Just got around to updating your awesome plugins. I know it's long overdue, but thank you for the fantastic work! I never realized I hadn't made a forum account, but the removal of the Alpha Slider within the v6 Object Outline spurred me to write a post and hopefully convince you to return it.
I do a lot of cut-out work, and the previous version of Object Outline was at the heart of my workflow. I would scrub the backgrounds out manually, use your Object Feather effect, manually touch-up anything that wasn't smooth or consistent, and then assure clean edges and defined boundaries by adding a (varyingly) thin outline to the entire object. Your version of Object Outline was the absolute best, and I know because I tried and compared all of the different object outlining effects I could find. Yours was the only one that perfectly balanced rounding out imperfections in my edging without overfilling intentionally sharp vertices. The alpha slider is what gave me that much needed flexibility and helped maintain my cutouts' silhouettes.
With the v6 update, I can no longer make cutouts anywhere near the same quality. Intentionally over-outlining and then re-feathering rounds out points, overfills crevices, negates manual touch-ups, and just makes cutouts look sloppy. The blur slider does not at all replicate the gradual transition to transparency. I cannot substitute Selection Outline, as has been suggested to the many others who miss this feature. Though Selection Outline and Object Outline are interchangeable if one can easily select the whole boundary of the object, since I am outlining irregular shapes with noticeably soft edges Selection Outline is not remotely helpful. I need my outlines to shore up the soft edges of the cutout itself, transitioning from the edge color to the outline color smoothly, just as the outline must fade to transparency smoothly. This cannot be done using a manual selection. Even if it theoretically could, possessing the precision to make such a selection in a reasonable amount of time is impossible. If I had hands that steady I could just brush the outline on myself and call it a day, hahaha.
I understand that you rewrote the code in pursuit of your ideal version of the tool, and that you perceived the old Object Outline's interaction with its alpha slider as unintentional and broken. But with all due respect, I do not believe that removing the alpha slider better fits the name of the plugin, as I am now unable to Outline Objects without seriously decreasing the integrity of the original silhouette. I really really hope for the alpha slider to be added to the v6 Object Outline and to operate as in previous versions. If that is not possible due to the new algorithm, then I would follow up by asking if there is any way to directly port the previous version (and its algorithm) to Paint.NET v5? I would be totally fine with the slower, non-GPU boosted Object Outline if I could retain my current workflow efficiency. Otherwise I fear I will be forced to downgrade Paint.NET back to v4 because of how desperately I need this functionality. If there already exists some way to run the v4.3.12 Object Outline on Paint.NET v5 (especially as a separate effect outside of ObjectTools.dll), please let me know.
Just got around to updating your awesome plugins. I know it's long overdue, but thank you for the fantastic work! I never realized I hadn't made a forum account, but the removal of the Alpha Slider within the v6 Object Outline spurred me to write a post and hopefully convince you to return it. I do a lot of cut-out work, and the previous version of Object Outline was at the heart of my workflow. I would scrub the backgrounds out manually, use your Object Feather effect, manually touch-up anything that wasn't smooth or consistent, and then assure clean edges and defined boundaries by adding a (varyingly) thin outline to the entire object. Your version of Object Outline was the absolute best, and I know because I tried and compared all of the different object outlining effects I could find. Yours was the only one that perfectly balanced rounding out imperfections in my edging without overfilling intentionally sharp vertices. The alpha slider is what gave me that much needed flexibility and helped maintain my cutouts' silhouettes. With the v6 update, I can no longer make cutouts anywhere near the same quality. Intentionally over-outlining and then re-feathering rounds out points, overfills crevices, negates manual touch-ups, and just makes cutouts look sloppy. The blur slider does not at all replicate the gradual transition to transparency. I cannot substitute Selection Outline, as has been suggested to the many others who miss this feature. Though Selection Outline and Object Outline are interchangeable if one can easily select the whole boundary of the object, since I am outlining irregular shapes with noticeably soft edges Selection Outline is not remotely helpful. I need my outlines to shore up the soft edges of the cutout itself, transitioning from the edge color to the outline color smoothly, just as the outline must fade to transparency smoothly. This cannot be done using a manual selection. Even if it theoretically could, possessing the precision to make such a selection in a reasonable amount of time is impossible. If I had hands that steady I could just brush the outline on myself and call it a day, hahaha. I understand that you rewrote the code in pursuit of your ideal version of the tool, and that you perceived the old Object Outline's interaction with its alpha slider as unintentional and broken. But with all due respect, I do not believe that removing the alpha slider better fits the name of the plugin, as I am now unable to Outline Objects without seriously decreasing the integrity of the original silhouette. I really really hope for the alpha slider to be added to the v6 Object Outline and to operate as in previous versions. If that is not possible due to the new algorithm, then I would follow up by asking if there is any way to directly port the previous version (and its algorithm) to Paint.NET v5? I would be totally fine with the slower, non-GPU boosted Object Outline if I could retain my current workflow efficiency. Otherwise I fear I will be forced to downgrade Paint.NET back to v4 because of how desperately I need this functionality. If there already exists some way to run the v4.3.12 Object Outline on Paint.NET v5 (especially as a separate effect outside of ObjectTools.dll), please let me know.
