contextual menu shortcuts to import or export a PASeq preset.

PASeq Presets

Presets are pre-built Studio Artist effects that are stored in individual preset files on your hard disk. Synthetik provides a large set of factory presets, and you can also record or edit your own personalized presets. Paint Action Sequences have their own specific Studio Artist preset type. You can use the factory preset browser to navigate the different factory PASeq preset collections and categories when in Paint Action Sequence operation mode. Loading a specific factory PASeq preset file will overwrite the existing contents of the PASeq window with what is stored in the selected PASeq preset file.

The main Action button will run the current PASeq when in Paint Action Sequence operation mode.

For more information on working with presets and the preset browser check out this tip.

Context Action Steps

Context action steps are additional PASeq features that allow for some advanced processing capabilities. You can use context action steps to associate specific source images with a PASeq, associate unique background images with specific processing layers, associate sets of bezier paths with specific layers, and perform warps, morphs or adaptive filtering operations based on the movement of sets of bezier paths.

For more information on PASeq Context Action Steps check out this tip.

History Sequences

Studio Artist includes a History Sequence window in addition to the PASeq window. A history sequence is basically the same as a PASeq, but minus the keyframe timeline. The file format for PASeq presets and history sequence presets are the same, so you can open a history sequence in the PASeq window and vice versa.

Typically you use the history sequence to record an editable history of what you are doing in Studio Artist. So the history sequence can be used as a form of replayable undo. And you use the PASeq window to load or build PASeq presets, process movie files, or generate animations. But you can also use the history sequence as a way to build new effects from multiple PASeq presets, or as a placeholder for storing multiple action steps while editing a PASeq effect.

You can drag and drop individual action steps from a PASeq to a history sequence (and vice versa). There are also menu commands under the main Action menu for  copy replace and append between the 2 different sequences.

Movie Processing

Paint Action Sequences are the mechanism used in Studio Artist to process movie files. To process a movie with a particular effect, you first record the desired effect in a PASeq.  Or you can load a prebuilt PASeq preset if the effect you want already exists as a PASeq preset. You then run the appropriate Action : Process with Paint Action Sequence menu command to process the movie file.

You can also use a PASeq to generate animation output without necessarily processing a source movie file. You can use the Action : Animate with Paint Action Sequence menu commands to do this. Movie Streams would also be another way to generate animation from a PASeq.

There are a number of other tip posts that discuss processing movie fields with PASeqs in much more detail. Some additional tip links are mentioned below.

For More Information

There are several user adjustable parameter options available for individual PASeq presets that determine whether they playback the original state of workspace attributes like masking or layer indexing. These PASeq parameters can be adjusted in the generic Editor window when in PASeq operation mode. A tip with more information on PASeq Editor Options is available here.

There are several PASeq preference options that control how and when PASeq playback updates the Editor and canvas. There’s also PASeq preference options for controlling keyframe interpolation as discussed above. For more information on working with the PASeq preference options checkout this tip.

An introductory tutorial tip that discusses how to build a PASeq to process movie file with a single image operation effect is available here. An additional introductory tutorial on processing a movie file with a PASeq is available here.

Building more elaborate movie processing effects involves designing an appropriate paint strategy to create a particular aesthetic effect and then implementing it in a recorded PASeq. There’s a multi-part tutorial series that details how to build movie processing paint strategies available here.

Studio Artist PASeq keyframe interpolation includes the ability to interpolate collections of multiple bezier paths. What this means is that you could interpolate all of the multiple paths associated with a complete painting to a new painting using a single PASeq action step.  This approach is called working with interpolating encapsulated bezier paths. A tutorial tip that discusses working with encapsulated bezier keyframes to build paint animation is available here. Multi-step paint animations can be generated automatically using the techniques discussed in this tip.

For more information on PASeq Context Action Steps check out this tip. A more detailed tutorial on working with morph contexts for generating morph animation effects is available here.

For more information on configuring the Studio Artist workspace check out this tip.

To process a movie file in Studio Artist you first record a Paint Action Sequence (PASeq) and then process a movie file with the PASeq. A paint strategy is the series of processing steps you need to implement in your PASeq to build up a particular visual effect.

This discussion will focus on some technique to construct cartoon style auto-rotoscope animation effects. What we mean by auto-rotoscope is that you work with one frame of a movie to build up a particular stylistic paint effect encapsulated in a PASeq preset and then Studio Artist automatically paints the rest of the frames in the visual effect style you created in your custom PASeq.

