That is pretty much exactly what I was looking for. And it took was opening an Illustrator file in Photoshop. I feel like an idiot.
Thanks!
Need help with Photoshop/Illustrator coloring
First of all, let me say that I suck at art. I had to take an illustration class for my degree program, and that was the hardest 72 I EVER earned.
Now then...
I'm trying to reproduce the Cobra inflation scene in vector format, and I've pretty much gotten all of the relevant frames traced in Illustrator. But I don't have a damn clue how to color these things the way I want. I've tried using live paint groups in Illustrator and am rapidly getting nowhere because one vector can't be a part of two paint groups. I've also tried copying and pasting the vectors into Photoshop, but the stroke is done in bitmap and I can't get the coloring right and arghghghgghgghhhghgh.
Anybody have any tips or pointers? If I can't get it right, I may try it in Flash next, and go ahead and animate it.
Thanks!
Assuming you are working with stills (meaning this won't be animated) you can import the Illustrator files into Photoshop. Import them at a higher res and canvas size than you expect to use for final distribution, as this gives you more space to work in and reduces the bitmapped artifacts -- even though it will ultimately be reduced to a lower res. (That takes some explanation, but trust me, or try it yourself. Seeing it is the easiest way to understand.)
1. Double-click the imported "background" so that it becomes a layer and change its blending mode to "multiply."
2. Create additional layers below the line art -- one for each color if you like -- and start painting. You can use the Magic Wand tool to automate things if you like, assuming your art has lots of enclosed regions: a) Wand the region on the line art layer, b) then Select > Modify > Expand to enlarge the region by a pixel or two, c) Paint Bucket a color onto its own color layer. You could simply Paint Bucket onto the line art layer itself, but the "trapping" approach described above avoids any fringing at the boundaries with the line art.
The layered approach also gives more control if you want to add in texture or shadow/toning layers, like the art in WHO FRAMED ROGER RABBIT?
If you intend to animate the resulting frames, then you want to avoid complexity, as it must be reproduced cleanly to avoid "chattering" in the final movie. If you want to animate, you might want to look into one of the digital animation packages, like ToonBoom or Anime Studio (nee Moho). I've been meaning to try the ToonBoom demo for a long time, but haven't gotten around to it yet. Anyway, I know that Anime Studio features "bones" like those used in 3D animation. Thus, one can animate true vector art, or even imported photographs in ways Flash can't touch.