Experiments with Plotagraph

I recently acquired a new app called Plotagraph Pro which allows me to turn still images into animated videos. There's a lot you can do with the software but I'm mainly using it to animate rivers, waterfalls and clouds. Here are some of the results...

At first I wasn't sure the software would be a good fit for my photography style but after messing around with it for only a few minutes I was hooked.

It's incredibly easy to turn a static image into a living scene. All you have to do is click to add animation points over the moving areas then add anchor points to areas that need to remain fixed. That's it. Easy.

In this example, I draw animation points over the water then add anchor points over the branches to prevent them from moving.

To add to the realism, it's important to adjust the speed of the animation so things don't move too fast or slow. For example, the default speed of this waterfall was much too fast but after slowing down the animation speed it became more lifelike.

I had a more difficult time with this photo of the Lochsa River because my animation points were too long. Once I shortened the moving lines the movements started to look more natural. As I continued to play around it became apparent that when it comes to adding animation points, less is more.

I wondered if Plotagraph could be used to animate 360 degree photos. If so, it could be a great way to create engaging VR experiences using only still images and a few animation points.

As a test I imported this 360 degree panoramic photo and animated the clouds. Much to my delight, Plotagraph had no trouble processing the photo despite its abnormal dimensions.

I'm looking forward to experimenting more with VR content using Plotagraph but I'll save that for another blog post.

In the meantime, check out Plotagraph at https://plotaverseapps.com/