Photo Manipulation: Winter to Summer.

[audiotheory]

Last year I was asked to create a simple animation of winter fading into summer. The not so simple part was that only the winter photograph existed!
Ahh well that's what Photoshop's for, 70+ layers later I was finished!

This was quite a job as I had to painstakingly place and fix literally hundreds of trees, rocks and their shadows by hand. Everything except the buildings are taken from other images.

Check the link below the images to see the fade in/out example.

http://audiotheory.co.uk/test/WinterBackground.jpg

http://audiotheory.co.uk/test/SummerBackground.jpg

Here is the example fade animation (with additional snow effect), the mouse's horizontal position controls the fade.
http://audiotheory.co.uk/test/WinterToSummer.html

:thumb2:


:theory

[simplistik]

hey that's pretty hot dude... i would've never known

[thesparky007]

to me it just seems like two differentpics but the animation is kinda convincing

[TheCanadian]

There are a few places that don't match up to well but they're pretty well unnoticeable for someone who isn't actually looking for error. Nice work, it's very convincing :thumb:

[Phenex]

to me it just seems like two differentpics

That's the whole point of a tight manip innit?

[Pasquale]

That's pretty :D

[evildrummer]

Thats cool, how long did it take you?

[CreationsCentre]

Looking cool. Well done!

[BoonDock]

The only thing that sticks out to me is the buildings actually - but very nice job with the background! :thumb: Look what a little time and effort can do to a photograph ;)

[simplistik]

The only thing that sticks out to me is the buildings actually - but very nice job with the background! :thumb: Look what a little time and effort can do to a photograph ;)

what about the buildings? the only thing that stuck out to me was...

the hill, the paths are wrong
the primary path in the middle tilts up left to right instead of flat
two roofs still have snow on them
the mountain in the bg is gone
the tree's in the lower right corner aren't the right type of trees and relatively noticable, and one of the "chimney's" is missing
and the snow lift amazingly disappeared :lol:

[CreationsCentre]

^Lol... I didn't notice that much. Tell me Simp.. was that all spotted at first glance, or after an hour with a magnifying glass? :eye: lol. (Good eye for detail though, Simp.)

Oh yeah... and the ski lift is gone too! lol

[DDD]

Looks pretty good man. The winter image looks less believe IMO. But you say that one was not manip'd so that was good. I can see a few anomolies but only because I was looking for them

[BoonDock]

what about the buildings? the only thing that stuck out to me was...
the hill, the paths are wrong
the primary path in the middle tilts up left to right instead of flat
two roofs still have snow on them
the mountain in the bg is gone
the tree's in the lower right corner aren't the right type of trees and relatively noticable, and one of the "chimney's" is missing
and the snow lift amazingly disappeared :lol:

Well if we are going to nit pick - I didn't want to go in full detail but if Simp wants to call me out on it then so be it ...


there is a duplicate steeple thing on a building towards the lower right in the winter shot
the background of nature looks a lot more realistic than the buildings - the colors are washed out on the buildings and makes them look fake and almost like they were truly added in such a way to make the photo look more like an art piece (cartoonish in style) than an actual photograph ...
the best realistic building IMO is the building to the very low right behind trees etc. (the bigger of the 3 in that area) ... this one has good color and looks like it is actually there rather than the rest of the town ...
also if you look at the photos i've attached - i don't get if one of them shows smoke stacks or what that brown matter is ... along with the other one - how is that shadow on the front of that particular building and where is being cast from?Mind you these are very nit picks - I still think you did a great job! (just had to go into detail on the buildings since Simp didn't seem that was a good enough "critique" ;) ... )

[DDD]

dizz-amn, ya'll went into some detail....:lol:

Boon I just noticed your logo looks like a flying mustache

[dec27]

pretty good job… (not really looking at details) :sure:

how long did it take? :afro:

[rondog]

Looks pretty amazing...the town looks a little soft than the original and there snow on the buildings on the far left..pretty much the same as everyone elses comments hah

great work!

[BoonDock]

aw DDD that hurts yo ...

[DDD]

aw DDD that hurts yo ...
lol...its still tight, just resembles that. Only because right before posting I was talking to a dude with a thick 70's mustache and saw your logo.

