Having an image draw down paths...

[Caliber Mengsk]

Hello, I need some help.

I'm going to be doing a project for work that will require me to have a pencil, marker, paintbrush, .... something (not known specifically what) draw images line for line. I figured there is probably a plugin or something for some video editing program that does this automatically by following paths from illustrator or something.

Pretty much my boss is wanting it to draw the image in the video. The only video he referenced was the one on this site: http://www.bloodpressurenormalized.com/presentation.php?subid=blog62312

WARNING!!! It's one of those crappy ones that pops up an "Are you sure you want to leave?" box. I've opened it multiple times and scanned with multiple virus scanners to be sure I didn't get viruses from it. Anyone know how to do this automagically? Or will I have to probably do a bunch of masking and such to get the desired effect?

[Cornucopia]

While you could do something like a screen cap, that is very time intensive. Most animators take the background, add the complete, finished "paint" overlay in its own layer, and then animate the erasure/removal mask, and then run the thing in reverse. Works much more cleanly that way.
You could use a "wipe" feature on the mask or on the overlay to simplify the change, but it does look noticeably cruder...

Scott

[budwzr]

Yes, all the vector paint softwares trace bitmaps. InkScape is free and awesome and easy.

What they want is SVG format of existing stuff. And vector drawing is an acquired taste.

[poisondeathray]

I figured there is probably a plugin or something for some video editing program that does this automatically by following paths from illustrator or something.

After Effects "stroke plugin" (bundled), or 3rd party Trapcode 3D stroke can use illustrator paths