Turn Photos into Cartoons with IntoCartoon Pro
Make Comic Pictures from Photos with this Photo to Cartoon Software
May 6, 2009
The most commonly used software for converting photos to cartoons is Adobe Photoshop, but with a price tag of over $500, this program is not within everyone's budget. Furthermore, Photoshop is a complex program, and might not be appropriate for those new to creating computer-assisted art, or for those who simply require a quick method of making cartoons from photos.
IntoCartoon Pro provides a cheaper alternative to Photoshop, and is designed exclusively to make cartoon pictures from photos. Uses for cartoons made from photos using IntoCartoon Pro include:
- The creation of forum avatars
- Turning images into desktop icons
- For making a watercolor painting from a photo
- For making comic books
- For making a series of stills to be shown in sequence as part of an animation.
Make Cartoons from Photos Using IntoCartoon Pro
IntoCartoon Pro is very easy to use. Firstly, the photo to be turned into a cartoon is loaded into the IntoCartoon software, in a .JPG or .BMP format. Then, to make a cartoon picture from the photo, these simple steps are followed:
- Convert to Sketch: Press the “IntoCartoon” button, and the photo is turned into a line drawing. Adjust the darkness, detail, smooth and threshold values of the sketch as required to create a sharp-lined well-defined sketch.
- Coloring Step 1: Click the “Draw Color” button, and the line drawing will be colored using the color palette of the photo as a base. Adjust the color reducer slider until a pleasing color scheme is achieved.
- Coloring Step 2: Adjust the brightness, contrast, saturation and color border blur of the emerging cartoon made from the photo using the provided sliders.
- Coloring Step 3: Alter the red, green and blue filters to finish the conversion process of turning the photo to cartoon form.Save the Cartoon: The photo has now been turned into a cartoon and can be exported as a .JPG or .BMP file.
At any time, the user can switch between these stages to fine tune the cartoon conversion. For example, if, after adjusting the contrast the cartoon starts losing outline definition, the user can switch back to the “Convert to Sketch” stage to increase the detail and darkness values of the image without losing any of the effects that have already been applied to the photo.
Convert Photos into Cartoons with IntoCartoon Pro
Currently only available for the Windows OS, IntoCartoon Pro retails for $29.99. A 7 day free trial version of the software is available from the IntoCartoon website, so it can be tested before purchase. Any photos made into cartoons using the trial version of IntoCartoon will have a watermark stamped across the resulting picture, but otherwise, the program is fully feature enabled, and the watermark will be removed once a user purchases the IntoCartoon Pro version.
Cartoons from Pictures the Easy Way
IntoCartoon Pro does provide a simple and effective method for turning photos into cartoons, but the style of the cartoon image created is somewhat limited.
Effectively, IntoCartoon Pro provides a series of filters that can be applied to a photo to turn it into a cartoon likeness by simplifying the colors in the photograph while simultaneously exaggerating the darkness of any outlines. Depending on the quality of the photo used, the resulting cartoon may not be particularly pleasing to the eye, and achieving consistent results with a series of photos can be difficult.
Cost Effective Photo to Cartoon Software
However, using Photoshop to make cartoons from photos follows exactly the same process used in IntoCartoon Pro, of applying color filters while exaggerating the outlines of the photo. The telling difference between the two programs is their respective prices. For what it does, which is easily convert photos into cartoons, IntoCartoon is simple to learn, fun to use, and offers excellent value for money.
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