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BoltBait's GPU Accelerated Plugin Pack for Paint.NET v5.0 (Updated 2024-04-29)


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Posted

How to install my plugin pack:

 

1) Click the big blue button in the previous message.  The plugin pack .zip file will download to your "Download" directory.

 

2) Right-click on the .zip file and choose "Extract all..." from the menu.

 

image.png

3) Click the "Extract" button.

 

image.png.3b5c3b4c6c5a8445115e659ddf8a97

 

4) Once the extracted file is shown, double-click on it to run it.

 

image.png.c82bf10b7f1a6cbf524463722e2f6e

 

5) You may be prompted by Windows to protect you.  This is normal, just click on the "More info" link and then click the "Run anyway" button.

 

6) Once the installer runs, you should see the following screen:

 

image.png

7) Click the checkbox to agree to the terms and conditions, then click the "Install Everything!" button.

 

A few moments later, you should have all my plugins, palettes, and shapes installed on your system.

 

Enjoy! :beer: B) 👍

 

If you are in an IT department and you'd like to install the BoltBait pack on all of your company's systems, there is a command line interface for just such a purpose:

 

image.png

If none of these things work for you, there is a zip file full of just the effect plugins attached at the bottom of the first post.

 

  • Like 4
  • BoltBait changed the title to BoltBait Plugin Pack for Paint.NET v5.0
Posted (edited)

This is great thank you, but I have one question.  What happened to the color selection in the bevel tool?  It's only black and white now, is there anyway to change it currently and do you plan to return it to how it was eventually. 

For example something I'm trying to add a darker gray color instead of the white.

for paint.png

Edited by amaazon
Posted
2 hours ago, amaazon said:

What happened to the color selection in the bevel tool?  It's only black and white now, is there anyway to change it currently and do you plan to return it to how it was eventually. 

 

Just an oversight on my part.

 

I have added in some color wheels in Bevel object and Bevel selection.

 

image.png

 

Redownload and install.

  • Like 3
  • BoltBait changed the title to BoltBait's GPU Accelerated Plugin Pack for Paint.NET v5.0
Posted

Thank you so much for adding this!  I just got on and was thinking i'd have to reinstall the old version of Paint.net to do some of my bevels. 

Thank you so much!

  • Hugs 1
Posted

One more thing sorry, is there anyway to turn off the angling? Similar to the old verison just fully wrapped around rather than just one direction it's toward.

Posted
4 hours ago, amaazon said:

One more thing sorry, is there anyway to turn off the angling? Similar to the old verison just fully wrapped around rather than just one direction it's toward.

 

Not quite sure what you mean here.  Can you explain?

 

Short answer: No, nothing can be "turned off"... what you see is what you get.

Posted (edited)

Hello! I've been using this pack for a while now - been using it for the bevels and image masking and recently just upgraded to Paint.net 5.0 alpha. The updated Bevel Object with a fully customizable light direction was honestly the reason why I decided to do so.

 

Although one thing I noticed is that the effect feels like it's using a blurry Nearest Neighbor-like effect now? It doesn't happen with the drop shadow or when using hard edges. The colors are similar as I prefer beveling objects that way, but since I don't want to reinstall the older version of paint.net (and even if I didn't, the older Bevel Object won't show up) you may want to zoom in further in the below image in paint.net (NOT Photos as it's not nearest neighboring) to see what I mean.

 

image.png.817a23075fc19c6c817e5cf6bdc8f559.png

Hard Edges turned on does not seem to have the "pixely bevel" issue.

image.png.3921d0596d71fb0ec54bac86a713f2ee.png

Also, I kinda prefer the older bevel that looked like it had an inner shadow... I think that's what amaazon meant, but that's just me.

Edited by Shambles_SM
Posted

Yes, I agree.  There's something going on there.  I'm going to have to have @Rick Brewster look into it.  I might be mishandling alpha values or something.

 

Just know that the algorithm that I'm using is COMPLETELY different from the old effect.  There are going to be differences.  Hopefully it is something that can be lived with.  I think the old algorithm gave too much priority to the dark areas--I corrected that for the new algorithm.

 

The difference between the hard edges and soft edges is the type of blur used.  Maybe there's a clue there.

