Applying effects from Photoshop's Filters menu in paint.net

[ReMake]

This tutorial is available as a PDF. Click here to view or download it.

 

You found a Photoshop tutorial that interested you and wanted to repeat it in paint.net, but in this tutorial, Photoshop effects are used, and among all the variety of  paint.net effects you have not found a suitable one that can replace the Photoshop filter. What can I do?

 

There is a way out. On the punkinstuff.tripod.com site you will find almost all the filters you need for free. I found in my old archive of files a few more filters that are not on the site punkinstuff.tripod.com. Unfortunately, at that time I didn't have the habit (and the need) to save links to the original source, so I attached these files below.

Filters.zip

 

You can apply these filters using the PSFilterPdn plugin by @null54.

 

We are interested in the following filters or filter packs: Adjust Variations, Artistic, Blur, Brush Strokes, Distort, Pixelate, Render, Sketch, Stylize, Texture. I must say right away - not all filters can be applied for one reason or another.

 

For ease of use, create in your Effects folder (C:\Program Files\paint.net\Effects\ for the Classic version, or Documents\paint.net App Files\Effects\ for Microsoft Store versions) the Photoshop Filters folder (or name it as you like) and upload the above filters or filter packages to it. Run the PSFilterPdn effect (Effects -> 8bf Filter).

 

Click on the arrow to the left of the effect category name, select the effect you want, and click Run Filter.

 

In the dialog window that opens, set the desired values for the controls and click OK.

 

To apply an effect to an image, click OK on the 8bf Filter interface.

 

Sometimes when you click the Run Filter button, you may get a message

 

This indicates that the selection area you selected or the image size is too small. You will be prompted to change the size of the selection or the size of the image.

 

Some information about filters.

In the Adjust submenu there is a Variations filter that changes the hue of the image. Please note that the filter allows you to save and load customization options in Photoshop format .AVA. This means that if in the Photoshop tutorial you will be asked to download the appropriate settings for this filter, then you can safely use them. Similarly, the settings you created in paint.net will be uploaded in Photoshop as well.

 

In the Artistic submenu only one filter works incorrectly - Neon Glow. By default, Glow Color is set to Blue. Clicking on the color box will not lead to any reaction; you will not be able to select a color.

 

Clicking on the OK button will result in an error message, so you can delete it from the folder where it was installed.

 

The other filters in this submenu works correctly. By the way, instead of the Sponge filter, you can use paint.net Sponge Effect.

 

In the Distort submenu, attempting to run the Displace, Pinch, Polar Coordinates, Ripple, Shear, Spherize, Twirl, Wave, and Zigzag filters will result in a message

 

These filters are not processed by the 8bf Filter plugin, so you can delete them from the folder where they were installed.

 

The Render submenu contains two filters that do not have an interface - Clouds and Difference Clouds. To apply one of these filters after they are started, click OK on the 8bf Filter interface.

 

Note: An alternative to both filters may be a 2D HyperClouds filter that is not included in the Photoshop Filter menu. This filter has a user interface that allows you to customize the texture of clouds. 

 

The Tilling control allows you to select one of the sixteen built-in presets using the << and >> buttons.

 

Instead of the Reticulation filter from the Sketch submenu, you can apply paint.net Reticulation effect.

 

In the Stylize submenu, the Solarize filter has no interface, so to apply it after starting; you need to click OK on the 8bf Filter interface.

 

Note that the filters Rough Pastels, Underpainting, Glass, Conté Crayon, and Texturizer allow texture loading. Textures must have the .psd format.

On the GRAFNET website, you can find a free DSB Flux filter by Mario Klingemann. Inside the zip file is the texturizer folder, which contains 99 prepared textures in .psd format.

 

Create a folder Textures in a convenient place for you (for example, Documents\paint.net User Files\Textures), where you will collect and store your textures and move the contents of the texturizer folder from the zip file there.

 

If you want to apply your own textures with these filters, you will have to convert them to the appropriate format. To do this, download the Photoshop PSD plugin by @taoyue to the FileTypes folder and save your textures in .psd format.

 

Note: When you run some filters, you may get this message

 

In this case, download from the website punkinstuff.tripod.com Plugin.DLL, unzip it and place them in a folder C:\Program Files\paint.net\Effects\ for the Classic version, or Documents\paint.net App Files\Effects\ for Microsoft Store versions. This will fix the problem.

