If you like to have one of your favorite photos as a painted version, then it is an unparalleled advantage if you are able to paint. The handling of brush, pencil, spatula, color, canvas etc. should be no problem for you. You are allowed to start now, I wish you good luck with that.

But what can those people (who I also belong to) actually do if they lack even the slightest skill to paint manually? You are guessing correctly, we avail ourselves of a painting software, which works pretty well.

In the meantime a variety of plugins has become available which turn your photo into an artwork in your desired painting style in no time. Among the huge variety to choose from I decided on Dynamic-Auto-Painter PRO 5. It is not a plugin, but a standalone version.

It is the latest version (current state: October 2016) with an array of improvements and new painting styles with corresponding presets.

Opening the user interface for the first time

User interface with “Easy Start“ information

In the Easy Start window you will get the first notes on the way to your goal. Of course you do not have to have it welcoming you with every program start. So go ahead and send it to nirvana if you wish.

The „On-Screen Guide“ supports you when processing

If you are not yet completely familiar with the program, then you will get helpful notes in the On-Sreen Guide for the present situation.

Presets and a sample image for the selected painting style

On the left-hand side there are about 60 different presets to choose from. Some of them can be expanded and surprise you with slightly changed variations. You will already be guessing that users who are not very keen on making decisions will have a lot of fun here.

A practical exercise shows you some more

You have opened the program. What you need is an image that you would like to create a small or a big artwork from. DAP PRO 5 does not care whether it is JPG or PSD, both are accepted.

My weekend house with my own vineyard – photographer: Silvia Kuhnlein – www.a-dezign.de

The „weekend house“ is a joke, I could not even afford the tiles. In fact it is the Johannisberg castle in Rheingau, Germany, certainly suitable as sample image.

You should make a mouseclick on each of the framed buttons

Please take a photo of your choice from your own stock, which you would like to admire as a digital artwork afterwards.

As far as my sample image is concerned I opened the preset Aquarell via the small black triangle and then selected the setting Granulated Pigment. Please note that not every painting style is equally suited for all scenes. Important: Now you have just click on Start, otherwise absolutely nothing will happen!

DAP PRO 5 at work

After clicking on >Start you will be displayed the window Main Painter on the left-hand side as well as the Quick Tool on the right-hand side. At the same time DAP PRO 5 starts with the automatic painting. It is taken for granted that the preset values can be changed, but it is not really recommendable if you are not yet familiar with the program.

At the beginning it is advisable to start with an image of your choice and any desirable preset. After finishing the automatic flow you just load the image once again via the menu item >File>Reload>Current File and experiment somewhat with different settings. In doing so you will get familiar with the possibilities of the program very quickly.

My „weekend house“ as aquarel - Would be nice on canvas, wouldn´t it?

Testing some more presets?

In Germany there is the saying: An image says more then a thousand words. Especially with a painting software this is absolutely true. It does not help a lot to list up all parameters that you can even better realise your wishes with. All painting styles produce slightly different results according to the individual image. This is not a disadvantage, but an advantage that you should use more often for your works.

This is also meant to become a painted image – photographer: Kay Michael Kuhnlein – www.a-dezign.de

For this photo I wish powerful colors and a painting style that shows a distinct touch of realism.

Preset „Azo“ is used

I checked the available presets a bit and then decided on the painting style Azo. You will instantly see that within short time you will get a presentable result.

Painting style „Azo“ – that is what I imagined, I am very satisfied

A pretty shoe – photographer: Silvia Kuhnlein – www.a-dezign.de

Due to „Re-Acrylic“ we get a nice image in the style: photorealism

Whoever likes photorealism can avail himself of plenty of painting styles that DAP PRO 5 provides. Here you will reach the goal in most cases only by testing. As I already mentioned the original photo is essentially involved with the final result. I am more than satisfied with my example, you may probably think so as well.

Whoever has already been there will instantly recognize:
Cincque Terre in Italy – photographer: Silvia Kuhnlein – www.a-dezign.de

It is okay, isn´t it? The preset: „Felt Tip“ produces the special painting style

Of course there is an array of presets that are also suitable for the scene, but finally the personal taste is crucial. You will recognize that there is no lack of useful painting styles, there are enough available.