Here’s an example of a finished cartoon style animation effect generated by processing a source movie with a PASeq. The Vectorizer was used to generate this particular stylistic effect.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Studio Artist  has the capability to create a wide range of different stylistic cartoon effects. In this tutorial we’ll discuss a few of the many different processing approaches you can take to create cartoon style animation effects. There are also a lot of prebuilt factory PASeq presets that you can use to get started quickly creating cartoon animation image or movie processing effects.

When building up a PASeq for processing video you always want to have a paint strategy in mind. Paint Strategies are discussed in much more detail in the first part of this tutorial series, but the basic idea is to formulate the components of the visual effect style you are trying to achieve and then record action steps in your PASeq to implement the different steps necessary to build up the desired effect.

My initial thinking was that i wanted to generate a soft cartoon style that looked stylized but still retained a lot of the original source video characteristics. I used multiple applications of the Smooth image operation to generate this effect. The first Smooth action step processed the Source Image. The rest of the Smooth action steps process the Current Layer. The initial PASeq i constructed is shown below.

The Smart Blur ip op step was added for some additional edge smoothing. The Blur ip op step at the end is using an Edge 1 Composite setting and is actually a contrast boost sharpening step to boost the contrast and sharpness of the softening effect. The Simplify ip op is another processing effect that is very useful for generating soft cartoon styles.

The soft cartoon style animation i generated with the PASeq created above is shown below.

Click here to view the embedded video.

I liked the fact that the soft cartoon effect retained a lot of the source video characteristics. But after viewing it i wanted to try a more flat color cell animation cartoon style. To achieve this i used the Vectorizer to convert the soft cartoon canvas image into a flat color vector rendition. My modified PASeq with the additional vectorizer step is shown below.

I could have just run the vectorizer in a new single step PASeq by processing the original source image. But by processing a modified version of the source image i was able to achieve a more simplified flat color cartoon effect. Preprocessing your source footage to remove undesirable features or enhance desirable features prior to effect processing or painting is a useful tool to add to your paint strategy arsenal.

The flat color cartoon animation generated by my modified PASeq is shown below.

Click here to view the embedded video.

After viewing the flat color cartoon animation output i decided that i liked it better for this particular sequence than my initial concept of a soft cartoon rendition. I then thought it would be interesting to try adding some additional vector paint sketching on top of the flat color cartoon rendition.

To achieve this i added the following action steps to my cartoon style PASeq. All of these steps were implemented by running different Path menu commands. First i erased the bezier path layer.

Then i generated a set of bezier paths derived from the source image edges.

Then i picked a thin vector stroke paint synthesizer preset. I used a Blend Composite setting with a low Blend % setting in the Paint Fill Apply control panel so that the vector sketch paint strokes i was adding would be more subtle when placed on top of the flat color cartoon canvas.

I then painted in the bezier path buffer using the vector paint preset i had just edited.

My final PAseq after recording the additional processing steps described above is shown below.

When i processed my source movie with this modified PASeq i generated the following cartoon style animation.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Additional Cartoon Styles

The Vectorizer is capable of a wide range of different flat color cartoon styles and effects. The cartoon example at the very top of this tutorial post was generated with a single vectorizer action step in a PASeq that processed the source image. A vectorizer Region Effect was used used to stylize the generated vector regions in that animation.

Studio Artist 4 also allows for mix compositing when using the vectorizer so you can use repeated applications of the vectorizer with partial transparency to build up vector gradient effects that have some shading incorporated into them.

The Color Simplify image operation is also a very useful tool for generating cartoon styles. The cartoon style animation example below was generated using a single Color Simplify ip op action step in a PASeq.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Many cartoon styles incorporate some form of thin line sketch outlining in addition to rendering image mass with soft gradient or flat color areas. There are many different ways to generate thin outline sketch effects in Studio Artist. Some image processing options include the Color Edge, Color Simplify, Edge, Gradient, Smart Contrast, Sketch Edge, and Watershed Regionize ip ops. The Color Edge and Sketch Edge ip ops can also directly generate bezier paths that could then be painted in by the paint synthesizer. The paint synthesizer is also capable of a wide variety of different sketch paint effects by itself.

For More Information

This tutorial is the second part in a series of tutorials on movie processing strategies. The first part of the tutorial is available here. The second part of this tutorial series is available here.

The PASeq presets i described above are included in the new Movie Processing Strategies category. These PASeq presets showcase some additional version 4 features that work well for movie processing.

For some additional information on the mechanics of processing a movie file with a paint action sequence check out this tip.

The PASeq presets used in this movie processing tutorial series are available for download here.