 

You can see an example of using the Plastic Wrap Photoshop filter in the Glowing Gel Text tutorial.

 

[null54]

2 hours ago, ReMake said:

In the Artistic submenu only one filter works incorrectly - Neon Glow. By default, Glow Color is set to Blue. Clicking on the color box will not lead to any reaction, you will not be able to select a color.

 

The plugin was written before the introduction of a color picker API in Photoshop 3.0.

It uses some kind of secret handshake to tell Photoshop to show its color dialog, I have never been able to determine how that communication works.

 

2 hours ago, ReMake said:

In the Distort submenu, attempting to run the Pinch, Polar Coordinates, Ripple, Shear, Spherize, Twirl, Wave, and Zigzag filters will result in a message

 

These filters all use the Photoshop 3.0.4 image resizing routines (Image Services Suite), I have never been able to build a working implementation of the required API calls from the documentation.

 

[Pixey]

Thank you @ReMake for the link you give, which I've not seen before.  I love this Plugin and have usually found good things on this site too: https://thepluginsite.com/resources/freeps.htm

[ReMake]

Thank you for the clarification, @null54. Your 8bf Filter is a great tool for working with Photoshop filters. Recently, I got carried away with another of your plugins - PdnFF. I use it to reproduce filters from Filter Factory and Filters Unlimited and then convert them to plugins for paint.net. Thank you for your efforts!

 

2 hours ago, Pixey said:

... and have usually found good things on this site too: https://thepluginsite.com/resources/freeps.htm

The Plugin Site is a very popular site. The  punkinstuff.tripod.com site I discovered by chance as a result of surfing the archive sites of Photoshop tutorials.

[Roger the Dodger]

Hi ReMake

Thank you for the Site link. I remember a similar site some years ago when I used Paintshop Pro.

These are very good plug-ins.

I was wondering if you knew of a plug-in which I had with Paitshop Pro called "Gloop" whereby you could distort, or bloat an object

(I would use it for having fun in distorting peoples faces in photos for amusement lol).

Thank again

Roger the Dodger 🙂

[null54]

41 minutes ago, Roger the Dodger said:

I was wondering if you knew of a plug-in which I had with Paitshop Pro called "Gloop" whereby you could distort, or bloat an object

 

That description sounds similar to the Photoshop Liquefy effect, you can find a Paint.NET version in pyrochild's plugin pack.

 

https://forums.getpaint.net/topic/7291-pyrochild-plugins-2020-11-21/

 

[Roger the Dodger]

Wow! Thanks Null54 I shall try it out

Kindest regards

Roger the Dodger 🙂

[ReMake]

Addition to what @null54 said:

Distorting mirror by @MadJik

TR's Fish Eye, TR's Free Warp, TR's Intensity Warp, TR's Morpher by @TechnoRobbo

Smudge, Grid Warp by @pyrochild

Power Stretch by @pyjo

[Roger the Dodger]

Thanks ReMake these also look super, I look forward to experimenting with these

plug-ins

 

Kindest regards

Roger the Dodger 🙂

[ReMake]

On 4/23/2021 at 1:39 PM, ReMake said:

Note that the filters Rough Pastels, Underpainting, Glass, Conté Crayon, and Texturizer allow texture loading. Textures must have the .psd format.

 

<The text has been moved to the first post.>

Edited September 20, 2021 by ReMake
Moving the text.

[ReMake]

The text of the first post was added due to the occurrence of error 0x8007007E.

[null54]

On 4/23/2021 at 4:39 AM, ReMake said:

In this case, download from the website punkinstuff.tripod.com Plugin.DLL, Msvcrt.DLL and Msvcrt10.dll, unzip them and place them in a folder C:\Windows\System. This will fix the problem.

 

Those files should be placed in the Paint.NET Effects folder, not C:\Windows\System.

[ReMake]

4 hours ago, null54 said:

Those files should be placed in the Paint.NET Effects folder, not C:\Windows\System.

 

Thanks @null54, fixed.

[ReMake]

Added a link to the PDF file in the first post.

[ReMake]

Information about the 2D HyperClouds filter has been added to the tutorial.

[ReMake]

The text has been edited, information has been added, a zip file with five filters has been attached, the topic name has been changed, and the link to the pdf file has been updated.