Expert: Scott Valentine - 5/26/2008

Question
Is there a way to add a filter effect with Photoshop such as the sketch effect to a video clip all at once, without having to do it one frame at a time?  

Answer
Thanks for your question, Emile. It turns out you can indeed apply filters to an entire set of frames or a clip, using Photoshop CS3 Extended.

Import your video (check the help files for supported formats) as a video layer. Apply your filter of choice to the layer, and let it run. Long or high resolution videos will take a significant amount of time and system resources, so be prepared to wait a while for complex filters.

There are some caveats and items of interest: alpha layers in the video will be respected, but you will need to import the alpha information from something like AfterEffect; you need a recent version of QuickTime to import and manipulate the video; you can "round-trip" your video from AfterEffects into Photoshop and back again, but read the help files for more information on limitations.

I do not work with video currently, but have seen this done a few times. Start with small clips to get an idea of what you are working with, and consider doing batches of small clips that you can edit together later in Premier or another video editing application.

I hope this helps!

-Scott