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How A Scanner Darkly Was Done

nytimes.com — This is useful for anyone interested in emulating the look of A Scanner Darkly. Here is an inside look at the artists' notes. This video is narrated by the movie's writer and director, Richard Linklater. The Rotoshop software might not be available to the public, but I'm sure one of you Photoshop/video-editing geniuses will figure it out.

Who dugg this? Made popular Jul 15, 2006

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  • egeniuses, on 10/12/2007, -1/+35I've been messing around with photoshop and got a similar look. Here are the steps I took:

    Auto Level
    resize to 1600x1200
    Create Duplicate Layer
    Artistic>Poster Edges Filter (10,1,6) but adjust accordingly
    Noise>Dust and Scratches (1,1)
    Stylize>Diffuse (anisotropic)
    Artistic>Film Grain (2,16,10) adjust accordingly


    Optional to create "banding effect"

    Artistic>Cutout (8,0,3) adjust accordingly
    Edit>Fade Cutout (65%) adjust accordingly

    I think it could look a lot better if you used illustrator to paint on highlights, outlines and shadows like the artists did for the movie. Let me know if you have any other ideas.
  • egeniuses, on 10/12/2007, -2/+25http://www.ascannerdarklyartists.com/

    I apologize for that. This is the first article i've posted on digg.
  • asianGamer, on 10/12/2007, -1/+16If you enjoyed these visuals, you might want to look into Waking Life - a film released in 2001 with the same rotoscoping technology.

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waking_life
  • spindrift, on 10/12/2007, -1/+12Rotoscoping's been around forever - it blew people's minds when it was used in the video for Aha's 80s song Take On Me, and it's made every single lightsaber you've seen in every single Star Wars ever - but this is simply top-notch stuff. Better than A Waking Life (although that movie seemed to "embrace" its cartooniness in a particularly different way).
  • playaz33, on 10/12/2007, -1/+12I saw the movie earlier today. The movie had great visuals. I felt like I was in a dream the whole time, like I was drugged out or something. It was a bit slow for my taste, maybe because I felt drugged! The outdoor scenes looked the best imo. I've tried to get the look of A Scanner Darkly using photoshop filters, but something was missing. I think a lot has to do with how the artists added extra shadows and highlights. I'm going to see if I can do some better ones. Please post any tips on how to get the A Scanner Darkly look.
  • inactive, on 10/12/2007, -1/+11I have not seen the movie, but the trailers look awesome. With all the extra work they put into this movie, I think it was a huge mistake to release it on the same weekend as Pirates of the Caribbean.
  • kleepklop, on 05/01/2009, -1/+8In 2004 there was a full tv show series based on the same animation techniques as 'A Scanner Darkly' [rotoscoping] it's called 'Delta State'
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Delta_State_%28TV_series%29
    How it was made - http://mag.awn.com/index.php?ltype=search&sval=Delta+State&article_no=2264
    You can find full episodes here - http://thedeltastate.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=4268#4268
    or you can watch the first episode here - http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=2445972416933233728&q=delta+state
  • artman, on 10/12/2007, -2/+8@JakeMcMahon

    Exactly. I thought at first that was how they did Waking Life. Rotoshop is Flash's 800 pound gorilla.

    Now if anyone here wants to try this effect on still images, try a program like Silhouette or Illustrator CS2's tracing feature. It comes out really well (and the file sizes are smaller than Photoshop's).

    I have tried this in Photoshop with my scanned pen and ink illustrations, but the files can get huge.

    http://img2.imagepile.net/img2/28580ben.gif
  • theblooms, on 10/12/2007, -1/+7Yeah, the A-Ha video was the first time I saw rotoscoping. That video (and song!) is still cool as hell 20 or so years later.
  • JohnboiWaltune, on 10/12/2007, -6/+11To appreciate this film properly, I'll have to wait for the DVD, or go see it at the theater in Amsterdam.
  • RandomSkratch, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4Excellent work man. I really like the effect that your tutorial produces.
  • Klowner, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4I read in some magazine that they used empty sets, and none of them wore any makeup, so it would probably be pretty weird :o)
  • TheSquirrelKing, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3You can't have a discussion about rotoscoping without mentioning Tron.