Studio Artist processes movie files with Paint Action Sequences (PASeq). A PASeq can be thought of as a script that details the different processing steps needed to achieve a certain stylistic effect. PASeqs consist of a series of action steps recorded into a list. When PASeq recording is turned on, then any processing actions you run in Studio Artist will be recorded as individual action steps in the PASeq. This includes automatic actions as well as manual paint steps.

To begin, you need to open the source video you wish to process. To do this run the File : New Source and Canvas… menu command.

A standard file dialog will come up that allows you to choose a Quicktime movie file of your choice. Navigate the file system in the file dialog and select the movie file you wish to process.

After selecting the movie file you wish to process a New Canvas sizing dialog will come up. This dialog shows the size of your movie source frames as well as an adjustable canvas size. Set the canvas size to what you want your output movie frame size to be and then press OK.

For this particular example we choose the canvas size to be the same size as the source video. But Studio Artist lets you choose any canvas size you want. This allows you to take low resolution source video and generate video processing effects or paint animations at a higher resolution. So you could take normal video resolution as an input and generate HD or even IMAX processed output frame resolutions if you wish.

After selecting the source movie you wish to work with and setting a working canvas size you are ready to get started. The screenshot belows shows how i configured my Studio Artist workspace for this example. The working canvas is in the center of the workspace in white. The Source area is at the top left below the main operation toolbar. The Editor palette is positioned below the source area. The Paint Action Sequence palette is docked on the right side of the workspace.

You can of course configure the workspace any way you wish. You will need access to the Source Area, Editor, and Paint Action Sequence palette for this particular tutorial. You can turn any of the Studio Artist palettes on or off in the workspace by using the appropriate Windows menu command.

Your selected source movie should be displayed in the Source Area under the Image tab. When a source movie is loaded a set of movie transport control buttons become available under the image display. You can use these to play the movie file as well as more around between different frames in the movie.

There are a wide variety of different image operations (ip op) to choose from. Each one has different editable parameter options that can totally change the visual appearance of the ip op effect. To enter image operation mode, use the operation popup in the left side of the main operation toolbar at the top of the workspace to select Image Operation.

When you do this the Editor will reconfigure to show parameters available to edit for image operation effects. The popup at the top of the Editor will display the different image operation effects you can choose from. For this particular tutorial we’ll be working with the Threshold image operation effect. So select Threshold in the popup at the top of the Editor palette. Be aware, if you are not in Image Operation mode, then the Editor will display control panels available for whatever operation mode you are currently in. The operation popup in the main toolbar next to the Action button tells you which operation mode you are currently in.

Once you are in the Threshold ip op in Image Operation mode, you can press the Action button to run the effect.

The particular effect you will generate is a function of the different editable parameters available in the Editor for the Threshold ip op effect.

The IP Source parameter selects what is going to be processed by the ip op effect. In the screen snap above it is set to Current Layer. This means that what ever image is in the current canvas layer will be sent through the Threshold ip op effect and then the result will be placed back in the canvas.

For video processing you will want to process the source image rather than the current layer. So change the IP Source option to Source Image. This will insure that your source video frames are used as the input to the Threshold ip op effect.

Now if you press the Action button you can see what the Threshold ip op will do with it’s current parameter settings.

With the default settings the Threshold ip op generates a  black and white hard threshold effect. By modifying the editable parameters you can generate a wide range of more sophisticated threshold or black and white film noire processing effects.

Play around with the effect settings and put together a processing effect you want to apply to your source video. When you are happy with your edited effect, you are ready to record it into a Paint Action Sequence. Turn on recording in the Paint Action Sequence palette by clicking on the Rec checkbox located at the top of the Paint Action Sequence palette.

I used the modified settings below to generate a black and white film noire look.

After turning on PASeq recording and then clicked the Action button. After the threshold action runs a single action step labeled Threshold is recorded in the Paint Action Sequence. You can now turn off PASeq recording by unchecking the Rec checkbox at the top of the Paint Action Sequence palette.

You have now successfully recorded a custom paint action sequence that runs a single Threshold ip op that you also custom edited. You are now ready to process your source video file.

To process a source video file with the current paint action sequence, run the Action : Process with Paint Action Sequence : Source to Movie… menu command.

A standard file dialog will appear that lets you name your processed output movie file. Name it what you want and position it where you want it to be placed in the file system on your computer. The click OK and Studio Artist will render out your processed movie file frame by frame.

Note that Studio Artist is generating a new processed movie file. It is not modifying your existing source movie file at all, which remains untouched.

If you click cancel in the Create Movie Stream file dialog then the movie processing will still preview in your workspace but no movie file will be generated. This is useful if you want to preview the processing. To stop movie file processing for any reason, just press the spacebar. A dialog will come up asking you if you want to stop processing or continue on. Click the appropriate button to stop or continue.

