jchunn

Updated... much better effect, better performance, new settings. I encourage everyone to play with this one with several images and various settings... lots of possibilities with this one.

Unless I am misunderstanding what you are saying, Render is called when the dialog shows, and anytime a setting is changed, and anytime the "ok" button is clicked.

I have never heard of "Feather+", but I have heard of "Feather", which is part of boltbaits plugin pack. Feather, from what I can tell, identifies edges based on where transparency meets non-transparency within a selection (please correct me if I am wrong, anyone). This plugin attempts to "detect" rough edges and soften them anywhere within the selection. For example, if you had an image that was simply white on the left and black on the right, this plugin would find the border between the two colors and "soften" the edge. If you look at the example in the original post, you'll see that the eyes and mouth are slightly "anti-aliased", even though they do not border any transparency, and the effect was applied to the entire right half of image at once, rather than selecting just the area around the eyes and mouth. The next version of this plugin will be MUCH better, by the way. The current version was a "first attempt", but it has several problems that make it difficult to fine tune and get "juuuust right". The next version is, at least for me, a must have. It will not cause, in the above example, for the entire pants to be "fuzzy", and will only effect the edges. I am very happy with what this new version is capable of. I'll be posting in later tonight if time permits (full time work and full time college and a wife and two dogs and yardwork and other hobbies such as poker and occasional sleep).

That is very cool... is that all PDN?

If you have a quality slider, you have the latest version. I am planning another update very soon (probably in the next 24 hours) that will be another drastic improvement in the performance. I knew when I posted the first version that there would be some performance issues... and I am getting around to fixing them now. The remaining performance problem is specific to very large images. The current algorithm will apply progressively more "blur" the further the render is from the "focal point". More blur = slower performance. Since very large images will allow a greater area that is a longer distance from the focal point, there is an exponential decrease in performance as the image gets larger, especially if the "in-focus" area is small. The fix for this will be to "cap" the maximum amount of blur. I will probably make this an adjustable option, but with an "absolute" maximum as well. Thanks for the feedback... I'll try to post another update ASAP.

I agree with the others... this is some excellent work. I think that is the best signature graphic I've seen so far. I agree with Pyro that your name should be slightly more clear, but that should be easy to fix. Even as it is, it is excellent. Did you do this all yourself?

While it is sometimes easier said than done, applications should generally try to adjust to, and honor, the users settings. This is a type of accessability issue. That is not always possible or practical, but in general applications should try to work with most possible Windows settings. It sounds like things are working now that the plugins are updated... that is good.

Amazing! The previous version was a seemingly "never-ending" preview for me. This updated version did the initial preview on the same image in about 8-10 seconds. Every other minor changes I made in the options and it was still usually around 8-10 seconds to refresh the preview. You've just made a 99% performance improvement for my use of your plugin. Great job, keep up the wonderful work. Awesome! Thanks for the feedback. I'm glad the changes helped.

I have just posted an update. If you get the latest version of the plugin pack I'd like to hear your feedback on the improvement. This update should address the performance issues. Let me know if that does it for you.

Updated original post: Added "Soften Edges" which attempts to detect edges and soften them. Updated "Focal Point" to be more efficient and added a quality setting.

This plugin is a part of the "Jesse Chunn Plugin Pack" and can be downloaded Here. This effect will attempt to detect "rough" edges and soften them, similar to the feather plugin, or the basic anti-alias effect. The left side is the original (no anti-aliasing), the right side has had this effect applied to it. Here are some other random variations of the effect: Settings: Phase: A slider that effects how edges are detected based on how dark or light a pixel is. Amount: A slider that decides how "soft" to make the edges. In/Out of phase: Choose to use the inside or outside of detected edges for applying the effect. Edges Only: Choose to show only the detected edges (uses primary and secondary colors). This version is VERY powerful. Take some time to play around with it with various images and settings... very versitile. Enjoy, Jesse Chunn

Pyro, you have a tendancy to start this kind of thing anytime somebody other than yourself comes up with something useful. You hijack their thread with your negative comments and insults and start a fight, then act like you are so innocent... and eventually you get their thread locked when they try to stick up for themselves. That is the post that you are defending, and you are trying to say that I am "overlooking" your love for VB. Give me a break. Exactly how is your original post productive? Why don't you please start a new thread to bash vb and leave this thread to the people that might actually want to use this template? There are only two possible outcomes with that kind of post... either everybody ignores it, which makes it totally useless, or somebody responds, in which case you completely hijack the thread. Congrats... you have hijacked the thread.

On slower computers and/or larger images with a relatively high "blur factor" this can happen. As the render gets further from the center point, it gets exponentially slower because it is processing a larger and larger number of pixels to create the blur. The way the code currently works, the further you get from the "focal point", the more pixels surrounding the "current pixel" being processed are looked at to determine the color of the "current pixel". The next version will have some optimizations to relieve this, but for now, the workaround is to use a lower "blur factor" and/or a smaller image (or smaller selected area).