Portrait?

It is often the case that the portrait or half portrait is a weak point of painting software. To be frank: the result is not really mind-blowing. So what is more recommendable than testing such an example with DAP PRO 5? Let`s see what the software is able to perfom in this area.

Are both flirting or aren´t they? – photographer: Silvia Kuhnlein – www.a-dezign.de

„Glamour-Hollywood-Glamour“ was performing here

With such photos you should mostly adhere to the motto „a bit less is more“, that is why the result is able to convince me. You cannot see any distortions or similar side effects.

From Abstract to Abstract

When experimenting with DAP PRO 5 you may probably get the idea to not always choose a classical photo as the original image. Maybe you just try an already processed, abstract image.

A completely unspectacular photo only later became an eye catcher thanks to the stripe effect -
– photographer: Silvia Kuhnlein – Kunstwerk: Kay Michael Kuhnlein www.a-dezign.de

The photo got a stripe effect including soft focus with the already somewhat older software „Kai’s Power Tool 5“. With regard to the numerous painting styles of DAP PRO 5 there should actually be something included that makes the image keep its abstract art type, but with an altered art style.

Still abstract, but an entirely different art style with the preset „Pencil“

This is the original of the three processed images - photographer: Silvia Kuhnlein – www.a-dezign.de

Neither do I want to withhold you the actual original image in order to better judge the operation of the software. Moreover I will add the same painting style with identical values to this photo.

Preset: „Pencil“ with identical parameters on the original image

With this I prove that my former statement is true: „The original photo essentially has a large share in the final result.“ At first sight you will already notice the difference. I promise you that it is a lot of fun to expose already processed images once again to the painting filter. You will be rewarded with extraordinary results!

Clipart does also work, doesn´t it?

Unmistakeably a clipart

Whoever has already read some of my former reviews about painting software knows that I cannot relinquish a test with cliparts. In most cases the painting styles react quite differently to vector paintings, even if they were convertet to a pixel format. So here we go. I decided on an older clipart from Corel Draw 12.

Preset: „Val d’Orcia“ delivers this result, it cannot necessarily be identified as a clipart

It can be taken for granted that I had tested different presets first, before I thought that „Val d’Orcia“ is a suitable choice. I was not disappointed by the result, on the contrary I do really like it. Great, now you cannot instantly notice it as a clipart any more. Without the corresponding background knowledge the spectator states: Someone can paint really well with digital brushes here.

Individual setting options in abundance

To remind you: DAP PRO 5 is a standalone program. That is why the developer makes all setting options available that you can think of and which can be found in Photoshop.

Of course a workflow is thinkable here, where you save your desired image with the preferred painting style as a JPG and then make further improvements with any other software of your choice.

NOTE: All examples got their result with the prevailing original preset, no changed individual settings were used. You will nevertheless get even better results with personal parameters.

With this you will optimize your artwork

All in all you can find 10 panels at the lower border of the user interface, which invite you to use them. My recommendation: Work with them!

You can see that there is already a lot available

Here is the rest to come

As already mentioned, it is thoroughly recommendable to always start with one of the presets. If you like the automatic result, then save the image, there is no more to do. Now you are a digital artist. Whoever is not yet completely satisfied or likes to experiment somewhat can throw himself at the additional panels. Please investigate yourself via the demo version which image areas, backgrounds, colors, focus, layers etc. can be changed with them. A complete listing would break the mold here.

Where can you learn more?

You can visit the manufacturer´s website via the following link:

http://www.mediachance.com/dap/

The information on DAP PRO 5 is spot-on. You will get ahead with the link Read More or alternatively use the menu item „What’s New“.

As not otherwise expected you will also find a "Download Free Trail Version" link that enables you to simply test the performance of this program yourself.

Have a lot of fun and I wish you good luck in doing so as well as a large number of great painted images!

Kay Michael Kuhnlein