How to Use NewBlue Paint Effects for Stylized Video

NewBlue Paint Effects is a popular collection of artistic visual effects plugins developed by NewBlueFX designed to instantly transform standard video footage into paintings, drawings, and cartoons. The suite is built for video editors and filmmakers who need to quickly generate stylized looks, dream sequences, or surreal aesthetics without hand-animating frames from scratch. Key Features and Capabilities

12 Artistic Plugins: The software package includes 12 specialized video filters that emulate traditional fine art and graphic mediums.

134 Pre-built Presets: Editors can use 134 customizable presets to instantly apply stylized looks with a single click.

Real-Time Controls: Every plugin includes native slider parameters, allowing you to fine-tune the brush stroke size, line smoothness, colors, and blending amounts to perfectly match your footage. Included Artistic Styles

The collection spans a broad range of creative techniques inspired by artists and traditional craftsmen:

Cartoonr Plus: An enhanced version of NewBlue’s signature plugin that animates video into a clean, comic-book cartoon look with sharp outlines.

Watercolor & Oil: Simulates fluid watercolor washes or heavy, textured oil painting brushstrokes.

Charcoal & Colored Pencil: Converts videos into smooth charcoal line drawings or vibrant colored pencil sketches.

Impressionist: Paints video frames using small, energetic, and fragmented strokes.

Mosaic & Paper Collage: Reconstructs video using textured mosaic tiles or overlapping layers of colored construction paper.

Mural, Halovision Plus, Posterize, and Pencil Rubbing: Additional filters used to map distinct high-contrast, flat-shaded, or tactile hand-drawn surfaces onto video shapes. Workflow and Availability

The software acts as a drag-and-drop plugin suite that integrates directly inside major non-linear editing (NLE) systems. It has historically been bundled with or sold as a retail add-on for platforms like Corel VideoStudio, Adobe Premiere Pro, and Avid Media Composer. For users wanting to test out the artistic styles on their own footage, a free trial is available directly through the developer.

Watch this brief demonstration video from NewBlueFX to see how these plugins convert real-world footage into hand-painted masterpieces: Introducing NewBlue Paint Effects YouTube · Feb 14, 2011