Processing images and video for an impressionist effect

This paper describes a technique that transforms ordinary video segments into animations that have a hand-painted look. Our method is the first to exploit temporal coherence in video clips to design an automatic filter with a hand-drawn animation quality, in this case, one that produces an Impressionist effect. Off-the-shelf image processing and rendering techniques are employed, modified and combined in a novel way. This paper proceeds through the process step by step, providing helpful hints for tuning the off-the-shelf parts as well as describing the new techniques and bookkeeping used to glue the parts together. 1. INTRODUCTION In the 1800's, Clau de Monet created paintings that attempted to "catch the fleeting impression of sunlight on objects. And it was this out-of-doors world he wanted to capture in paint -- as it actually was at the moment of seeing it, not worked up in the studio from sketches." (Kingston80).