If You Run Into Problems

If your output video is generated with an unchanging blank frame, then you probably didn’t setup your image operation to process the Source Image.  You need to make sure that the IP Source setting is set to Source Image for your ip op effect.

If IP Source is set to Current Layer for your ip op effect then the ip op is processing the canvas, not the source frames in the video. So if the canvas is empty then the empty canvas would be processed by the effect for each output movie frame.

An alternate approach to constructing your PASeq would be to first set the canvas to the source image.  You could then run an image operation that uses an IP Source option set to Current Layer. To set the canvas to the source image, you can either drag the source to the canvas or you can hold down the mouse on the Eraser in the operation toolbar until a list of possible erase to options comes up and then choose Source Image.

If your processed output movie file seems to have a different frame timing than your source movie file you may have setup your movie preferences to change the frame timing. In the Movie tab of the Preferences dialog there’s a preference option called Process Frame Timing.  You want the Process Frame Timing option set to  Source Movie to pass through the source movie timing to your processed output movie.  If it’s set to MovieCodec FPS then the processed output movie is retimed to a specific FPS (frames per second) setting specified in the File : Movie Codec dialog.

The movie preferences also include skip frame settings.  Skipping or duplicating frames would also change your output movie file timing, so these settings should be set to 0 if you don’t want that to happen.

Codec stands for the kind of movie compression format that is used to encode the output movie frames. You specify the movie compression codec used by the settings in File : Movie Codec dialog. Your processed output movie file will have it’s frame images compressed using your current Studio Artist movie codec settings. So your output movie file may be compressed differently than your input movie file.  This could result in a much larger movie file size on your had disk, especially if you have specified an uncompressed movie code file format for your output movie processing.

For More Information

For an introduction to working with Image Operation effects check out this tip.

Here’s another getting started tip that discusses processing a movie with a PASeq.

For more information on configuring the Studio Artist workspace check out this tip.

For a more advanced tutorial that discusses paint strategies for generating paint animation effects in processed movies check out this tip.

Studio Artist uses Paint Action Sequences (PASeq) to process movies. So to implement your paint strategy for building a particular paint animation effect you need to record a series of action steps in a PASeq that work together to build the particular processing effect you are trying to create. Designing an effective paint strategy and associated PASeq processing preset is often an iterative process.

Here’s an example of a finished paint animation processing effect. What i like about this example is that i started out with an initial design goal, but in the process of implementing it and watching the end result i was inspired to move in a slightly different direction for what ended up being my final paint animation.

Click here to view the embedded video.

The examples below give some insight into the design process that went into creating the animation above. My initial design goal was fairly straight forward. I wanted to create a simple paint animation effect using a single wet paint preset. I used multiple applications of the wet paint preset with reduced brush size for each auto paint iteration to first rough in the image and then build detail in the painting in the later passes as the brush size gets smaller.

The PASeq below shows my initial design attempt.

I started off by erasing the canvas to black. I option m clicked keyframe 2 for this first action step to record a black mute keyframe. Doing this insures that this first action step only plays back for the first frame in the animation. I did this because i wanted to overdraw on the previous output frame for all frames except the first frame of the animation.

I then recorded 5 auto paint passes using the same wet paint preset. For each pass i reduced the brush size by adjusting the Max Size Range control in the Brush Modulation control panel of the paint synthesizer. Reducing the brush size over time is a typical paint strategy to build detail in a painting.

The paint animation generated from this first simple PASeq is show below.

Click here to view the embedded video.

After watching this initial paint animation i decided that i wanted to change my initial design goals for the animation. I decided that my initial strategy of overpainting the entire video frame resulted in an animation that was a little more frenetic than i wanted. So i edited the individual auto paint action steps so that they focused on starting paint strokes in high textured areas of the source video only.

I did this by making some simple edits in the Path Start control panel of the paint synthesizer shown below. I set the Probability option there to Texture Prob Weight. And i turned on the Texture Range control and set the Texture Min to 30 and the Texture Max to 255. These editing changes in sure that the paint preset will only start a paint path in a high texture or edge area of the source video.

I also wanted to modify the previous output frame prior to painting on top of it. I wanted my previous paint strokes to soften and dissipate over time in the animation. I added a Smart Blur image operation action step to my PAseq to achieve this goal. I used the Polar variation setting to achieve a stylized polar blur of the painted background over time in the animation.

Note that i dragged the SmartBlur action step to the top of the PAseq list shown below so that it processes the previous output frame prior to the auto paint steps painting on top of the processed previous frame. This PAseq overdraws on top of the previous output frame because we don’t erase the canvas except when processing the initial first frame of the animation.

