This is kind of a tough question.
I'd like to find a simpler solution for something that I need to do often, which is to turn photographic images into computery ones.
To be more clear, I'm often taking steps to
-reduce the number of colors in the image and
-turn the boundaries between colors into smoother lines.
For example, making something like this:
into something like this:
Here's what I have tried so far:
-the "Stamp" filter can be very useful IF the desired end result has only two colors.
-the "Cutout" filter IN THEORY is perfect. However, often even the most edge-faithful, least-smooth setting fails to create a discernible image.
-"Posterize" introduces all sorts of crazy web colors in ways I don't understand. (Why does the web think that green comes between light brown and dark brown?) AND the edges produced are very gravely.
So right now what I do is:
1-posterize the image
2-inspect by eye and eliminate the colors I think are stupid
3-make a layer mask for each color
4-gaussian blur each layer mask
5-threshold each layer mask
(BTW the gaussian blur/threshold combo is often very useful for smoothing lines.)
This is pretty time consuming and I was wondering if anyone has a better way.
Thank you!
