Photoshop Oil Painting

cletus · March 17, 2004

Original:

Oil Painted (click on the image for a larger version):

I think I got this technique out of one of Scott Kelby's books. There are quite a few steps involved, but I've built an action to do everything. So now it's just one click!

Seamaiden · March 17, 2004

Wow, that's a really cool effect. I think The Gimp actually has a tool for just that effect.. I'll have to check it out. Have you tried it on any shots of people, perchance?

cletus · March 18, 2004

Seamaiden wrote:

Wow, that's a really cool effect. I think The Gimp actually has a tool for just that effect.. I'll have to check it out. Have you tried it on any shots of people, perchance?

I'll have to go back and see if I've got any decent people pictures to try the effect on.

Seamaiden · March 18, 2004

Keep it up and folks'll have to start calling you Cletus Van Gogh.

(The "other" brother..)

TJAmy · March 19, 2004

Cool!
My Mother-in-law oil paints lighthouses. She just built a new cottage up North. I could take pictures of all kinds of lighthouses and beach scenes and apply that effect. Wow, I could fill up her whole cottage in no time!

Thanks for sharing that, you've inspired a creative bug in many.
Tammy

tsiya · March 30, 2004

With JASC PAINT SHOP PRO 7.0
Oils just ordinarily take so long to dry! I can even do it in stained glass or mosaic.

zzyzxx · September 23, 2005

I think I got this technique out of one of Scott Kelby's books. There are quite a few steps involved, but I've built an action to do everything. So now it's just one click!

Hey cletus

any chance you would be willing to share the action?

GerryDavid · September 25, 2005

zzyzxx wrote:

Hey cletus

any chance you would be willing to share the action?

I 2nd that. That or type up the instructions if you dont want to upload the action itself. :0)

I wonder how legal it would be to do if its from a book?

flyingpylon · September 26, 2005

GerryDavid wrote:

I wonder how legal it would be to do if its from a book?

Not very. I believe it would be considered a "derivative work".

By the way, there is also an article in a recent Photoshop User magazine about giving photos a "painted" look. Though the final result is more subtle/detailed than the examples shown here.

cletus · September 26, 2005

GerryDavid wrote:

I 2nd that. That or type up the instructions if you dont want to upload the action itself. :0)

I wonder how legal it would be to do if its from a book?

I don't have an easy way to share the action in a post, but I can provide you with the text file version of the action:

 Action: Oil Painting
 	Select front layer
 	Make layer
 		Using: layer
 		Name:  “Oil Painting”
 	Merge Visible
 		With Duplicate
 	Hue/Saturation
 		Without Colorize
 		Adjustment: hue/saturation adjustment list
 		hue/saturation adjustment
 		Hue: 0
 		Saturation: 50
 		Lightness: 0
 	Filter Gallery
 		Effect Set: Effect Layer list
 		Effect Layer
 		Effect: Glass
 		Distortion: 3
 		Smoothness: 3
 		Texture Type: Canvas
 		Scaling: 79
 		Without Invert Texture
 		Effect Layer
 		Effect: Paint Daubs
 		Size: 4
 		Sharpness: 1
 		Brush Type: Simple
 		Effect Layer
 		Effect: Angled Strokes
 		Direction Balance: 46
 		Stroke Length: 3
 		Sharpness: 1
 		Effect Layer
 		Effect: Texturizer
 		Texture Type: Canvas
 		Scaling: 65
 		Relief: 2
 		Light Direction: Top Left
 		Without Invert Texture
 	Layer Via Copy
 	Desaturate
 	Set current layer
 		To: layer
 		Mode: overlay
 	Emboss
 		Angle: 135
 		Height: 1
 		Amount: 500
 	Set current layer
 		To: layer
 		Opacity: 40%
 	Merge Layers

ginger_55 · September 26, 2005

What does "emboss" mean. One of those mysteries I have been trying to solve for a couple of months. Looked the word up in lots of places.

ginger

ginger_55 · September 26, 2005

Cletus, I like the fall colors a lot, but the lake is a bit bright for me.

Is there a really easy way to set up an action? And how do you deal with the little variations in photos, one reason I have never gone to actions.

ginger

GraphyFotoz · September 26, 2005

cletus wrote:

I don't have an easy way to share the action in a post, but I can provide you with the text file version of the action:

Action: Oil Painting
	Select front layer
	Make layer
		Using: layer
		Name: “Oil Painting”
	Merge Visible
		With Duplicate
	Hue/Saturation
		Without Colorize
		Adjustment: hue/saturation adjustment list
		hue/saturation adjustment
		Hue: 0
		Saturation: 50
		Lightness: 0
	Filter Gallery
		Effect Set: Effect Layer list
		Effect Layer
		Effect: Glass
		Distortion: 3
		Smoothness: 3
		Texture Type: Canvas
		Scaling: 79
		Without Invert Texture
		Effect Layer
		Effect: Paint Daubs
		Size: 4
		Sharpness: 1
		Brush Type: Simple
		Effect Layer
		Effect: Angled Strokes
		Direction Balance: 46
		Stroke Length: 3
		Sharpness: 1
		Effect Layer
		Effect: Texturizer
		Texture Type: Canvas
		Scaling: 65
		Relief: 2
		Light Direction: Top Left
		Without Invert Texture
	Layer Via Copy
	Desaturate
	Set current layer
		To: layer
		Mode: overlay
	Emboss
		Angle: 135
		Height: 1
		Amount: 500
	Set current layer
		To: layer
		Opacity: 40%
	Merge Layers

Is there a way to incoperate this into CS2 without typing all this?