The paint animation that results from processing my source movie with the modified PAseq above is shown below.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Note that the visual appearance of this second paint animation is very different than my first attempt at building the effect. Visual flicker has been reduced, and the painting now takes place in the foreground on top of a dissipating blurred painted backdrop.

After watching this second attempt at creating my effect i noticed that i actually liked the look of the larger brush size paint steps more than the final painted appearance after the small detail generating brush steps. Adding detail made the painting more recognizable but gave it  a somewhat flatter visual appearance for this particular paint preset. So i removed the last  3 Auto paint action steps from my PASeq.

I liked this new paint look achieved from using fewer paint steps with larger brush sizes. But i still wanted to add more emphasis on the features present in the original source video. I used 2 different techniques to boost the source features in the painted canvas. I first used the Equalizer ip op to generate a high spatial frequency representation of the source image. I set the ip op Composite control to Replace Region Selection. I did this so that the output of the Equalizer ip op was routed to the current layer’s selection buffer rather than added to the canvas.

I then used the Selection Modulate Rotate interactive warp to slightly warp the painted canvas. This warp is adaptively modulated based on the contents of the current selection buffer. It’s an interesting technique that can be used to add spatial feature detail to an abstract image or painting.

I then used the Edge ip op to add some additional source edge modulated sharpening to the painted canvas. Note from the Edge ip op control panel settings below that i’m using the Source Image as the input to an Edge Strength Coloring effect that is then add scaled composited into the painted canvas. Doing this adds additional source video feature detail to the painting.

The resulting PASeq with these editing changes is shown below.

This final PASeq implements the following paint strategy. It starts by erasing the first frame only of the animation to black. Then the contents of the canvas (the previous output frame) are then blurred. Two auto paint steps then paint in the features of the source video frame. I then generate a high frequency representation of the source image, place it in the selection buffer, and then warp the painted canvas using the selection buffer to modulate the warp. I then boost the source frame edge features in the painted canvas.

The resulting paint animation generated from this final PASeq design iteration is shown below

Click here to view the embedded video.

What i like about this particular example is that it shows how your initial design goals can sometimes change as a part of the overall design process based on the visual feedback you get from viewing your initial attempts at constructing an animation. By going with the flow and trying out different ideas as a part of my design process i was able to move in some different directions and end up with a more interesting animation than what i initially set out to create.

For More Information

This tutorial is the second part in a series of tutorials on movie processing strategies.  The first part of the tutorials is available here. The third part of the tutorials is available here.

The PASeq presets i described above are included in the new Movie Processing Strategies category. These PASeq presets showcase some additional version 4 features that work well for movie processing.

For some additional information on the mechanics of processing a movie file with a paint action sequence check out this tip.

The trick i described above for adding source features to an abstract image or painting is described in more detail in this following tutorial.

The PASeq presets used in this movie processing tutorial series are available for download here.

Overview

Movie Processing in Studio Artist is achieved by building a processing script called a Paint Action Sequence (PASeq) and then processing a video file with the PASeq to generate a new effect rendered output movie.  The individual action steps recorded in the PASeq work together to build up a particular artistic effect. The Paint Action Sequence palette shown above is accessible from the main Windows menu and is where you record and edit a PASeq.

You can open a source movie in Studio Artist’s source area and work with a single frame of your source movie to build and record a PASeq.  When PASeq recording is turned on any processing actions (manual or automatic) you perform in Studio Artist will be recorded as individual action steps in the PASeq. When finished recording you PASeq, you can then run one of the Action menus to process a movie file (or folder of numbered frame images) with the PASeq to render out your new processed output movie file.

For more information on recording custom paint action sequence and processing a movie file with it check out this tip.

Building a Paint Strategy

Every successful paint action sequence is built up from implementing some kind of paint strategy. A paint strategy can be thought of as the set of steps necessary to build up a particular visual effect. An artist always follows some kind of a strategy or plan to build up an artistic image. The combination of all of the steps in the strategy act together to generate the desired visual effect.

When processing video there are additional perceptual factors to take into account besides the artistic appearance of a single image.  A video is composed of a series of frame images presented sequentially over time. When processing a series of video frames you need to be aware of how any image processing or painting you are doing is going to look when the processed video frames are sequentially presented to a viewer as the rendered video file plays back.

One important part of any paint animation sequence involves what to do with the animating canvas background. There are several different approaches to this component of a paint strategy for building a paint animation. The traditional thing to do would be to erase the background of the canvas to white before drawing each frame. This simulates traditional paint or sketch animation where the animator always draws on a clean piece of paper.

