jim100361 Posted November 3, 2012 Share Posted November 3, 2012 Is there some sort of restriction in Paint.NET that restricts the folks creating plugins from permitting the plugins to interact or function directly on the canvas/layer? For instance the smudge and liquify (and others) open another window where you make your adjustments. The reason why I ask is this results in doing some things blindly because you can't see the rest of the canvas. I think some of these plugins will be so much more effective (especially with the recent addition of grid warping) if you can do some of these things on the canvas so you can shape images/textures to follow contours, but this is nearly impossible without doing so with several blind attempts. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Red ochre Posted November 3, 2012 Share Posted November 3, 2012 Hi Jim, Have you tried copying the (flattened version) of the underlying image to the clipboard. Then, when in gridwarp or liquify, right click the checkerboard pattern and and choose background from clipboard. Hope that's what you meant? Plugins have many restrictions regarding layers - look in the developers central thread - but I think Pyro has found a clever soloution here. Quote Red ochre Plugin pack.............. Diabolical Drawings ................Real Paintings Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jim100361 Posted November 3, 2012 Author Share Posted November 3, 2012 (edited) As an example, I was hoping to use the grid warping to reshape a texture that would match an object on the background. Let us say that for example, I wanted to use tree bark and reshape and contour it match a picture of my face/head. Areas toward the center of the face would need to be pulled in towards the nose for example and other areas around other features. The texture would need to be manipulated separately, but as I'm doing so need to see the canvas so I know where I'm at. EDIT: I've tried getting this effect w/alpha displacement, but I was unsuccessful. But either the liquify or grid warping should be effective as well if seeing the canvas were possible while trying to manipulate the texture layer. Edited November 3, 2012 by jim100361 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Red ochre Posted November 3, 2012 Share Posted November 3, 2012 I'm sure you can do this! 1. Experiment with the texture layer having a transparent border and using the method I described above to show the background. Then when you warp the texture it will reveal the background outline at least. 2. make a 'grid' with a transparent background. Warp this to fit the face image (again copied to clipboard and set as background). This should make it possible to see most of the underlying image. Save the 'Mesh'. Run it again with the desired texture and use the previously created & saved Mesh. In both cases you also want to use the tone from the object to shade the warped texture layer to give an impression of depth. Quote Red ochre Plugin pack.............. Diabolical Drawings ................Real Paintings Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pyrochild Posted November 3, 2012 Share Posted November 3, 2012 Plugins can't access the canvas, only the active layer. The only workaround in my plugins is to do what Red ochre has suggested and paste your background into the Smudge or Grid Warp window. Quote ambigram signature by Kemaru [i write plugins and stuff] If you like a post, upvote it! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Red ochre Posted November 3, 2012 Share Posted November 3, 2012 I've just tried lowering the opacity of the layer to be warped (using BB's transparency adjustment). Then you can see the background better whilst warping. When finished use the 'transparency' adjustment (plug-in), to reset to opaque. And thank you Pyro for the brilliant plugins! (would it be within the plugin rules to access the layer transparency setting or make it adjustable within the plugin?) Quote Red ochre Plugin pack.............. Diabolical Drawings ................Real Paintings Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jim100361 Posted November 3, 2012 Author Share Posted November 3, 2012 Thanks for your help. I'll "give 'er the ol' college try" when I get my next opportunity (I'm away from home currently). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pyrochild Posted November 3, 2012 Share Posted November 3, 2012 (would it be within the plugin rules to access the layer transparency setting or make it adjustable within the plugin?) Nope. All they have access to is the pixel data and the shape of the selection. Quote ambigram signature by Kemaru [i write plugins and stuff] If you like a post, upvote it! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jim100361 Posted November 3, 2012 Author Share Posted November 3, 2012 I've just tried lowering the opacity of the layer to be warped (using BB's transparency adjustment). Then you can see the background better whilst warping. When finished use the 'transparency' adjustment (plug-in), to reset to opaque. And thank you Pyro for the brilliant plugins! (would it be within the plugin rules to access the layer transparency setting or make it adjustable within the plugin?) I've toyed with your suggestion, I think it's gonna work! Thank you for your help and also to all you folks who've made these plugins, thanx again! This is gonna really open up a whole new world of possibilities now that I believe I'm on the right track...! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jim100361 Posted November 4, 2012 Author Share Posted November 4, 2012 This is just a test image I did using the technique described. I didn't fully warp the whole texture. Primarily it was done around the eyes, nose, and mouth as I was just trying to get a feel for the technique: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.