Sorry a little new to actions and scripts yet.

cletus · September 26, 2005

GraphyFotoz wrote:

Is there a way to incoperate this into CS2 without typing all this?
Sorry a little new to actions and scripts yet.

You don't have to type anything in. Just start recording an action (take a look here if you're not sure how to record an action) and follow the steps described in the action text file. Some of the steps might not be too clear, so here is a play-by-play:

Make Layer

All we're doing here is making a new layer to hold the oil painted version of the image. If you hold down the Alt (Option on a Mac) key while you click on the new layer button in the layers palette, you'll get a dialog box that allows you to name your layer at the time you create it.

Merge Visible

Take all the visible layers and merge their contents into the layer we just created. Hold down the Alt (Option on a Mac) key while you select Merge Visible from the layer palette menu or press Shift + Alt + Ctrl + E (Shift + Option + Control + E on a Mac) to do the same thing.

Hue/Saturation

Bump the saturation up to 50, leave everything else.

Filter Gallery

Launch the Filter Gallery (Filter > Filter Gallery...) and run the Glass, Paint Daubs, Angled Strokes & Texturizer filters with the settings listed. After you set up each filter, click the new effect layer button in the filter gallery. That way you get multiple effects in one trip through the gallery. Here's what the upper right corner of the filter gallery should look like:

New Layer via Copy

Copy the contents of the current layer into a new layer and place the new layer above the current layer. Ctrl + J or Command + J on a Mac.

Desaturate

Convert the current layer (the current layer is now the copy layer we created in the last step) to grayscale. Ctrl + Shift + U (Command + Shift + U on a Mac).

Set current layer

Change the current layer's blending mode to Overlay

Emboss

Run the emboss filter with the settings listed. Filter > Stylize > Emboss...

Set current layer

Set the current layer's opacity to 40%. Note that we could have done this at the same time we changed the layer's blending mode to Overlay. I just didn't for some reason.

Merge Layers

Merge the overlay layer with the original Oil Painting Layer. This command should probably be listed as "Merge Down". Anyway, Ctrl + E (Command + E on a Mac) is the best way to merge the two layers together.

cletus · September 26, 2005

ginger_55 wrote:

Is there a really easy way to set up an action? And how do you deal with the little variations in photos, one reason I have never gone to actions.

ginger

The best thing I can think of would be to record the action and then go into the Actions Palette and turn on dialogs for the Filter Gallery step of your action:

Now when you run the action the filter gallery will open and give you a chance to tweak your settings.

cletus · September 26, 2005

More Oil Painting
Original:

Painted:

GraphyFotoz · September 26, 2005

What I found.
I found a Oil Painting action here http://www.outdooreyes.com/photosection20.php3

Don't really look as impressive as yours tho?

Too bad we can't swap *.atn files here.

Recording a action the way I work (Rookie) would be a disaster!

zzyzxx · September 27, 2005

Thanks, cletus. You're a saint

GraphyFotoz · October 9, 2005

Thanx Eric!!!
Very kewl indeed!

We need to share more actions and scripts here.
I think some PPL are holding out on us?

GraphyFotoz · October 9, 2005

Question about script
You sent me the script.....it craps out when it gets to desaturate.

Pop-up box says

Could not complete commade because active layer is empty

Image looks complete at this point but I'm stumped

GraphyFotoz · October 9, 2005

Pretty kewl just the same!!
Before

After Eric's action

David_S85 · October 9, 2005

Perhaps this is a good time for a passing mention of the free Paint Engine filter by Fantastic Machines.

http://www.fantasticmachines.com/

Just one quick click and pretty much similar results to all of the above artwork.

Creatively used, its even better. Make a couple duplicate layers of a photo, apply a PE filter effect to each layer (use different effects), and blend and change opacities to taste. You could also add an adjustment layer and up the saturation. Then combine the layers back to one, and you're done.

behr655 · October 9, 2005

David_S85 wrote:

Perhaps this is a good time for a passing mention of the free Paint Engine filter by Fantastic Machines.

http://www.fantasticmachines.com/

Just one quick click and pretty much similar results to all of the above artwork.

Creatively used, its even better. Make a couple duplicate layers of a photo, apply a PE filter effect to each layer (use different effects), and blend and change opacities to taste. You could also add an adjustment layer and up the saturation. Then combine the layers back to one, and you're done.

Yup. Works real nice.

Bear

GraphyFotoz · October 9, 2005

One thing.....

David_S85 wrote:

Perhaps this is a good time for a passing mention of the free Paint Engine filter by Fantastic Machines.

http://www.fantasticmachines.com/

Just one quick click and pretty much similar results to all of the above artwork.

Creatively used, its even better. Make a couple duplicate layers of a photo, apply a PE filter effect to each layer (use different effects), and blend and change opacities to taste. You could also add an adjustment layer and up the saturation. Then combine the layers back to one, and you're done.

According to their site it costs $40??
Or is it only the tile bit?

behr655 · October 9, 2005

Paint Engine is free.

Photoshop Oil Painting

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