A visual side effect of erasing the background each frame is that the resulting animations usually have a perceived flicker. This is especially true when an animation is built up from generic autopainting within Studio Artist. There may not be any real visual continuity between paint strokes from frame to frame when autopainting with some arbitrary paint synthesizer preset.  If there is lack of temporal continuity from painted frame to frame then that results in perceived flicker in the processed output movie when you watch it.

The paint  strategy you will follow when building your paint action sequence depends on what you are trying to achieve stylistically in a given animation. If you want it to look like it was hand drawn animation, then a style with some visual flicker from frame to frame might be just what you want. If you don’t, then there are various strategies to use to eliminate flicker in a paint animation.

Eliminating flicker involves introducing some form of temporal continuity from frame to frame. By temporal continuity we mean that there is some visual coherence between sequential frame images in the output movie. One approach to generating temporal continuity in an animation is to modify or transform the previously painted output frame in some fashion, and then paint on top of the modified canvas.

Making sure that individual paint strokes have continuity from frame to frame is important for generating temporal continuity. Painting on top of the previous output frame is one way of doing this. But you could also use other techniques like time particles or bezier path interpolation to build paint stroke continuity from frame to frame in an animation.

Building paint paths from source frame features (like edges) is also an approach that can work well for reduced flicker in paint animation. This is because paint strokes that track the edges in the source video frames will track the object movement taking place in the video over time. A technique like this can be used in conjunction with overdrawing on a modified previous output frame image to reduce or eliminate flicker.

Many Studio Artist paint presets also incorporate various kinds of randomization to help achieve a more organic paint look.  This can take the form of color randomization as well as modulation of different characteristics of the paint paths and brush over the drawing of a single paint stroke as well as over the course of drawing multiple paint strokes.  Sometimes you need to dial back or eliminate artistic randomization effects in a paint preset when processing video to avoid introducing temporal variance from frame to frame.

Typically you will be working with source video that is 24 or 30 frames a second.  But traditional animation is often generated at a lower frame rate. Reducing the frame rate of an animated output sequence (like to 10 – 15 fps) is another great way to reduce the visual perception of flicker. Studio Artist has movie preferences you can use to automatically skip source frames when processing with a PASeq if you want to reduce the output frame rate without stretching out the timing of the resulting animated movie.

Another key point is that often a successful paint strategy and it’s associated paint action sequence can be a combination of paint effects and image processing effects. One of the strengths of Studio Artist is that you can combine together different paint effects, image processing effects, warping or morphing effects, region masking, and resolution independent texture synthesis within a given paint Action Sequence script. Most successful animations are based on scripts involving several different paint or image processing presets that work together to build the particular desired effect.

Wet Flow Paint Animation Example

Here’s an example of a simple paint animation effect i put together to showcase some of the principals of building a paint strategy as discussed above. The PASeq incorporates overdrawing on a modified previously painted canvas (as opposed to erasing the canvas at the beginning of each new frame). I was trying to achieve a rough fairly abstract paint style with some liquid flow in the background. I also didn’t want the painting to be so abstract that you couldn’t distinguish what the original source content was.

Click here to view the embedded video.

The video example above shows off the end result of my iterative design process to build the desired paint animation style i described above.

I started by choosing a rough paint preset that focuses on laying down paint in high texture regions of the source image.  I then recorded four paint passes using this preset with progressively smaller brush size for each pass. My initial PASeq (shown below) also erased the canvas to white before painting each frame.

The video example belows shows what you get when you process the skater source video with this initial PASeq.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Because the canvas is first erased to white for each frame prior to painting it in there’s a fair amount of visual flicker associated with the paint animation.

My next attempt at modifying this initial PASeq was the one shown below. A black mute keyframe was inserted at frame 2 of the first Set Canvas – White action step in the PASeq list. You hold down the m hotkey while option clicking a keyframe to record a black mute keyframe. I then choose a radial flow canvas spreader paint preset and used it to spread the paint strokes on the canvas out from the center towards the edges.  After recording this additional paint step into the PAseq i then dragged it at the top of the PASeq list right after the initial set canvas to white action step that only runs for the first frame of the animation.

So this PASeq erases the canvas to white for the first frame only.  The canvas is then spread out by the flow paint, and then the original paint steps that draw in the skater take place. Since the canvas is not erased except at frame 0 the previous output frame will always be in the canvas when the next frame starts drawing. The video example belows shows what you get when you process the skater source video with this second PASeq.

Click here to view the embedded video.