    TRON!
  • Yonson, on 10/12/2007, -1/+4Jesus, I thought they used some kind of filter in post-production to get that look. I had no idea they rotoscoped every frame.
  • egeniuses, on 10/12/2007, -1/+4Here are some direct links to the sample pictures so you don't have to go to my Myspace profile.
    The photo that was done using Adobe Illustrator and Photoshop:
    http://tinyurl.com/rq6fr

    The animated gif made with Adobe Photoshop and Animation Shop (previously Jasc now Corel)
    http://tinyurl.com/qmnty


  • inactive, on 10/12/2007, -1/+4The software they used is called rotoshop.
  • subwarm, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2IGN has the first 24 minutes of the movie available for online stream if anyone wants to see the finished product.

    http://media.filmforce.ign.com/media/670/670907/vids_1.html
  • misterjangles, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2You can get a low-budget version of this look using Flix http://www.on2.com/video_samples/flix-vector-video/ to convert video files into flash vector graphics. Of course it doesn't compare to having a full-time staff of animators, but if you really tweak the settings you can get some interesting looking effects.
  • johneffort, on 06/06/2008, -1/+3I would love to see both the original film and the rotoscoped version of it! Guess that some parts of it will be available on the dvd.
  • babyphatman, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2Rotoscoping was used even eariler than that for human characters Disney movies. Parts of Snow White (1937) were rotoscoped.
  • superrcat, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2I meant to put Artistic->Cutout (6,5,3). I realize egeniuses already had Artistic->Cutout that at the bottom of the comment, I meant to suggest different settings.
  • dSlifer, on 10/12/2007, -1/+3I remember when that came out... it was amazing! Scanner Darkly seems to be the same kind of movie, with really lucid dreamy images... I can't wait to see this movie!
  • jayscottgold, on 10/12/2007, -2/+4Now if only great visuals could make Keanu a good actor!
  • r2builder, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2You have no idea what you are talking about. Good animation costs far more than film does.
    Rotoscoping in particular costs more, as the film needs to be cut first - then a team of animators start work on it. So, in effect it's like finishing a film completely, then starting a whole new one.

    It's narrowmindedness like this that stops people from being innovative within the film industry.
  • calzone, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2There used to be a product called Adobe Streamline, and I believe Illustrator has the capability built in now, that would trace your bitmaps and convert them to vector drawings. That's what rotoscoping looks like to me.

    Now, for something from the peanut gallery: I'm holding my breath for a non-rotoscoped version to be released however. Just like the annoying jaggy camera effect that Gladiator made so popular, and that effect Cher put on her voice for that awful song that everyone went and copy-catted, there's something about certain kinds of effects that totally distract from the meat of some mass-produced art and yet somehow everyone gets fashionable stiffies over it. I mean seriously, you wanted an animated movie, ANIMATE IT.

    My 2 cents.
  • spookyttws, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2The movie was great looking, but the character development was lacking and the story seemed anti-climatic. I recommend seeing it, if only for the animation, just don't get your hopes up too high.
  • BitwiseMcgee, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2say what you will about keanu, but these are his types of movies. I read the book after seeing a preview for it, but I didn't read it with keanu in mind. While there are a few parts where keanu is, well, keanu, it isn't anything bad at all.

    Coupled with the fact that the movie is _very_ true to the book, I enjoyed it a lot. The movie captues the tone of the book, its just a bunch of people having fun, but really being burned for it. There are parts where you're captivated by the drug lifestyle, then there are parts that slam you back to reality and make you remember why its not always a fun place.
  • Klowner, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2I read the book after knowing Keanu was cast as Bob Actor, so naturally I kinda placed him in that role as I read and it seemed fitting.. If that makes any sense.

    Stupid theaters around here aren't showing it until sometime in August, I hate Iowa
  • seeingeye, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1I have to agree. Here's a tutorial I found with the best results I've seen on a still image.

    http://www.illustratortechniques.com/imitating-a-scanner-darkly.html

    I've yet to attempt it since I'm not nearly as familiar with Illustrator as I am Photoshop and it looks intense. "I expect to spend four to five hours on an image this complex." wsheew
  • MaxViren, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Hey guys i'm new to Diggs.. I took a crack at trying to recreate the scanner darkly trend with photoshop. Tell me what you think.. I will get this right sooner or later..

    http://www.adamcasner.com/scannerexp.jpg
  • sephiroth965, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Waking life is one of my favorite films of all time. The visuals and the plot are both great!
  • inactive, on 10/12/2007, -2/+3Not every frame, they did a couple of frames here and there and the software generated the difference on the inbetween frames. Kind of similar to motion tween in flash.
  • ChildeAbaddon, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1i wanna show u guys my works.
    http://www.flickr.com/photos/abaddon/88692936/in/set-637419/
    in fact this kind of techni is found by a japan design company called enlightenment.
    and they re in 1999 was already help shiseido advertising make a kind of this effect.
  • ths453, on 10/12/2007, -1/+2If you check out the waking life DVD extras they show how they actually did it by filming and then tracing over each frame of the shoot, with their own program similar to adobe illustrator.
  • ubergmr, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1wow, i was able to get content of new your times, without havering account
  • fireflash, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Here's an interesting tutorial on one of I'm sure many different methods one can acheive a similar look using After Effects, Illustrator and Photoshop.

