Akvis ArtWork released for Macs, PCs
Posted by Dennis Sellers 
Nov 19, 2008 at 12:00pm
Akvis has released Akvis Artwork, a special effect tool that applies different painting techniques to common digital pictures. Available in Mac and PC versions stand-alone or as a plug-in for Adobe Photoshop, it’s designed to make digital photos look as if they were real oil paintings.
ArtWork allows creating an oil portrait, a landscape painting or a still life picture in a fully automatic or assisted mode. You can use the software to create paintings out of pictures taken with any kind of digital cameras, including digital SLRs and compacts. ArtWork applies sophisticated image transformation algorithms to produce realistic results coming very close to hand-painted works, and tweaking the options unleashes access to a variety of oil painting styles, according to the folks at Akvis.
The Stroke Direction tool is a semi-automatic tool that gives you control over the strokes, allowing the use of a special brush to define the guiding lines. The virtual painter then converts the image into a painting directing the strokes to follow the drawn guiding lines.
The initial release of ArtWork converts photographs into oil paintings. In the future, the virtual artist will learn additional painting techniques, according to the folks at Akvis.
The software offers the choice between a flat background and a rough surface (canvas, paper, etc.). You can also add a signature or an inscription to the picture with a custom font and color.
A fully featured, free evaluation download of Akvis ArtWork is available at the Akvis web site. Registration is US$72.
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Dennis Sellers
Dennis has been a newspaper editor/reporter (seven years) and teacher (seven years). He has over 4,000 magazine, newspaper and online articles to his credit. He has also covered the Mac and tech industries for over a decade for such online publications as MacCentral, MacMinute and now MacsimumNews.
