Hasso-Plattner-Institut25 Jahre HPI
 

Digital Artist: Videos as Comic

Filming and Sharing Videos as Comics: Becoming a Master of Abstract Art with Mobile HPI Technology

HPI researcher Sebastian Pasewaldt (l.) transforms pictures and videos into comics.

Converting videos and photos instantly into funny sketches, caricatures and comic images that look hand-drawn - and sharing them in the net. Scientists at the Potsdam Hasso Plattner Institute (HPI) have made this reality with a technology they developed called “Pic2Comic“ With the abstraction solution presented by HPI at Hall 9, Stand D44, it becomes child’s play to alter a picture on an iPhone or iPad and to then share it immediately with friends on social networks. Whether a face, building or landscape, the new, software - which is easier to use than conventional image processing methods - instantly gives its subject the appearance of a schematic drawing, a comic strip or an animated cartoon.

The app turns the user into a digital picture artist, who can perform targeted quality changes with a choice of five predefined styles. Behind this technology lies a great deal of mathematics and a clever streaming concept for the fast processing of mass data. Soon digital artists will be using their mobile devices to produce videos and monochromatic pictures that look like Sin City films/ comics or paintings by the Old Masters. When this time comes, boring “selfies” or landscape shots will be “a thing of the past.”

Screenshots of the comic pictures