I liked the fact that overdrawing on top of the flow modified previous output frames reduced the visual perception of flicker in the resulting paint animation. But i felt that the foreground of the moving skater was a little hard to distinguish from the smeared paint background. So, i introduced an additional processing step that modified the previous output frame by  slightly hue shifting it. The modified PASeq with the addition of a HueShift image operation action step is shown below.

The video example belows shows what you get when you process the skater source video with this third PASeq. Note how the addition of the hue shift step helps to distinguish the foreground from the background.

Click here to view the embedded video.

At this point in designing my paint strategy i wanted to make the source video features a little more recognizable in the paint animation.  And i wanted to reduce the emphasis of the flowing smeared background a little and increase focus on the foreground painting.  I also decided to start with a black background instead of a white background.  My final PASeq for my iteratively designed paint strategy is shown below.

Once again, here’s the final paint animation video below generated with the final PASeq shown above.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Note how i worked iteratively to build my final paint strategy.  I took my initial goals and worked to build my paint action sequence step by step to achieve those goals. This is usually a more effective way to work than trying to do everything in a single pass, especially when just getting started with Studio Artist. As an experienced Studio Artist user i find that i still modify and tweak my initial PASeq designs to hone a particular effect and to fine tune it to the characteristics of my source video.

Being organized and focused on building the different components of your desired paint strategy step by step is the best way to build your own custom paint animation effects. Don’t be afraid to experiment.  You can always delete a recorded PASeq action step if you’re not happy with what it’s doing. You can also export PASeq presets as you’re working, so that you can go back to a particular iteration of the effect if you get off track in your design process.

Getting Started

Studio Artist comes with thousands of different paint synthesizer and PASeq presets to get you started. They are arranged in different Collections and Categories. All of the presets are completely editable, so you can modify them or build your own. If you don’t want to build your own, you can use the ones we provide to get started. If you want to build your own, there are an unlimited number of presets that can be generated within the program by custom editing your own presets.

Combining together different paint presets and image processing effects within a paint action sequence is how you build up a particular paint strategy. Don’t be afraid to experiment.  Often it’s best to start out fairly simple and then add additional action steps one at a time to build a more sophisticated effect.

Where to go from here

We have provided a tutorial folder of specific paint action sequence presets in the Process Movie Tutorial category designed to show off a series of different simple paint strategies.  The Process Movie Tutorial pdf helps explain how these different PASeq presets were built. This particular set of tutorial PASeq presets is a little old but still useful for getting started with building PASeqs for movie processing.

The presets i described above are included in the newer Movie Processing Strategies category. These PASeq presets showcase some additional version 4 features that work well for movie processing.

For some additional information on the mechanics of processing a movie file with a paint action sequence check out this tip.

This tutorial is the first part of a series of tutorials on building paint strategies for processing movies. The second part of the tutorials is available here. The third part of the tutorials is available here.

The PASeq presets used in this movie processing tutorial series are available for download here.

How to generate a morph

To start off, open the Paint Action Sequence (PASeq) editor and erase the current PASeq by pressing the Erase button in the PASeq editor toolbar.

Choose the first source image you will be using for your morph sequence and open it as the current source.

Then, record a Morph Context action step by running the Action : PASeq Timeline : Record Context : Morph menu command.

After running this menu command you will see a single Morph Context action step recorded in the PASeq editor.

Now switch to Bezier Draw operation mode. An easy way to do this is to use the Operation : Bezier : Bezier Draw menu.

Once you are in Bezier Draw op mode, you can draw in a series of Bezier paths that will anchor features in your source image.  Turning on the source onion skin is a good way to do this. Or you could drag the source image into the canvas if you wish.

For example, if you are morphing a series of faces, try drawing a series of Bezier paths around the facial features like the eyes, nose, mouth, and head.

When you are done drawing your set of Bezier anchor paths, option click the first keyframe in the Morph Context action step in your PASeq Timeline.

Now choose your second image for your morph and open it as the source image. The onion skin will turn off when you open the new source image, so turn it on again. Now switch to Bezier Edit op mode.

Note how the original Bezier anchor paths are still displayed, but they no longer correspond to the facial features of your new source image.

You now need to edit the existing Bezier paths so that they correspond to their associated facial features in the new source image you just loaded. An easy way to do this is to use the new e hotkey function available in Bezier Edit. 

First select a single Bezier path. Then hold down the e hotkey and redraw the selected path where you would like it to be located. The old selected path will vanish and appear as the new path you just drew in.

You can now quickly select the remain paths one by one, and then redraw them in their new locations while holding down the e hotkey.

Once you have edited all of the old anchor paths to their new locations, option click a new keyframe in your Morph Context PASeq action step.

