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How to make a render look more like a painting?

jenniferhugheyjenniferhughey Posts: 404
in Technical Help (nuts n bolts)

I have seen so many renders that people have gone that extra step and made them look like a painting. Not the PS "oil paint" or something like that..are there specific plugins for PS that help with this? Or any external software you would reccommend? I am trying to learn how to paint on a render but I'm not that great with a tablet yet..

Comments

  • Serene NightSerene Night Posts: 17,679

    Try topaz lab impressions. You can download a 30 day trial. If you decide to buy it or any topaz lab product let me know, and I will send you a coupon for a slight discount, which may make the price sting a bit less.

    With impressions you can layer the looks you use so nothing is too strong.

  • Oso3DOso3D Posts: 15,045
    edited September 2017

    My favorite is free, FotoSketcher.

    It's AMAZING

    More simply, lowering contrast/gamma and increasing vibrance can help create a paint look.

    Also I find the free NIK tools for Photoshop increadibly useful.

    Post edited by Oso3D on
  • jenniferhugheyjenniferhughey Posts: 404
    Serene Night said:

    Try topaz lab impressions. You can download a 30 day trial. If you decide to buy it or any topaz lab product let me know, and I will send you a coupon for a slight discount, which may make the price sting a bit less.

    With impressions you can layer the looks you use so nothing is too strong.

    Thank you! I saw the program and wondered if it was good, will use the free trial and see. Will let you know if I want to purchase. Thanks so much!

     

  • jenniferhugheyjenniferhughey Posts: 404
    timmins.william said:

    My favorite is free, FotoSketcher.

    It's AMAZING

    More simply, lowering contrast/gamma and increasing vibrance can help create a paint look.

    Also I find the free NIK tools for Photoshop increadibly useful.

    I'll look at that. And have been playing with PS RAW editors and increasing vibrance but hadn't tried lowering contrast or gamma, I usually up contrast. Maybe that's why..I like the enclosed piece I did, but it's just missing that final "look" I'm going for..

    Doreen_Bronze_scale_sig_8x10.jpg
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  • Serene NightSerene Night Posts: 17,679
    edited September 2017

    I think impressions is useful. Especially if you layer effects in. It is also useful for adding color back in. Will is correct nik tools are also good and best of all free. But impressions is certainly more painterly.

    Post edited by Serene Night on
  • RainRain Posts: 335
    Serene Night said:

    I think impressions is useful. Especially if you layer effects in. It is also useful for adding color back in. Will is correct nik tools are also good and best of all free. But impressions is certainly more painterly.

    I will second that.  I love Topaz Labs filters.

  • jenniferhugheyjenniferhughey Posts: 404

    I love that Topaz has a free trial, so I'll play with it and see what I come up with..thanks!!

  • Ken OBanionKen OBanion Posts: 1,447

    I was able to pull off the effect using volumetric lights in Poser, but I have to confess that it was pretty much by accident.  I was just jacking around with the lighting and atmospheric effects, and..., voila!  It came out looking like a Norman Rockwell painting.

    Sadly, I've never been able to duplicate the effect, because I'm not sure how I did it in the first place...!

     

    SundayAfternoon.png
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  • BlueIreneBlueIrene Posts: 1,318

    I use and highly rate Dynamic Auto Painter Pro. Virtually everything about each effect is customisable and you can make your own palates and brushes too if you've got the patience. There are a lots of presets included, as well as lots of user-created presets that can be downloaded in addition. I've vague memories of the trial having some limitations (image size and a watermark, I think), but I knew within a day or so of first trying it that I'd be buying it as soon as I had the cash. That was at the beginning of the year, and the software produces enough saleable images for it to have paid for itself ages ago. I find that it covers a multitude of render sins in a far, far quicker time than it would take to attack them with traditional postwork and it's usually the first thing I reach for when I'm not aiming for anything approaching photorealism.

  • jenniferhugheyjenniferhughey Posts: 404
    Ken OBanion said:

    I was able to pull off the effect using volumetric lights in Poser, but I have to confess that it was pretty much by accident.  I was just jacking around with the lighting and atmospheric effects, and..., voila!  It came out looking like a Norman Rockwell painting.

    Sadly, I've never been able to duplicate the effect, because I'm not sure how I did it in the first place...!

     

    wow, you're right, it does look like something Norman Rockwell might have done. Too bad you don't remember what you did! lol

  • jenniferhugheyjenniferhughey Posts: 404
    Astracadia said:

    I use and highly rate Dynamic Auto Painter Pro. Virtually everything about each effect is customisable and you can make your own palates and brushes too if you've got the patience. There are a lots of presets included, as well as lots of user-created presets that can be downloaded in addition. I've vague memories of the trial having some limitations (image size and a watermark, I think), but I knew within a day or so of first trying it that I'd be buying it as soon as I had the cash. That was at the beginning of the year, and the software produces enough saleable images for it to have paid for itself ages ago. I find that it covers a multitude of render sins in a far, far quicker time than it would take to attack them with traditional postwork and it's usually the first thing I reach for when I'm not aiming for anything approaching photorealism.

    It does look interesting, I love that these programs have trials so I can decide which is right for the look I want..

  • fastbike1fastbike1 Posts: 4,078

    What's fascinating about Dynamic Auto Painter Pro is that it actually paints the image from scratch. It starts with blank cnavas then builds up brush strokes as a painter would.

    Here are two images based on photos I took from my wife's garden. First is a close up of Rudbekia in Van Gogh's "sunflowers" style. Second is petunias in a Monet style.

     

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  • bexley_ef3f70e572bexley_ef3f70e572 Posts: 43

    I can reccomend the Dynamic Auto Painter software, but I used it several years ago.  The only problem I had with it was no alpha channel in the final render.  I don't know if they ever updated this.

     

    --Bex.

  • PadonePadone Posts: 3,804

    or you can just use GIMP that has artistic filters as well

  • agent unawaresagent unawares Posts: 3,513

    Dynamic Auto Painter is my favorite as well. I used it for this.

    image

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  • Oso3DOso3D Posts: 15,045

    This was done in FotoSketcher:

    https://willbear.deviantart.com/art/Rider-on-the-Path-oil-701420751

  • mindsongmindsong Posts: 1,715
    agent unawares said:

    Dynamic Auto Painter is my favorite as well. I used it for this.

    image

    bravo that one. I don't think it's just the auto-paint program that made that magic. nicely done.

    --ms

  • mindsongmindsong Posts: 1,715
    timmins.william said:

    This was done in FotoSketcher:

    https://willbear.deviantart.com/art/Rider-on-the-Path-oil-701420751

    The sky in that image looks incredible.

    --ms

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