MJW

Voting period over already? That week sure went by quickly. Sorry, I forgot to vote this time. I couldn't decide which entry to vote for, so I decided to decide later. My pace was obviously too snail-like. Congratulations to MadJik's and Pixey for their clever, amusing, and well-executed entries.

You might try Paste Warp+.

If Paste Alpha has a problem, you should need only two images to demonstrate it: the alpha image, and the image it will be pasted into. Either Paste Alpha leaves the color alone while changing the alpha to appropriate value, or it doesn't. The effect of blending the resultant layer with other layers is a Paint.NET matter, not a Paste Alpha matter. You can even specify coordinates of the alpha-pasted pixel that's wrong. It can be easily checked with the Color Picker. Either the color will be changed from before the Paste Alpha, or the alpha won't be changed to what it should be.

@welshblue I have a comment on the Texture Scaler thread which may help with producing beveled rectangles, along with other such shapes. I'll try to provide an idea for the wings soon. I think the the basic idea is to make a texture map that matches the way you want the wings to bend, then use the Add mode of the Texture Merger to combine the wings with the shape to you want them bent. (Or I should say "combine the wing," since I would guess it's easier to do one wing at a time.)

New version 1.2. I fixed several bugs that made the plugin less useful. I added a "Don't Scale Transparent Pixels" option. I modified feathering so that instead of specifying a height at which feathering ends, the user specifies the range of feathering within the Minimum to Maximum height range. The Don't Scale Transparent Pixels option allows the range of a height-map object to be changed without changing the height of the transparent background (which will usually be zero). Combined with Pre-Scale Heights to Entire Range and Set Transparent-Pixel Heights to Zero Before Scaling, it forces the height of transparent pixels to zero, while moving the height-map object so that the minimum height of the object pixels is zero. This can be quite useful for producing height maps by blurring shapes. The basic idea is: Draw a white shape on a black background. For example, a filled rectangle. Copy the image to the clipboard (after, perhaps, a one or two pixel blur to soften the edge). Blur the image. The type and amount of burring depend on the desired result. Use BoltBait's Paste Alpha to restore the original object shape and make the background transparent. Run Texture Scaler with the first three options enabled. Perhaps also use a bit of feathering. In many cases, it will be useful to use the Texture Smoother to smooth the resulting height map. Another way: Draw a white shape on a black background. For example, a filled rectangle. Perhaps blur a pixel or two to soften the edge. Duplicate the layer. Set the top layer's Blend Mode to Multiply. Blur the top layer. The type and amount of burring depend on the desired result. Merge the layers. Run Texture Scaler with the all options set, and a Feather Range of 0. (This erases the black areas) Rerun Texture Scaler. (This rescales the non-transparent pixels.) In many cases, it will be useful to use the Texture Smoother to smooth the resulting height map. Another approach that seems to work well is to use the first method, but do the Texture Smoothing before doing the Paste Alpha. There are plenty of possible variations, especially tricks to make the outer edge smoother. For blurs, I usually use Gaussian Blurs or Motion Blurs, such as two Motion Blurs at right angles.

@welshblue, I like answering questions about the height-map plugins, so ask away! I'm not sure what you're asking for with the Render Square request. Do you want something that will render a cube with different rotations? I need to improve my plugin that renders sphere height maps, so I would certainly consider adding additional features, or perhaps creating a new plugin. I'm currently working on a new plugin that will render certain kinds of height maps. It should be quite useful, I think. I keep getting distracted by other things, but hope to finish it soon. There's one -- somewhat significant -- problem I'd like to solve first. Maybe I'll release a beta version of what I have now. Right now, there's no universal solution to producing different height maps, so producing a specific one is rather ad hoc. The proportions of a height map can be modified by copying the map to clipboard, then running Texture Merger with the Height Merge Method set the Clipboard (No Displacement). Two height maps can be combined by setting the Height Merge Method to Maximum. For example, if you have a height map of a long cylinder, like a tube, and a height map of a sphere, the sphere can be added to the end of the tube by using the Maximum Height Merge Method. It is often helpful when using this method to enable the rather obscure feature, Weight Clipboard Heights by Opacity. This allows the clipboard height to be offset (to move the clipboard object forward) without the heights in the transparent areas figuring into the maximum comparison. (Possibly this should be enabled by default.) A trick I've used if I have a height-map that's almost the shape want, but not quite, is to distort it with a tool like Grid Warp. The problem is, this mis-interpolates the heights as if they were colors, so the resultant map is rough and ugly. Often, though, it can be smoothed using the Texture Smoother plugin. That's the idea I used to produce the apple shape for my OOTF apple entry. Many of the Height maps I've used have been produced by making the profile I want, filling the outside of the profile with black and the inside with white, then blurring to round the edges. Very often, I blur a little (a pixel or two), copy the image to the clipboard, blur some more, then use BoltBait's Paste Alpha to make the region outside the object transparent. I then use Texture Smoother to smooth the height map. Different blurs produce different results. Two Motion Blurs and right angles to each other, can be useful. Another trick is to start with a height-map shape with rounded edges, then Multiply it by a sphere (or ovoid sphere) in the clipboard. That's the method used to make the heart example on the first page. The outside will fade to zero height, while the inside will be spherical. If you have a specific shape you'd like to produce, describe it on this thread, and I'll try to come up with a method to produce it. We'd both probably learn some things.