 

But, I agree, there is something wrong there.  If the shadow was smooth, I'd say you'll just have to accept that.  But, the shadowing looks like there's some type of crosshatch going on.  I will investigate.  Thanks for compiling the screenshots!

  • Like 1
Posted
53 minutes ago, BoltBait said:

Yes, I agree.  There's something going on there.  I'm going to have to have @Rick Brewster look into it.  I might be mishandling alpha values or something.

 

Just know that the algorithm that I'm using is COMPLETELY different from the old effect.  There are going to be differences.  Hopefully it is something that can be lived with.  I think the old algorithm gave too much priority to the dark areas--I corrected that for the new algorithm.

 

The difference between the hard edges and soft edges is the type of blur used.  Maybe there's a clue there.

 

But, I agree, there is something wrong there.  If the shadow was smooth, I'd say you'll just have to accept that.  But, the shadowing looks like there's some type of crosshatch going on.  I will investigate.  Thanks for compiling the screenshots!

So it's not some sort of GPU issue after all. I forgot to mention that I use integrated graphics. Using my CPU for rendering effects also gives the same effect.

 

Regarding the new algorithm, it's fine, and I see why - if it wasn't redone, it would probably mess with hard edges. I can just emulate that with Inner Shadow anyway.

Posted

The discrepancy in the amount of shadowing could be because of a difference in how the old "classic" GaussianBlurEffect and the new Direct2D GaussianBlurEffect handle their radius values. The old classic GaussianBlurEffect was essentially wrong -- its radius value of 2 is equivalent to a radius value of 3 in the new effect (which then has to be converted to standard deviation). So the conversion to standard deviation is r/2 instead of r/3 if you want to match the old GB effect.

 

As for the banding, that might be a precision issue. Direct2D is supposed to be using Float32 here, but it might be sneaking in lower precision at some point. @BoltBait you can experiment with 1) override OnSetDeviceContext() and then do deviceContext.EffectBufferPrecision = BufferPrecision.Float32; and 2) set the Precision property of each effect to BufferPrecision.Float32. Obviously the first one is easier to try first.

 

So, I would start with those two and we'll see how things improve.

The Paint.NET Blog: https://blog.getpaint.net/

Donations are always appreciated! https://www.getpaint.net/donate.html

forumSig_bmwE60.jpg

Posted

Okay I figured out the issue -- the Bevel Object effect is making use of the Direct2D effects, GaussianBlurEffect and ShadowEffect. They have an Optimization property who's default value is Balanced. It needs to be set to Quality.

The Paint.NET Blog: https://blog.getpaint.net/

Donations are always appreciated! https://www.getpaint.net/donate.html

forumSig_bmwE60.jpg

Posted
1 minute ago, Rick Brewster said:

Okay I figured out the issue -- the Bevel Object effect is making use of the Direct2D effects, GaussianBlurEffect and ShadowEffect. They have an Optimization property who's default value is Balanced. It needs to be set to Quality.

 

Thanks, @Rick Brewster!

 

I'll do a build in about 5 hours when I get home from work.

Posted

I'm also going to make is so that the wrapper classes GaussianBlurEffect and ShadowEffect have their Optimization property default to Quality instead of Balanced. Otherwise this type of issue is going to keep coming up. The Balanced and Speed optimization levels should really only be used when animating, like for UI elements (the fade-in for the image and layer thumbnails use Balanced, for instance). So technically you could do nothing and just wait for the next build :) 

The Paint.NET Blog: https://blog.getpaint.net/

Donations are always appreciated! https://www.getpaint.net/donate.html

forumSig_bmwE60.jpg

Posted
16 hours ago, Shambles_SM said:

the effect feels like it's using a blurry Nearest Neighbor-like effect now?

 

I believe I have fixed the issue. (OK, not me, but Rick fixed it... but, I did make a release and posted it above!)

 

Please download from above and retest.  Let me know if you're seeing smooth blurring now.

  • Like 2
Posted

Looks like it has been fixed! I really hope my eyes aren't tricking me, but for reference I have an i3-4160 and use integrated graphics (HD Graphics 4400). I assume the blur here is the equivalent of Quality 4?

 

image.png.90fb0917c5d51bbd0879ba9f17a60cf6.png

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