What is Picture to People ?

"Picture to People" (P2P) is a huge Computer Graphics project. It was started to create new softwares able to make 2D drawing, 3D rendering, vexel drawing, text effects, photo effects, image filtering and other complex Computer Graphics operations. It has been made from scratch, including its low level Computer Graphics libraries like Maccala. Nowadays, most final features produced for this project are released as free online tools available from its official website. This blog talks about Computer Graphics, mainly concerning Picture to People development.

"Only who makes has true knowledge. Knowledge is control. True power depends on total control. Only who makes from scratch has the real power."

Monday, November 29, 2010

Professional Photo Sketch

I would like to show at least one more example about how detailed Photo Sketch drawings can be. This tool is capable of generating really well calculated fine strokes.

You can choose among several drawing styles with different detail levels. When using it, if your input photo/image already has very well defined, high contrast regions, turn the "Use smart strokes" option off.

Below I show a photo and a pencil sketch created from it. You can click the images for a full size viewing. More examples can be seen at this Photo Sketch gallery.


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Tuesday, November 23, 2010

A very efficient color picker

I developed Picture to People with a very powerful log. Analyzing the log I saw that there were many errors configuring the colors when using the effects. I realized that I have really many dummy users that don't understand what a "color in HTML hexadecimal style" is.

I always tried to make P2P absolutely easy (in fact, the easiest ever), but I forgot about the colors setting. My fault. To solve this problem once for all, I developed my own color picker component in javascript.

I projected it very carefully to have all important colors and to be very direct, efficient and user friendly. You always solve a color problem with two clicks: one to call the color picker (clicking the proper icon beside any color item) and one to set the color you want. When you call the component, it appears just close to your mouse and, when you choose a color, it is just written in the related color field. Below I show you how the color picker window looks like.

I coded the picker to mark any color cell (highlighting its borders in red as you see in the image) as the mouse pass over it. It works perfectly in Firefox and Chrome. This feature doesn't work in IE because it lacks some properties as defined by W3C. Anyway, the overall operation works in all three browsers.

I will always work hard to take professional Computer Graphics the easiest way for all.

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Friday, November 19, 2010

New professional effects to make pencil sketches from photos

I have released some days ago a new tool called Photo Sketch. It has state of art, next generation effects to transform even the more detailed photos into very realistic pencil sketches or drawings (like the ones professional artists make by hand).

Below I show you the result of turning a photo into a pencil sketch. This tool has several sketch effect styles to choose from, and each result image is composed by thousands or even millions of carefully chosen strokes. Depending on the style you select, these strokes can be very delicated and detailed.


You can transform your photos into pencil drawings as well. To see many other awesome examples about the power of this new Picture to People feature, have a good look at the Photo Sketch Gallery.

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Wednesday, November 10, 2010

Smoke text example 2

Yet another example to show you how this new Picture to People renderer can create very different smoke styles.

Some of my beta testers said when they saw this kind of smoke: "Hey, I can use it to make clouds!". Don't worry about it. I intend to make a new renderer focused on drawing clouds in future. Anyway, while it's not ready, if you think like that too ... it's up to you. You can use it anyhow you want.

Another good thing about this smoke effect in particular is that it destroys the font face very little when compared to some other smoke styles. Click the image for full-size viewing. Create your own image by using this smoke text generator.

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Sunday, November 7, 2010

Smoke text example

Now Picture to People has a feature with several smoke styles, so I will show you another example about what you can get using the Smoke Text tool.

It's impossible to draw a realistic smoke without mixing it with the environment. When you go to use these effects, keep in mind that the background color you select takes a big influence over the final result. Of course, the font you choose makes a big difference too.

This smoke you see below is more like the kind that fade up from cigarettes than the other I have shown before. In nature, the looking of a smoke depends on the burning material, the amount of firing stuff, the heat level, etc. Click the image to enlarge.

I'm always working hard to develop new, innovative, professional graphic tools for you, everything free and very easy to use. Wait for more surprises in some weeks.

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