Snow

Snow is a fun part of the holiday season. A snowflake consists of the finest droplets of supercooled water that are frozen in a cloud. Each snowflake is hexagonal but there are no two snowflakes alike.

Using the Snow effect in AKVIS NatureArt, you can not only create realistic falling snow but also add decorative snowflakes to digital images.

Attention! The Snow effect is only available for Home Deluxe and Business licenses.

By default, the effect is applied to the entire image.

The Exclusion Area tool allows marking those parts of the image that should be partially or completely excluded from the effect area.

Tool parameters:

- Size (1-1000). The parameter defines the tool's diameter.

- Hardness (0-100%). The degree of blurriness of the outer edge. The higher the value of this parameter, the harder the edge of the brush becomes.

- Strength (1-100%). The amount of influence on an image.

The Eraser tool allows you to edit the excluded area.

Full Processing

Exclusion Area

Partial Processing

Hint: You can achieve a similar result with the History Brush , which allows you to restore the image to its original state.

Adjust the effect parameters in the Settings Panel:

The check-box Apply Effect shows/hides the effect.

Check-Box Disabled

Check-Box Enabled

Snow Tab

• Size (20-30). The size of the snowflakes.
  
  Size = 20

  
  Size = 30
• Density (80-120). The number of falling snowflakes.
  
  Density = 80

  
  Density = 100
• Small Snowflakes (0-100). The opacity of small snowflakes.
  
  Small Snowflakes = 60

  
  Small Snowflakes = 100
• Medium Snowflakes (0-100). The opacity of medium snowflakes.
  
  Medium Snowflakes = 60

  
  Medium Snowflakes = 100
• Large Snowflakes (0-100). The opacity of large snowflakes.
  
  Large Snowflakes = 60

  
  Large Snowflakes = 100
• Angle (0-180). The direction of snowfall (in degrees, measured clockwise from the horizontal axis).
  
  Angle = 70

  
  Angle = 180

Extra Tab

You can enable the group of parameters Fog by activating the check-box.


No Fog Effect (Check-Box Disabled)

Fog Effect Applied (Check-Box Enabled)
• Lighten (0-80). The amount of white fog at the top of the image.
  
  Lighten = 0

  
  Lighten = 80
• Opacity (0-80). The intensity of haze.
  
  Opacity = 0

  
  Opacity = 60
• Density (50-100). The density of clumps of fog.
  
  Density = 50

  
  Density = 90

   

  The group of parameters Colorizing changes the color temperature of the image making it cooler (bluer).

• Desaturation (0-100). The parameter reduces the color saturation.
  
  Desaturation = 10

  
  Desaturation = 90
• Strength (0-100). The parameter sets the intensity of toning.
  
  Strength = 10

  
  Strength = 80
• Reveal Original Colors (0-70). The parameter restores the original colors at the bottom of the image.
  
  Reveal Original Colors = 0

  
  Reveal Original Colors = 70

The Random Seed button generates another distribution of the snowflakes in the image.

The Snow Brush tool allows creating decorative snowflakes. You can either supplement the main effect or use decorative snowflakes separately by disabling the Apply Effect check-box.

Tool Parameters:

• Size (50-1000). The parameter defines the tool's diameter.
• Filling Density (1-100). The number of snowflakes created with the brush.
• Opacity (1-100). The parameter defines the transparency of the snowflakes. At value 100%, the snowflake is opaque.

Snowflake Properties (adjustable in the Settings Panel):

The General Settings tab allows you to change the basic properties of the snowflakes.

• Color. You can change the color of the snowflakes by clicking on the color plate and selecting a new color in the standard dialog.
• Random Color (0-60). Increasing the value increases the diversity of colors used when creating the snowflakes.
  
  White Color

  
  Random Color = 40
• Size (15-150). The parameter adjusts the primary size of the snowflakes.
• Random Size (0-100). The parameter specifies the deviation from the primary size. If the value is zero, all the snowflakes have the same size. Increasing the value increases the range of the sizes.
  
  Size = 100

  
  Random Size = 90
• Rotation (-30..30). This parameter defines the angle of rotation for all the snowflakes.
• Random Rotation (0-30). The parameter specifies the maximum angle of deviation of the snowflakes.
  
  Rotation = 20

  
  Random Rotation = 90
• Icing check-box. Enable the check-box to add an icy pattern to the snowflakes.
  
  No Icing (Check-Box Disabled)

  
  Icing (Check-Box Enabled)
• Intensity (10-200). The amount of ice that is added to the snowflakes.
  
  Intensity = 10

  
  Intensity = 100

The Structure tab contains the snowflake shape constructor.

• A snowflake is a stellar crystal with six branches called the dendrites. On the dendrites, there are Edges and Sidebranches . These elements can be attached on different levels. You can change the number of levels from 1 to 4. Each level displays the items for which a check-box is enabled. The length of the sidebranches can be adjusted using the sliders.
  
  Edges

  
  Sidebranches
• Enable the check-box Random Shape to generate randomly shaped snowflakes.
  
  Identical Shape (Check-Box Disabled)

  
  Random Shape (Check-Box Enabled)
• Shift from Center. The parameter allows you to shift the elements to the outer edge of the snowflake.
  
  Shift from Center = 0

  
  Shift from Center = 100