Convert Photos to Pencil Drawings with AKVIS Sketch. A New Effect Added!

Aug. 8, 2007 - PRLog -- August, 2007 - AKVIS LLC announces the release of AKVIS Sketch  v.5.5 for Windows and Macintosh. The software converts photos to realistic pencil and watercolor drawings. The new version is available as a stand-alone application, as well as a plugin to a photo editor.  Version 5.5 offers a new effect – “Color Strokes”.  Upgrade for registered users is free.

AKVIS Sketch is an award-winning program for conversion of photos into pencil sketches and watercolor drawings. Make any photo look like a B&W or color drawing, imitate the technique of graphite or color pencil, charcoal or watercolor painting.
Photo-to-sketch conversion can be a lot of fun and open for you new ways of creativity.  If you have always been wondering how to draw or paint, now you can embody your ideas with AKVIS Sketch.

Many photo editing enthusiasts have already appreciated the Sketch’ s features. You can see a gallery of examples (many created by users) at http://akvis.com/en/sketch/examples-pencil-drawing.php  

AKVIS Sketch also enjoys attention of professional designers. The program was awarded “Best Image Editing Software 2006”  by "DT&G Magazine".

Earlier Sketch was available only as a Photoshop plugin. Now it can be used independently – as a stand-alone application.  The download contains both versions.

Version 5.5 of AKVIS Sketch offers new possibilities. The check-box "Color Strokes" introduced in version 5.5 allows converting a photo to sketch in such a way that it looks like drawn by color pencils. In contrast to the Coloration effect that just adds colors from the original image, the new option allows imitating hand made color strokes. Note that it is only possible if the original image is a color image.

Besides, in version 5.5 color profiles handling has been improved.

You can use Sketch in many ways. Surprise your friends and relatives by presenting them their pencil portraits. Make a watercolor drawing out of a photo from your last nature shooting to decorate your room. Convert your own photo into a color sketch to print on a T-shirt. Create a comic out of your party videos.
The program can be helpful to designers who need to quickly bring images to one style for a web-site or an advertisement booklet.

AKVIS Sketch has a simple interface with a few sliders. At first you can process the image with the default settings and then touch up the photo adding color, or trying different techniques - from pencil to charcoal or watercolor. You can make the hatching denser or finer and change the pitch angle of strokes.

Using batch processing in Photoshop or Paint Shop pro (only for the plug-in version) you can even convert a film into a cartoon. Like here: http://akvis.com/en/sketch-tutorial/cartoon-film.php  

For a free trial, AKVIS offers 10 days of fully functional use. Details are available at http://akvis.com/en/sketch/

Website: akvis.com