Vector animation question

[craigt-from-atl]

Can't get more basic than this:

I'm trying to get a 'vector' effect on images. I'll try and describe it as best I can. It's an effect that is generally composed of only two contrasting colors. Like a black and the background color. Hell, that doesn't tell you much.

An example is at: http://www.egomedia.com/ - just go to the 'agents' section to see what I'm talking about.

That IS called 'vector animation', right? What kinds of programs can I use to duplicate it?

Thanks for suffering through my inability to explain myself!

[megatoon]

This effect is basically a positive negative effect. It has been use in photography and film for years. I know you can use a filter in Photoshop(I think it's posterize), but I am not sure if it is a filter or layer effect. I am going to try it myself and post another reply with my findings. The only problem with useing PS is you would then have to trace it into a vector format,.

[megatoon]

All right I found a couple ways to this in Photoshop, using filtres. I don't know how much you know so I'll explain it step by step. Open your image make sure it's an RGB(Image-Mode-RGB), Now seect Filtres-Sketch-Halftone then take the contrast as high as it will go, the size at one and select dot pattern. This doesn't work all that well with photographs. The next I used was Filtres-sketch-stamp this seems to work the best. This will convert them to black and white. So you could use Image-adust-replace color to set new colors. Or just fill them in.

[craigt-from-atl]

Ok, I tried to do this effect on several pictures, all of which were RGB, but kept receiving an error message:

"This effect uses the foreground and background colors. Since they are the same, all details in the image will be lost. Please ensure that the forground and background colors are different."

I'm by no means a photoshop expert, and don't know if there is an obvious step or formating issue I'm overlooking. Any advice?

Thanks again,
-Craig

[megatoon]

Okay so what you need to do is set your foreground and background colors. To do this Windows-Show Tools. This will open your toolbox. At the bottom of the tool box there are two colored squares the one on top is the foreground the bottom is the background. Double click one to change the color or enter rgb values. You can also select off of the color swatch (Windows-Show Swatches). You can switch fore for background with the arrow above the colored squares.

[craigt-from-atl]

AWESOME!

That is exactly what I was looking for! Thanks a million!

-Craig

[megatoon]

No problem, happy to hear it worked.