SmartMorph help page      

There is currently no complete documentation for SmartMorph, and there probably never will be. Look in the status bar in the bottom of the program window for hints on what the tools do. This page contains a short tutorial, and answers to questions I receive might be added.

Tutorial
Auto accommodate
Warping
Looping animation
Single frame generation
Enlarging pictures

MeeSoft support forum

See also Popims Animator

Tutorial

• Download and extract the example file.
• Open the images Tut1.jpg and Tut2.jpg: File | Open image (F4).
• The most convincing result is achieved if the faces are about the same size, so the girl image has to be enlarged some. Click Image | Resize and scale to 110%.
• Now the two pictures should be cropped so that corresponding features are positioned in the same place if possible.
  Select Image | Accommodate images (Ctrl-A). Use the Move image tool (arrow with cross) in the Accommodate images window to move one of the pictures so that the eyes are in the same place. The image which is fixed is the one selected when Accommodate images is opened.
  Now use the Select crop area tool to draw a rectangle around the part of the picture you want to morph and click OK.
  
• Next task is to mark corresponding features.
  First mark the image corners: Edit | Add corner points.
  Then use the Add/move points tool (pointer with cross) to set markers on features in the pictures like e.g. eyes and nose. When you click in one image to set a marker point, a point is inserted in the other image in the same place. Use the mouse to move this point to the corresponding feature.
  When a point is selected in one image, the corresponding point is highlighted in the other image. Marker points can be removed by pressing Delete.
  Mark some features like in the example below:
  
  
• To show the result, click Run or Test. The best quality is achieved if Antialiasing is checked in Animation setup.

Note that if you save the morph using Save animation the pictures are not saved in the (.smo) file - only the marker point locations. Therefore you also have to save pictures if they were edited.

Auto accommodate

To resize and crop and align everything at once, select the Add/move points tool from the tool bar and set at least 4 points (See the Tutorial section for help with adding points). For example, in the tutorial example pictures Tut1.jpg and Tut2.jpg, you can set a point at the outer corner of the woman's left eye, and move the corresponding point in the cat's picture to the outer corner of it's left eye. Set a point at the inner corner of left eye of the woman, and move the point to the inner corner of the cat's left eye. Do this 2 more times with other similar features such as the center point of the lips, or the tip of the nose.

Select Image | Auto accommodate. A window will pop up and ask if you would like to resize and rotate the active image, and crop both. Select which options are needed. Hit OK.

This will line up your images fairly accurately. If you want it aligned differently, select Image | accommodate Images. Select the Move Image tool from the tool bar and line the images up how you would like. Select the OK button.

Now you will need to add more points to create a smoother transition. After adding more points, go Edit | Add Corner Points then hit the play button to see what your image looks like. If your image is missing part, check your points in the missing area to make sure they do not cross over another point. Do this by clicking on color point and make sure the corresponding color is in the correct place. Click on the next color and do the same.

Warping

The animation with the bald guy on the download page is made with the Warp effect. To make an animation like that, open the same picture twice in SmartMorph and select (1) -> (1) Warp in the Animation setup dialog.

First mark the image corners: Edit | Add corner points. Then place a number of marker points in the image. In window (1) the markers should be placed on the feature you want to move, and in window (2) the corresponding marker must be where you want the feature to move to.

To make sure that not all of the picture is changed but just a small area, place a number of points around that area as in the example below. These markers should be placed equally in the two windows.

Looping animation

How do I make a looping animation and add it to a web-site like the SmartMorph download page? Do I need to copy SmartMorph to the site server?

The animation on the SmartMorph download page is just an AVI video clip, so you don't need SmartMorph on the server. The HTML code looks like this:

    <img dynsrc="warpdemo.avi" start="fileopen" loop="1000">

You can make SmartMorph generate the AVI file by clicking Animation | Save as video, selecting an AVI file name and then checking the Make loop box in the AVI setup window.

SmartMorph can also generate animated GIFs. Animated GIF files are typically larger than AVI files, but they are platform and browser independent.

Single frame generation

I was wondering if there is a way to capture a picture in the middle of it's being morphed, so as to have a combination picture between the two, not an animation?

If you just want to see the picture you can use the Test feature (F8). To get the picture saved to a file you can select Animation | Save as video and then save as BMP, JPG or PNG files. That will produce a number of image files with the frames from the animation. Then you can take the one you want.