That's something I do often. You need to use a plugin that allows you to move the alpha values of a layer. I use Paste Alpha from BoltBait's plugin pack. To you use Paste Alpha to transfer the alpha: - Make the layer with the alpha you want the active layer. - Press Ctrl-C to copy the layer to the clipboard (note: you do not need to do a Select All first). - Switch to the layer whose alpha you want to replace. - Run Object>Paste Alpha, making sure the alpha source is alpha, not shades of gray. (The alpha can also be copied from a different image.) (I see toe_head2001 replied while I was typing this, but I'll post it anyway.)

EDIT 1: 8/3/2017 -- Redid (improved, I hope) surface color. EDIT 2: 8/3/2017 -- Slightly changed profile. EDIT 3:L 8/7/2017 -- Another profile modification, which I think is an improvement.

Thanks, Ego Eram Reputo! I'd somehow missed Red ochre's very interesting Tone Gradient Magnitude plugin. I think I confused it with Tone Gradient Angle , not realizing they were different plugins.

'Tis done. The plugin is now in the Stylize submenu.

I agree it should be in a submenu. I incorrectly thought the original wasn't, and was just trying to preserve that. I'll probably put in in Stylize. I hope to create a version that also supports 24-bit height maps, and put that in my Height Map submenu. I'll create a new submenu-ed version in a day or so. (As far as Advanced, I know others disagree, but I think that submenu should be reserved for "meta" plugins such as CodeLab and ScriptLab.)

I'd guess that @DazzaDman is using Align Object incorrectly, since the word object is being used in a special sense which might not be obvious. (If so, he wouldn't be the first to make that mistake.) DazzaDman, in PDN parlance, an "object" is a region of non-transparent pixels surrounded by transparent pixels; basically, an image on a transparent background. Align Object centers a set of non-transparent pixels in an otherwise transparent layer or selection. For example, if you have a transparent layer, then use the Text Tool to write something, Align Object can be used to center the text. It will not, for instance, center something on a white background -- transparent only!

@Rick Brewster if you could add that feature, I would be forever in your debt (as if I weren't already)!

The wood is, as always, amazing, as is the glass in the windows.

@Mr Davo, you are not the only one who dislikes that feature. As in, dislikes it with the fiery intensity of a thousand suns. The supposed advantage is that users won't be confused by making modifications that can't be seen. I fail to understand why it's better to make modifications which can be seen, but are to the wrong layer. It always struck me to as a quintessential example of a cure that's worse than the disease. It can't be disabled. If it could, I would rejoice. There are a number of other threads complaining about this behavior.

@Ilias, I'm not positive how you use the Paint feature, but if I interpret what you want to do correctly, I think that instead of doing all the tricky selection stuff, it might be easier to add a lower white layer, then remove the white from the upper layer with my Color Clearer, ReMake's Eliminate Dark/Light, or one of the other similar plugins. Then the selections could be made and moved around over the white background without having to worry about the outer area of the selection obscuring some non-white pixels. EDIT: You'd still need to use Paste into New layer to avoid overwriting with transparency, but that would be true no matter how the original selection worked.

The CodeLabe version is now in its own thread. And for me, another month, another plugin! (Though I really can't claim much credit for this one.)

This is a CodeLab port of @harold's NormalMapPlus plugin. It's functionally identical, except for some fixes, the slider controls having an extra decimal place (due to the way CodeLab works), and the addition of a brief Help menu. Though the code is functionally the same, it was somewhat rewritten. It's in the Stylize submenu. The fixes are: 1) The ROI boundary pixels are handled correctly. 2) The normals are computed at the correct positions, rather than being shifted one pixel left. 3) The JIT compiler optimization crash doesn't occur. (The crash is almost certainly not due to a bug in the original plugin code, and will probably be fixed in the JIT compiler soon.) Here is the DLL (Version 1.4): NormalMapPlus.zip Here is the code: EDIT 01 AUG 1017: Moved to Stylize window. Changed version to 1.4.

That would probably be a good idea. I'll try to do that tomorrow.

I wouldn't be too concerned yet. There's still a week left.

This doesn't really belong in this section of the forum. It should go in Paint.NET Discussion and Questions.

Congratulations to @Pixey for the very impressive mug of beer. Every part was well done, but I particularly love the foam. @MadJik's cocktail glass is excellently rendered, with the shading of the base and the colored cast shadow standout features. @barbieq25's subtle glass shading is most effective and quite elegant. The tilted angle is a clever touch. Thanks to @toe_head2001 for hosting! (Thanks, also, to @AndrewDavid for telling me how the achieve the partial erasure I used to make the ice cubes look submerged!)

Congratulations to Pixey, Woodsy, and MadJik's. All very impressive entities. Congratulations, too, to barbieq25 and Maximilian on their excellent entries. I also think Djisves's entry is quite stylish. Lots of variety and quality in this contest. Thanks to Pixey for hosting!

No disrespect intended, and I apologize for complaining, but isn't "Snail on a Salad Leaf" both a bit too odd and a bit too specific for a SOTW theme? Maybe as an Object of the Fortnight it would make more sense. I think SOTW themes should be fairly broad. This theme seems to me to be very restrictive.

You can restore the file if Norton deletes it. In the lower-right corner of the Norton file-warning window (in rather small letters), there's a Restore link. Click on it to restore the file Norton quarantined.