And there are things you can do in C++ that you can't do in C#, and there are things you can do in Assembler that you can't do with C++, and there are things you can do with machine code that you cant do with Assembler, and there are things you can do with hardware that you can't do with machine code... so I guess "real" programmers do it with hardware. My point is that if I need to use pointers, I would probably go to C++. C# and VB.Net were created to utilize the .Net framework. I would propose that anyone using unsafe C# code on a regular basis probably should be using C++ anyway, like I do when I need pointers. For writing managed code, there is no significant difference between any two .Net languages. It is a matter of preference. If I were Rick, I would discourage the use of unsafe code in plugins. It will only serve to introduce instability and crashes, and will rarely make a significant difference in execution speed since the plugin model is multithreaded anyway. I'd love to see an example of a plugin that is "fast enough" using pointers that I can't write without pointers that is also "fast enough". If there is such a plugin, send me the source... I'll take the challenge gladly. At any rate, I think it is a shame that anyone goes out of their way anymore to bash VB. It is a great language. If some people don't like it, then they should just avoid it. There is nothing you can do in VB that you can't do in C#... so why even waste your energy with VB conversations? I went to a lot of trouble to create this template, and instead of encouragement to use it, I see somebody that has no intention of using it discouraging others, as if somehow the fact that it is VB is a big deal... why would you do that? Why not just leave it alone? Are you saying that VB cannot be used to write really excellent plugins (just as good as any out there today) because you can use unsafe code in C#? That is just silly.

I was not claiming you did. When I said "I heard somewhere that scriptlab-style functionality will eventually be built in", I was referring to: which came from here. If it is not true that "scripting and recorded actions" is on the roadmap (I have no idea one way or another) then that is too bad, because I think it is a fantastic idea, but anyway, that is where I heard it.

That's to be expected. ScriptLab does some rather ... unsupported ... things. Pyrochild himself states that compatibility between versions of Paint.NET is neither promised nor even expected. I heard somewhere that scriptlab-style functionality will eventually be built in. That would be awesome. Scriptlab is probably the single best idea I have seen any "3rd party" plugin writer come up with.

I don't need to convert it... I'm multi-lingual... VB is just my native toungue

Sorry... I mean to say ... from a developers perspective, I am intregued by how this might be done... interesting. From an artistic perspective, it is awesome... I agree, but I have come to expect as much from pyro

Oh.... this is interesting... very interesting.

Dude... that is possibly the most artistic and thought provoking image I've seen here so far. I am awestruck. I especially like the added text... adds a lot to the emotion of the image. Nice use of your new plugin

Then why not post it? Done... well... I actually posted an updated version (uses Indirect UI), but it is posted. The VB version does use the "new plugin system" (I assume you mean the IndirectUI system) and it can be easily converted to C# if anyone wants to convert it.

My pleasure bro. Thanks for the encouragement.

This is a template that will allow you to easily create PDN Effect Plugins with Visual Basic. Before you download it, please read ALL of these instructions carefully. VB_PDN_Effect.zip Ok, I know you didn't read all the instructions carefully before you downloaded that file, so once you mess around and it doesn't work, read ALL of these instructions carefully before you post any questions. If you follow these instructions and then you simply create a new project based on this template and compile it without any modifications, you will have a basic working plugin (in the form of a dll) that will work in Paint.Net right out of the box. I highly recommend you modify it before you post your new dll and start bragging about it. This was created and tested with VB.Net 2005 and Paint.Net 3.22, but should work with newer versions. Report issues here and I'll follow up when I can. Here is how to install and use the template: Step 1: DO NOT UNZIP THE FILE. Download the zip file and save it into your templates directory (something like "C:\Documents and Settings\Jesse Chunn\My Documents\Visual Studio 2005\Templates\ProjectTemplates"). DO NOT UNZIP THE FILE... Visual Studio knows how to handle the zipped file. DO NOT UNZIP THE FILE... EVER. Step 2: Run VB.Net and go to "File->New Project. You should see this new option: If you do not see that option, then you put the file in the wrong place, or you unzipped it, or the file is corrupt, or Venus is in retrograde... so look here and figure out what you did wrong: http://msdn.microsoft.com/msdnmag/issues/06/01/CodeTemplates/ Once you get that to work, go ahead and create a new project based on the template. Now, follow the instructions here: http://paintdotnet.forumer.com/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=4920. Once you have done all that, then all you have to do is run the app from the VB environment Paint.Net will start up with your plugin loaded and ready to test... and you will be on your way to creating some killer effects. Good Luck! Jesse Chunn

Fixed.

Yup.