We propose a system to transform any temporal image sequence into a comics-based presentation, as an effective and interesting storytelling manner. Three main components, including page allocation, layout selection, and speech balloon placement, are respectively formulated as optimization problems, and systematic approaches are proposed to find solutions. Page allocation is viewed as a labeling problem, and the best solution is determined by the genetic algorithm. Importance values of images and predefined layouts are both represented in vector forms, and the best layout is selected by finding the best match between vectors. Feasible solutions of speech balloons constitute a solution space, and the best solution that jointly describes the best locations of all balloons in a page is determined by the particle swarm optimization algorithm. Objective evaluation and subjective evaluation are designed from various perspectives to demonstrate effectiveness and superiority of the proposed system.Index Terms-Comics-based storytelling, genetic algorithm, layout selection, page allocation, particle swarm optimization, speech balloon placement.

Comic presentation for videos has attracted more and more attention in recent years. This work deeply discusses one important component, i.e., speech balloon placement, that was depreciated and was done by heuristic approaches before. According to number of words and emotion embedded in subtitles, and audio energy corresponding to the targeted frame, speech balloons of various sizes and appropriate shapes are generated. How to locate speech balloons in panels at the same comic page is then formulated as an optimization problem. The objective function integrates an intra-panel cost with an inter-panel cost, where the former is designed to avoid occluding important regions of frames and to direct viewer's gaze, and the latter is designed to build the reading tempo. The experimental results show that the proposed method facilitates higher readability, higher content coverage, and better speech balloon placement.