At this point you’ve defined a morph between 2 still images. The frame capture below shows the mid frame of the simple morph we defined in this example between the 2 face images.

You can continue adding additional morph context keyframes for additional source images if you want to morph between a series of images. For each additional image, you would open it as the source image, edit the Bezier anchor paths to correspond to the new source image, then option click record a new morph context keyframe.

Generating a morph animation movie file is the same as generating an animation movie from any other PASeq.  You just run the Action : Animate with Paint Action Sequence : to Movie menu command.

A Bezier morph animation example created using the same technique described above with a different starting source image is below:

bezier morph example

Bezier Warps or Filtering

Bezier warps or Bezier defined spatially variant filters are created using a similar technique to that described above.  They use Warp Contexts or Filter Contexts depending on whether you are warping or filtering.  As described above, the movement of Bezier paths over time defines the warp or spatially variant filter operation.

By using the series of steps described in this tip you can automatically generate a sketch or other paint style animation from a series of still images with no manual drawing.

Recording your source context keyframes

The first thing to do is to record a Source Context PASeq action step with a keyframe for each of the still images you are interested in painting in your animation. To do this, first erase the current PASeq. Then choose the first source image you want to use in your animation. Then run the Action  : PASeq Timeline : Record Context : Source menu command. 

A Source Context action step will be recorded in your PASeq after running this menu command.

You can then open a new source image and option click a keyframe in the PASeq timeline associated with the Source Context action step. Continue this cycle until all of your source context keyframes are recorded. If you click on a source context keyframe you will see the source image change to the one stored in the keyframe you clicked.

A shortcut way to record multiple source context keyframes is to use the Action  : PASeq Timeline : Record Context : Multiple Keys : Source menu. This menu command brings up a dialog that lets you choose multiple source images one at a time. After pressing cancel a source context action step will be generated with adjacent keyframes for all of the source images you selected.

Record your Bezier generation steps

You’re now ready to record your desired sequence of PASeq action steps to generate a set of Bezier paths for your animation. There are a large number of different approaches you can take to generating a set of Bezier paths. You could use one of the Path : Generation menus (the source edges option for example). You could generate Bezier paths from one of the Ip Op Sketch effects. Or you could use one of more action paint steps to generate Bezier paths associated with a particular painting style.

Make sure the first step in your Bezier path generation process is to erase the current Bezier path frame. Whatever approach you take to generation a set of Bezier paths, the steps are added to the existing PASeq with the source context keyframes.

Generating a Bezier Context

Once you have recorded your PASeq actions teps that generate Bezier paths, you can automatically run the PASeq on all of the source context keyframes and generate a bezier context that has keyframes ar all of the associated frame times. To do this, first select the source context action step. Then run the Path : Convert to Paint Synthesizer : Convert PASeq Source Context to Bezier Context menu command.

When you run the menu command the PASeq will be run for each of the source context keyframes. After running through all the keyframes then a new Bezier COntext action step will be recorded at the bottom of the existing PASeq. You can drop into Bezier operation mode and press one of the Bezier Context keyframes to see the set of Bezier paths stored in it.

Generating the encapsulated paint step

Once you have a kyeframed Bezier context, it’s easy to convert it into an encapsulated paint actions tep in the PAseq.  First choose the paint preset you want your Bezier animation to be drawn with. Then select the Bezier Context action step in the PASeq you will be converting. Then run the Path : Convert to Paint Synthesizer : Convert PASeq Bezier Context to Embedded Autodraw menu command.

The Bezier context action step you selected will change to a keyframed paint action step after running the menu command. Each keyframe will paint the set of Bezier paths that were originally encoded at that keyframe in the original Bezier context.

At this point you now have an encapsulated keyframed Bezier paint animation. You typically would now run an Action : PASeq Timeline : Embedded Bezier Frame : Normalize Split  and an Action : PASeq Timeline : Embedded Bezier Frame : Reorder Minimal Distance menu command. Running these 2 menu commands will insure that each keyframe has the same number of bezier paths for the keyframe interpolation, and that the interpolation takes place between adjacent paths that are close to one another, leading to a smoother animation.

You could now render your animation to a movie file using the Action : Animate with Paint Action Sequence : to Movie menu command. The normalize, reorder, and animate menu steps briefly described above are explained in more detail in this previous Bezier encapsulation paint animation tip.

The following movie example shows off a simple pencil sketch animation that was fully automatically generated using the techniques described above from 4 source keyframes using 2 Sketch Ip Op effects to generate the Bezier paths for encapsulation and a pencil paint preset to sketch the encapsulated Bezier paths.

pencil sketch animation