Give your photos that Cartoon-look

Digital Anarchy, makers of plugins and filters for Photoshop, have released ToonIt!, a utility that converts your photos, still images, and video frames to a cartoon-like appearance.

ToonIt! retails for $159, but until December 31, 2008, it is being offered for $129 (USD). It runs in Photoshop 7.0 or higher, including CS4 64-bit.

Digital Anarchy Releases ToonIt! Photo Cartooning Software for Photographs & Still Images
Adobe Photoshop Plugin is Essential and Fun for Creating Believable Cartoons From Photographic Images

San Francisco, CA — December 9, 2008 — Digital Anarchy, a leading provider of cost-effective software for Adobe and Apple products, today announced the release of ToonIt! Photo 2.0 for Photoshop. ToonIt! reliably and easily creates cartoon-like images from photographs, freeing artists from time consuming techniques such as hand painting and masking. The filters use advanced algorithms from Toonamation Inc to create cartoon shading and outlines in Adobe Photoshop and Photoshop Elements.

ToonIt! analyzes photographs and then creates flat regions of color and outlines that produce a cel-shaded cartoon look. Photoshop users have a great deal of control that makes customizing the ‘toon’ effect easy with different paint/toon styles, shading and outlines. The Effects Palette adds various special effects like outlines, enhanced shadows, color effects, and halftone effects. The Style Creator has 12 different algorithms that can be used to create the underlying cartoon or painterly style. A Preset Manager and Preview Window give further options to control the appearance and behavior of the cartoon.

Jim Tierney, CEO of Digital Anarchy, said, “ToonIt! has been incredibly popular for video applications. The photographers and print designers who’ve seen it have asked us repeatedly when it will be available for Photoshop. We’re excited to finally release the product for still images because there’s no better way of creating cartoon images.”

One of the key features of ToonIt! is its ability to translate the details of the human face and form into a believable cartoon. People are typically most difficult to ‘toon’ because most people know what facial features and expressions should look like. ToonIt! is able to identify areas that should be shaded as one color and uses sophisticated edge detection to draw outlines. This creates very consistent, pleasing large features in the face and body while also retaining smaller details like hair and eyes. The filter allows photographers and designers to quickly create the effect on a wide variety of images without time consuming experimentation and masking.

Stan Schwartz, co-founder and President of Toonamation, said, “Since its initial release, ToonIt! has been well known for high quality cartoon effects. We've been working to extend its capabilities with a variety of new painted and graphic design effects that are equally visually compelling and that render just as cleanly as our originals. We're proud to offer to them you now, packaged together as Photoshop ToonIt!.”

This product release follows the popularity of ToonIt! Video 1.0, a cartooning plugin set for video applications like After Effects and Final Cut Pro. While ToonIt! Video was sold to another development company in August 2008, the successful partnership between Digital Anarchy and Toonamation will continue to bring new and interesting products to the photography and graphics market.

Great features in ToonIt! Photo 2.0 include:

• Beautiful Variety of Styles. Create a number of sophisticated looks including Flat Cartoon, Graphic Novel, Comic, and Pen & Ink using the 12 different algorithms and dozens of controls.
  
• Outlines Only: Unparalleled edge detection creates stunning effects that simulate drawings, etchings, brush painting, and woodcuts.
  
• No Hand Masking or Rotoscoping: Each toon effect is generated automatically. While there are customizable controls in the plugin, no manual work is needed to achieve desired results.
  
• Customizable Looks: With 50+ parameters available to adjust the plugin results, there are many possible approaches to get the best result for different types of imagery.
  
• 64-bit Support: Works with Windows Vista 64-bit (Vista x64) and Photoshop CS4 64-bit.
  
• Works In Most Photoshop Modes: Supports RGB, CMYK, and Grayscale in 8-bit, 16-bit and 32-bit.