[simplistik]

Well if we are going to nit pick - I didn't want to go in full detail but if Simp wants to call me out on it then so be it ...


there is a duplicate steeple thing on a building towards the lower right in the winter shot
the background of nature looks a lot more realistic than the buildings - the colors are washed out on the buildings and makes them look fake and almost like they were truly added in such a way to make the photo look more like an art piece (cartoonish in style) than an actual photograph ...
the best realistic building IMO is the building to the very low right behind trees etc. (the bigger of the 3 in that area) ... this one has good color and looks like it is actually there rather than the rest of the town ...
also if you look at the photos i've attached - i don't get if one of them shows smoke stacks or what that brown matter is ... along with the other one - how is that shadow on the front of that particular building and where is being cast from?Mind you these are very nit picks - I still think you did a great job! (just had to go into detail on the buildings since Simp didn't seem that was a good enough "critique" ;) ... )
because i'm evil and argumentative :) :hugegrin: :evil:

hmmzzzz... i dunno how your first one is relevent to his manipulation since it is the original photo... so it being "duplicated" would be because they already existed and he removed them to make it look better....
2nd and 3rd :), id also have to say that your monitor is really outta wack :lol: i'm a color/lighting nazi and i'd have to say that they match up pretty well :lol:
that shadow is being cast from the large clock tower... D'OH!

[JPAG]

I found the summer-picture more believeable than the "original" ! :)

Fantastic job I would say!

JPAG

[BoonDock]

because i'm evil and argumentative :) :hugegrin: :evil:
hmmzzzz... i dunno how your first one is relevent to his manipulation since it is the original photo... so it being "duplicated" would be because they already existed and he removed them to make it look better....
2nd and 3rd :), id also have to say that your monitor is really outta wack :lol: i'm a color/lighting nazi and i'd have to say that they match up pretty well :lol:
that shadow is being cast from the large clock tower... D'OH!

only because it's SIMP - and I enjoy our bantering ...


the "duplicated" mistake is there - he didn't remove anything but somehow in his clipping or masking or whatever he did with the buildings - that steeple got put on the building twice ... one behind the actual one ...
i've got 2 monitors (at CS Kern - where I work) - one is calibrated for print work and the other for web work - and I've looked at the photos on both screens and i have to say that the color still is outta whack on the buildings compared to the scenery... I also tend to be a stickler for color/lighting
the shadow I'll give you - i only pointed it out just because its cast so strongly on that building that it looks out of place - or that it shouldn't show up - because if the lighting is so strong then why don't we see that with the scenery with shadows on the ground etc.? why is this shadow so dark compared to the rest - typically you would see a dark shadow like this if an object was closer to the adjacent object it was casting upon ...blah blah blah - SIMP if you reply to this one I'll go ahead and concede now because I've gotta go home ... and I probably won't look at this thread again ;) ... good argumentative case anyway ... late.

(still a good manip! :thumb:)

Boon.

[cj2a]

Looks convincing to me...a little bit surreal, but convincing. Nice job.

[REEF·]

"nice"

yeah what interests me more is that little rollover wipe effect you got goin on. share the secrets, im in lub with that fade

[hybrid101]

lower left lighting is a bit off. on the other hand, great job:thumb:

[audiotheory]

Thanks for the comments and "fake moon landing" style analysis! :ne:

This was a background for an interactive tour so there were big images, title and text sitting on top with a button that triggered the season change. This allowed me to be less concerned with accuracy - it just had to be convincing in the parts you could see constantly!

The image took about 6 hours to complete if I remember correctly.

The fade transition is very simple:

1) Create a rectangle with a gradient fill. The first color of the gradient has an alpha value of 100% the second color of the gradient has an alpha value of 0%. It doesn't matter what the colors of the gradient are, all you care about are the alpha values.

2) Turn this rectangle into a symbol. Check "Cache as Bitmap" and name the instance mcMask.

3) Check "Cache as Bitmap" on the movieclip you want to mask.

4) Place the code mcTheMovieClip.setMask( mcMask); on the timeline

As long as both MovieClip's have "Cache as Bitmap" checked, using setMask() allows you to do per-pixel alpha masks in flash 8. :thumb2:


:theory