    http://forums.creativecow.net/cgi-bin/page_wrapper.cgi?forumid=1&page=http://www.creativecow.net/articles/rabinowitz_aharon/cartoon_look/index.html
  • artman, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1@egeniuses

    I first drew the artwork in pen and ink. Scanned that into photoshop (600 dpi greyscale) converted that into RGB. Then using the Select>Color Range I selected the black line art (setting the Fuzziness to 200), copied that selection and pasted as a new layer (naming it Line Art). Then using layers applied each color on one layer at a time. I labled the layers such as shadows shirt, midtones shirt, highlights shirt etc.. The colors were applied after I selected the areas with the lasso tool. Then I colored the selections with the brush tool.

    Maybe tedious to some (could have used channels I guess) but I'm an old school PS guy and tend to use whatever I learned in the "old days". But this process usually takes 4 to 8 hours depending on the complexity of the work.
  • sark666, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1How would I dl and keep this flash bit? I have videodownloader ext installed in firefox and it usually works for most sites but not this.
  • bieber, on 10/12/2007, -1/+2For those of you trying to use Photoshop filters to recreate the look, you may as well give up now. The only way to properly recreate the rotoscoped effect, and do it well, is to take a brush and trace and then shade an image by hand. It takes a while, but the result will look _really_ cool.
  • egeniuses, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Anyone want to provide a mirror for these samples. I'm hosting this over dsl so it's kinda slow, especially the animated gif which is around 500k. Help your fellow diggers.
  • echeese, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Thanks, it is Colin Mochrie. Took about an hour to do, could use some cleaning up, but it looks a lot better than I expected it to. I can't believe someone could do an entire movie if one still frame took that long.
  • Ozymandias42, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Rotoscoping by hand is really, really time consuming. Me and some other students made a little video where we tried a similar technique that was more heavily automated. Not exactly big budget, but we like it:

    http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=2288413529871223690&q=%22death+in+paints%22&time=0
  • kleepklop, on 05/01/2009, -0/+1Is there a way to have photoshop do an action but do a batch and repeat it for the entire sequence?
  • reddevil3, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1So they actually have to draw over each and every frame? No wonder it took 18 months!
  • tahim, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/14.03/steps.html
  • artman, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0@kolop

    If your in Center City, check the Roxy Theater on Samson.

    @subwarm

    Thanks for that link. This looks great. I read the book and they seem to be very faithful to it. Honestly, 3/4s into the book I was lost too. But I think that was P. K. Dick's intention.

    @echeese

    Hey, nice job. Looks like the guy from Who's Line Is It or whatever. :))

    Hey, somebody hid the correct post of that artwork of mine [:|

    http://www.rebelcapitol.com/images/ben.gif

  • dragon2777, on 10/10/2007, -0/+0yup there absolutly is. Its called recording actions. Goto www.photoshopsupport.com/tutorials/tt/actions-mov.html
  • thejesse, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0From the above tutorial:

    "Aaron Sacco is a freelance illustrator who recently finished working as an animator on "A Scanner Darkly." He also works as a portrait artist and mural painter in Austin, Texas. Check out more of his work at www.aaronsacco.com."

    No wonder that one is one of the better ones. His website also links to www.ascannerdarklyartists.com, which is very interesting.
  • Rollo_Tomasi, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0richard linklater also directed waking life, gotta agree tottally cool flick!!
  • Nakiannu, on 10/11/2007, -0/+0@egeniuses: Thanks for the procedure!! I was looking around for tips on how to recreate this look tonight, and I first ran into the tutorial above at http://www.illustratortechniques.com/imitating-a-scanner-darkly.html

    That looks like the most thorough procedure, but I wanted to get the affect without spending 4-5 hours on it, so I tried your Photoshop tips and it looked pretty good, then I exported it as a bmp into Flash 8 (I'm not familiar with Illustrator yet) and used my tablet pc pen to just kind of clean it up a bit. Spent about an hour on touch-up, and I like the look.. it's not as cool as Aaron Sacco's method, but only clocked in at about an hour for a first time job :)

    Here's my before and after: http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c34/nakiannu/danae_rotoscoped_before_and.jpg
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