Dot Plugin

[skullbonz]

I was thinking that it would be real handy if there was a dot plugin that could render dots of an adjustable size and at random positions on a layer of it's own. A color choice would also be a great option. An adjustment for the amount of coverage would be great too. A reseed button would also be handy. 

 

I already have all the plugins, both the old and new versions of pdn and know how to use every one of them and even with my craftiness and out of the box thinking I have not come up with a substitute. 

 

Now my main reason for asking for this. When making space pictures I now have pdn files of stars I made painstakingly the manual way using the paintbrush or pencil tool that I add as another layer. I know that the noise plugin can sort of make stars but they are one size and it has to be on a colored layer to work. I sometimes use it as a background layer to apply my hand made star layers above but am always using the same ones. If a plugin with the options I listed above was made I could easily make several layers of stars of different sizes and positions making the image look a little more realistic. 

 

I know that this would not only be handy in making space images, it might also be useful in other applications yet to be tried. 

 

A big Thank You to anyone who might consider making a plugin of this type.    

 

Oh and I know someone is going to say the Random Shapes plugin can do this but some of the dots overlap other dots making it not a good choice.  

Edited January 25, 2015 by skullbonz

[BoltBait]

Reading your title, before clicking in, I assumed you were looking for this: http://forums.getpaint.net/index.php?/topic/25637-

[Ego Eram Reputo]

Apart for the randomized option, this plugin might be worth looking at: http://forums.getpaint.net/index.php?/topic/26731-trs-halftone-plugin/ (Ed Harvey also has a halftone plugin).

[Eli]

Harvey's Halftone plugin can make random dots but it does not handle transparency.

 

TR's Half Tone can make dots but they are not randomly created. It is possible to control colors from within the plugin but it does not have a transparency feature either. On the other hand, it can make brick walls.   

Edited January 25, 2015 by Eli

[pdnnoob]

Use Ed Harvey's halftone plugin to make white dots on a black background. Use layer blend modes (additive) to add different sized stars.

I know there's still the possibility of dots overlapping, but this way you can remove the overlap.

Once you're done, flatten and use alphaspace to remove the black background (if you really need to).

[skullbonz]

Maybe I should have called it a Starfield plugin instead of Dots. Thank you for the suggestions but all of those plugins and more have already been tried. Most of them will render dots but they are all in a row like eggs in an egg carton and we all know stars are not.

 

It wouldn't have to have a random size function because with multiple layers you could have multiple sizes.  

[pdnnoob]

Did you try the one Eli suggested?

[Red ochre]

I normally put noise on a transparent layer, duplicate the layer and zoom in with Rotate and zoom, and repeat.

But have you tried TR's Custom Shape Filler for the closer stars/planets?
http://forums.getpaint.net/index.php?showtopic=30002

Flowers but you get the idea!...
http://i.imgur.com/8AndztW.png

[skullbonz]

Yes, tried both. I guess I have to learn code and make one or just stick to the old manual way.  

Edited January 26, 2015 by skullbonz

[pdnnoob]

Ed Harvey's halftone set to random dots worked fine for me.

If that's not satisfactory, you could try using noise on a few layers and changing the size of the dots with rotate/zoom. The large dots will be a bit blurry, but with some tweaks, you can use that to your advantage and make it look like glow.

[TechnoRobbo]

If I give TR's Custom Shape Filler an "No Overlap" option would that do the trick?

[Eli]

If I give TR's Custom Shape Filler an "No Overlap" option would that do the trick?

 

TR,  that is a request I had not thought about. Go for it. 

Or you could add a few more options to the Half Tone plugin (transparency, random dots, stars, circles, triangles, squares, doughnuts, etc).

Edited January 26, 2015 by Eli

[Red ochre]

But real stars do overlap each other don't they? - perhaps there's some 'gravitational lensing' happening.

Nevertheless, a 'no overlap' switch for TR's Custom Shape Filler could be useful for other things too.
 

[skullbonz]

That would be awesome.    

Edited January 27, 2015 by skullbonz

[TechnoRobbo]

try this:

http://forums.getpaint.net/index.php?/topic/30002-trs-custom-random-filler-january-27th-2015/?p=416696

 

Since images are rectangles, a Rotation of Zero and Rotation Range of zero give the tightest packing of objects!!! Try re-scaling to fit more objects in the image.

 

The plugin will try 10000 times to place the next image, if your criteria is too strict (image too large, too many objects , selection too small) it will not place the image. 

 

Age of Equarius

 

Shower Curtain

 

 

 

Eli - 

Or you could add a few more options to the Half Tone plugin (transparency, random dots, stars, circles, triangles, squares, doughnuts, etc).

Try my TR's Tiled Pixels 

http://forums.getpaint.net/index.php?/topic/26758-trs-tiled-pixels-v12/?p=393920

[skullbonz]

This is nice TR and I might be able to make it work with a lot of experimenting. It's a bit tricky to do what I am looking for but it might be possible. I first have to manually make a few png's of different sized stars with a transparent background. 

 

After a few experiments and using this 800x600 as my png except with a transparent background; 

 

                                               

 

I was able to make this at 2600x1950 star field starter using a low fill count setting and no shadow;

 

                                                

 

Thank you, I am very happy that it works with transparency and that there is a possible solution to my problem. You can still see different patterns but after looking at it that might not be a bad thing. Possibly people will start naming constellations in my space images when I start posting pics made with this,lol.  With a little more experimentation this might work out pretty good,time will tell.  

[TechnoRobbo]

I'm glad I could help

[racerx]

It may look better still if you add some random rays on the stars. This is a perfect filter for the effect you seek however.....

[racerx]

I made a decent looking star map that you can load via TR's Custom Shape Filler plugin. It gives good results I think. Here is the png file along with the results....

[Ego Eram Reputo]

^ that's a great idea. +1

[skullbonz]

Thank you for your efforts and comments, but I prefer the old manual way, not quite what I expected.