Hi,

I turn normal videos into cartoons through the process of rotoscoping, or, to be more precise, autoscoping (don't look it up; it won't be in the dictionary ... yet). My project, Autoscope, is the result of years of research, experimentation, trials, errors and correcting those errors. The videos I am putting up here show what Autoscope can do. These are just short clips but you could, if you wanted to, remake an entire feature film or an entire TV series in cartoon form.

"Why would anyone want to do that?" you may ask. Because cartoons are appealing and pleasing to the eye. Cartoons facilitate the use of rich, vibrant colours and luxurious textures that combine to create environments that are so much more aesthetically satisfying than those of the real world. Realistic cartoons, like these, achieve that whilst still retaining their link with the real world. And turning existing movies and TV shows into highly detailed cartoons in which the actors' mouths move perfectly consistently with the words they speak, is something that normal animation techniques cannot achieve.

Autoscope can cartoonize any video - you don't have to specially make the original video to make it suitable for subsequent cartoonizing. Just imagine something like, for example, The Wizard of Oz, completely remade as a cartoon - not hand drawn from scratch, but perfectly cartoonized through rotoscoping by using the original frames, so that Judy Garland and the others appeared as perfect likenesses, yet in cartoon form. Or what would the James Bond movies look like as high quality cartoons? Judge for yourself from a short clip from Goldfinger that I have included among these uploads.

Until now, such an undertaking, even if possible, would have required prohibitively huge human and financial resources, not to mention a massive work time-scale which could literally run into years. But Autoscope could achieve it in very little time and at very low cost. A movie or TV company could cartoonize its entire back catalogue with only minimal human involvement in the process.

The depth and detail levels can be varied to suit different kinds of material. For example, comedies or children's shows can be made flat looking like traditional cartoons, and serious drama or movies can be processed with greater depth and intensity to give breathtaking visual impact.

Soon I will put up a website to explain more about Autoscope. In the meantime I hope you enjoy watching these short cartoon clips.