May The Fourth Be With You

Today’s Post by Joe Farace

The below image of a much fatter me was shot by Mary Farace using her Nikon 1 V1 that she calls her “art camera” but that didn’t create the effects you see here. It was made using Digital Anarchy’s ToonIt! Photo ($129) is a Photoshop-compatible plug-in that produces cartoon-like images from photographs.

The plug-in’s algorithms create cartoon shading and outlines in Adobe Photoshop or Lightroom. ToonIt! analyzes the photograph, creates flat regions of color, and outlines them to produce a cell-shaded cartoon. An Effects Palette lets you add effects such as enhanced shadows, color effects, and halftones. Style Creator offers different algorithms that can be used to create the underlying cartoon or apply a painterly look to the image. The Preset Manager and Preview Window display options to control the appearance of the cartoon.\

People are difficult to ‘toon’ because everybody knows how facial features and expressions should appear like so ToonIt! identifies areas that should be shaded as one color and uses sophisticated edge detection to draw the outlines. This creates consistent, pleasing features while also retaining detail in hair and eyes. It’s the most fun plug-in you’ll use this year.