PicToPainting with Paint Shop pro 2019

[LeviFiction]

So, really quick. Is this with the updated version of PicToPainting that was released today? Or with a previous install?

[iraisok]

I have Paintshop Pro 2018 Ultimate which has PicToPainting. My tower system runs 64 bit Windows 10. It has 6GB of Ram with tons of disk space. Every time I try to use PicToPaint the program it continues to run trying to complete its task, yet to no avail. I have let it run for up to ½ hour and still no results. Any suggestions would be helpful

I didn't think 2018U included PicToPainting ... was one of the reasons I upgraded to 2019U.

[ehume]

I have Paintshop Pro 2018 Ultimate which has PicToPainting. . . .

I got PSP 2018 Ultimate in a box. I don't recall that it came with PicToPainting. I do recall that it came with Painter Essentials 5, and installed it in a separate location (C:\Program Files\Corel\Painter Essentials 5). PE5 will take a photo and convert it to a painting, but not as a PSP plugin. Is that what you got? Or did I miss a plugin?

[LeviFiction]

PicToPainting is a plugin that can be downloaded from the Get More option inside PSP. Whether it's restricted to 2019 or if it's available in 2018. I don't know. I only have 2018 installed at home so I can't check. But, PicToPainting itself was first released with 2019. It was not originally available with 2018 as it didn't exist.

[Ken Berry]

PicToPainting shows in PSP 2018's Get More as "New" and for a price of around US$30. I certainly did not buy it then, but have it as a working plug-in in both PSP 2018 and 2019. However, in the case of PSP 2018, I probably just pointed to its file in Preferences > File Locations > Plug-Ins

[ehume]

As someone who uninstalled PSP 2019 I do not have access to any PtP plugin. However, PE5 certainly works, but as a stand-alone app. PE5 did not appear in any directory in Win7 when I had that but it shows up as a program outside of any directories in the Win 10 Start menu.

As I recall I went looking for it on my C: drive; found it; right-dragged it to the desktop and created a shortcut. I subsequently moved it to my Graphics directory. Nice program, if you like that sort of thing.

PE5 seems to do what the PtP plugin does. Is that true? You that have access to PtP and PE5 can report on your experiences.

[LeviFiction]

No, PainterEssentials does something similar. But not the same. PE5 attempts to simulate a painting style using virtual brushes and sampling and actually builds up paint on the canvas that looks like the image you're using. PicToPainting, however, uses Deep Neural Networks to do what's known as "Style transfer" where a program is trained to know what a certain image looks like and what makes it look that way, and then analyzes the input image and attempts to create a brand new image using the features of the input image in the style of the trained image. While I imagine to the average user there isn't a great deal of difference, but how they arrive at their solutions and the flexibility that PE uses to produce the result is a big enough difference to more advanced users.

[JoeB]

I read the thread posted today about a new version of PicToPainting available and, not having previously tried it given the complaints, I downloaded the new version. I posted my opinion - which was good - with an example in that thread here if it helps anyone deciding to try it:

viewtopic.php?f=56&t=65213#p367074

I have PSP2019.

[iraisok]

Ken and Levi,

I just tested PicToPainting Ver 1.1 as follows:

1. I fully installed PSP2019U into my Win10 Pro Virtual module. (It's my test bed for EVERYTHING ... I start with a virgin 10, run the test, blow it away then restore back my virgin W10Pro).

2. YES, PicToPainting Ver 1.1 worked for me while the original Ver 1.0 did not (does w/change thanks to Levi).

3. NOT impressed at all with Ver 1.1 because of the following that I just observed during my test:
A) it is SLOWER than Ver 1.0
B) while there is a slider to adjust strength, you can't set the slider until you click Preview. Then, the slider jumps to MAX. You then need to reset it where you "think" you wanted or "had it set" .
C) Again - while it is commendable that Corel listened and made it work ... probably for EVERYONE now, I am not sure if I will install it in my Win 7 X64 Ultimate, my installed host OS where I do everything.
D) Thought Josephine reported there are more templates. I counted 14, same as in Ver 1.0.

Just for giggles - I took the ENTIRE installed Pic-To-Painting Ver 1.1 folder with it's plug-in and copied it into my "pure" Win 7 PSP2109U installation at same place it was installed in the Win10 PSP2019U installation , thinking magically I can go back and forth Ver 1.0 and Ver 1.1 for additional tests. Didn't matter, even when using the plugin that came with Ver 1.1, it was the Ver 1.1 32 bit product that opened. I also captured the .msi although of course I would install by clicking from the Welcome screen. I gather there are other changes that are made during Ver 1.1 installation for it to be active.

Still I could install it into my Win PSP2019U and go back but might not ... and wait to hear other comments about Ver 1.1.

Finally, for the record - the place you see the PicToPrint at the Welcome screen is NOT under "Get More" but underneath that section that BTW: is NOT visible unless you are viewing the Welcome screen "Maximize" .

[iraisok]

To Levi (and Ken),

I'm in my Win 7 Ultimate x64 ( my host OS) where I have my PSP2019U and rest of my world.

