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| Black inking lines as well as highligts
&
shadows done with two shades of blue inside PAP. |
Inside Photoshop this action fills the
inside
of the character with a neutral color. Also creates layers for line and
color. |
The two shades of blue are used to add
layers
of highlights and shadows. These layers are modifying what ever the
color
is - and they are blured to soften the hard shadow and highlight areas. |
Now you can easily paint in the correct
colors
and the lines will still have perfect antialias and the highlights and
shadows
are shades of the correct colors. |
This is a step by step guide on how to color your PAP animation using
Photoshop
and a special method developed by Laust Palbo Nielsen (aka Popstar). It
will
automatically fill inside the closed lines of your character, making
separate
layers for the color and the 'inking' line for perfect utilization of
PAPs
nice antialiasing. Also it will create a highlight and shadow layer,
converting
two shades of blue drawn inside PAP. Please remember that this is one
way of coloring your animation, a more advanced way would involve a
compositing
package for more flexibillity. But this demonstrates some basic
principles
using Photoshop, which many people know and use. Here's how you
prepare
everything...
Comments and questions can be placed at the official PAP forum: http://www.plasticanimationpaper.dk/forum
Before we start coloring drawings, we need to have the right filter
available
in Photoshop.
Download the filter DARK2MSK.8BF
(Darkness to mask) and
place it in the Filters folder - usually here: C:\Program
Files\Adobe\Photoshop\Plug-Ins\Filters
Download the picture "colorcode.tga",
and place it in the Scratch\Frames folder. Now do the following inside
PAP:
Load the colorcode
picture.
Select the darkest blue color, by pressing [p] while holding the pen in
the dark part of the frame.
Save
this as a preset.
Now select the light blue color the same way [p] and save it as another
preset.
The dark blue pen can now be used for shadows, and the light blue
pen
for highlights.
You can now go to Step 3 or you can try drawing in shadows and highlights on a character. (NB! The shadows and highlights must all be placed within the outline and with antialiasing toggled OFF.)
Press 
Toggle AntiAlias to draw without antialias.
Press 
Toggle Black/Blue [F6] to draw with the blue pen.
Press 
UsePenPreset1 (or what ever preset number you saved the
special
shades into) to draw with the shadow or highlight preset.
Press 
Save As to save the frame(s) as tga, when you are done.
Press 
Exit PAP [F12] to leave the program.
Start Photoshop and load the frame you have just saved.
Now you open the action window and create a new actionset. The
name of this set should be Colorize.
Now you create a new action and call it Make Layers.
(the action
starts recording)
Double-click on the Background layer and press OK.
Duplicate the image. (Image->Duplicate)
Convert the duplicated image to grayscale. (Image->Mode->Grayscale)
Press Ctrl-A to select the entire image.
Press Ctrl-C to copy the selection to the clipboard.
Close the duplicated image... don't save.
Press Ctrl-V to paste the clipboard on the original image -
thus creating
a new layer.
Set the current layer to Difference instead of Normal.
Press D to reset the colors.
Use Color Range (Select->Color Range).
Set Fuzziness to 0% and press OK.
Press Ctrl-Shift-I to inverse the selection.
Set the current layer to Normal instead of Difference.
Press Ctrl-D to deselect.
Press Ctrl-Backspace to fill with the background color.
Select Darkness to mask (Filters->Mask
actions->Darkness to mask).
Rename the current layer to Outline. (In some versions of
Photoshop you need to double-click the layer - in other versions you
hold the Alt key and double-click to rename a layer).
Stop recording the action.
Now you create a new action and call it Shadow. (the
action starts recording).
Create a new layer and rename it Shadow.
Use Color Range (Select->Color Range) and pick the
dark blue color. Press OK.
Press D to reset the colors.
Use Expand (Select->Modify->Expand) expand with 4
pixels.
Press Ctrl-Alt-D to select Feather. Set feather radius
to 4
pixels.
Press Alt-Backspace to fill with the foreground color.
Set the opacity of the Shadow layer to 30%
Press Ctrl-D to deselect.
Select the Outline layer.
Press W to select the Magic Wand tool. Set tolerance
to 60 and Antialias ON.
Click in the topmost left corner of the image.
Use Expand (Select->Modify->Expand) expand with 1
pixel.
Select the Shadow layer.
Press Delete to delete the selected area.
Press Ctrl-D to deselect.
Hide the Shadow layer.
Stop recording the action.
Now you create a new action and call it Hilight. (the
action starts recording).
Create a new layer and rename it Hilight.
Use Color Range (Select->Color Range) and pick the
light blue color. Press OK.
Press D to reset the colors.
Use Expand (Select->Modify->Expand) expand with 4
pixels.
Press Ctrl-Alt-D to select Feather. Set feather radius
to 4
pixels.
Press Ctrl-Backspace to fill with the background color.
Set the opacity of the Hilight layer to 30%
Press Ctrl-D to deselect.
Select the Outline layer.
Press W to select the Magic Wand tool. Set tolerance
to 60 and Antialias ON.
Click in the topmost left corner of the image.
Use Expand (Select->Modify->Expand) expand with 1
pixel.
Select the Hilight layer.
Press Delete to delete the selected area.
Press Ctrl-D to deselect.
Hide the Hilight layer.
Stop recording the action.
Now you create a new action and call it Color. (the
action starts recording).
Create a new layer and rename it Color.
Select the Outline layer.
Press W to select the Magic Wand tool. Set tolerance
to 60 and Antialias ON.
Click in the topmost left corner of the image.
Use Expand (Select->Modify->Expand) expand with 1
pixel.
Press Ctrl-I to inverse the selection.
Create a new foreground color of your own choice (preferably the
skin
color).
Select the Color layer.
Press Alt-Backspace to fill with the foreground color.
Press Ctrl-D to deselect.
Stop recording the action.
Now you create a new action and call it Rearrange. (the
action starts recording).
Move the Outline layer to the top.
Move the Color layer just below the Hilight and Shadow
layer.
Show the Hilight layer and the Shadow layer.
Select Layer 0 And rename it to Background
Press D to reset the colors.
Press Ctrl-Backspace to fill with the background color.
Stop recording the action.
(Note: You could choose to lock the color layer in the action, because then you don't need to worry about painting outside the character when you do the coloring. Wether you choose to lock it or not, depends on your method of coloring. You could simply use the brush to paint with broad strokes and the transparency locked - or you could select areas from the line layer and fill the selection in the color layer.)
You have now created the entire action set. All you have to do from now on is to select the Colorize set and press play. If you would like to assign a hotkey to the entire action set, you must create a new action set (call it Hotkeys) and record an action where you play the Colorize action set. (easy as that).