1. First and foremost did my trusty Acronis backup of my C Drive.

2. Fully uninstalled Pic-To_Painting Ver 1.0 used TesorFlow 1.5 that allowed it work perfectly (thank you Levi). Uninstalled it used my trusty Revouninstaller Pro and then deleted residual folders that remained from PTP.

3. Installed Pic_To_Painting Ver 1.1 from the PSP2019U Welcome screen.

4. Results:
a. It would NOT complete the rendering task - just showed the rotating icon. After 5 plus min I had to kill the process.
b. I noted that the TensorFlow that Corel used in PTP Ver 1.1 was the same one that they used in the original PTP that does NOT work (for me and many others reporting in through this thread).
c. I replaced with Tensorflow with Ver 1.5. And NOW PTP Ver 1.1 works 100%. Corel has not learned YET! ???
d. Speed is acceptable.
e. As for the GUI, when you click SEND and CLOSE, it would be nice if the "Adjust Strength" slider would NOT change position from what you set. What it does is JUMP TO MAX (fully right). The good news is even though it changes from what you set, the result that you see when back in PSP Edit is the degree of strength you set. So, at best it is confusing for first use. Not a critical bug.
f. Only other points are - as I stated in my earlier reply and was stated by someone else, the number of templates has NOT changed from Ver 1.0. I believe I counted 14. And when you click Send and Close it does not return to a NEW layer but overwrites from then one you were in when you went to the PTP.

[JoeB]

I have done some more fooling around with the new PicToPainting v1.1, and it's now working faster than it did with my first test of which I posted in the other thread. First, it opens faster. Second, it previews much faster on the first filter I preview, and once I select one filter and do a preview I can cycle through each of the other filters and the preview appears from almost instantaneously to up to a couple of seconds, perhaps depending on the filter complexity. And when I hit send it appears in PSP within about 5 seconds.

But it does have the small issue that it does not appear as a new layer but the change takes place on the selected layer I started with. Not a big issue because you can always create a duplicate layer before invoking the plugin.

What would be a really nice feature would be if it allowed the importation of more styles, perhaps those that people might create in Painter. Just a thought.

And, unlike @ iraisok, I didn't have any trouble at all installing the plugin - although it took many, many minutes for it to download before the Windows prompt popped up asking if I wanted the file to make changes to my computer. And I don't have that Tensorflow file that Levi had provided (and that he and others have already installed) to make the original v.1.0 work. So the new v.1.1 worked out of the box for me on my Windows 8.1 machine with PSP2019 64bit. So I have no idea why it didn't work for him, unless it's a system specific issue or operating system specific issue.

[LeviFiction]

The problem with style importing is that the models have to be trained. They could provide a trainer that exports a model from an input image. Depending on what's needed to do that it take only a few minutes to train...to days. Though I am curious as to how much computing power they need to train their models. Some forms of style-transfer can definitely be done in a few minutes. Others....considerably longer unless you have cloud computing on your side.

[JoeB]

The problem with style importing is that the models have to be trained. They could provide a trainer that exports a model from an input image. Depending on what's needed to do that it take only a few minutes to train...to days. Though I am curious as to how much computing power they need to train their models. Some forms of style-transfer can definitely be done in a few minutes. Others....considerably longer unless you have cloud computing on your side.

Thanks for the info. Guess we'll just have to wait for Corel to provide more styles. Problem is, they'll likely charge for them.

[iraisok]

The problem with style importing is that the models have to be trained. They could provide a trainer that exports a model from an input image. Depending on what's needed to do that it take only a few minutes to train...to days. Though I am curious as to how much computing power they need to train their models. Some forms of style-transfer can definitely be done in a few minutes. Others....considerably longer unless you have cloud computing on your side.

Thanks for the info. Guess we'll just have to wait for Corel to provide more styles. Problem is, they'll likely charge for them.

JoeB,

I did not find it to open any faster. Even though you don’t need tensorflow 1.5, it would seem that if Corel changed to it, Pic_To_Painting would work for more people. I am not concerned about not have more templates. I wonder why Josephine/Corel would say there are more?

I am pleased with variable strength adjustment being the only improvement. For me and some others who’ve reported Tensorflow 1.5 was required for PTP ver 1.0 to work and now will allow ver 1.1 to work for some of us. As to analyzing why, one should first indite s/w not designed for hardware. In this case, the solution has been shared. “You can lead a horse to water, but you can’t make him drink.”

[JoeB]

For me and some others who’ve reported Tensorflow 1.5 was required for PTP ver 1.0 to work and now will allow ver 1.1 to work for some of us

Actually, I'm not sure that your mention that Tensorflow 1.5 "will allow v.1.1 to work for some of us" is completely accurate. Unless I've missed a post from others, so far it seems that you are the only person who has reported that you need that Tensorflow 1.5 version to get PicToPainting v.1.1 to work. Nobody else has reported any need for it. So I haven't seen anything - yet - to show any "some" or "us", but only "one" and "you". But I do stand to be corrected.