Is there a list of “Distort” plugins and “Render” plugins anywhere?

[Cc4FuzzyHuggles]

Hello.

Is there a complete list of “Distort” plugins/effects and “Render” plugins/effects anywhere? Or a list of plugins organized by category?

[Ego Eram Reputo]

No, but that information is contained in the PDF/Ebook version of the Plugin Index.

 

Can you convince me that your need for such a list is worth the time to produce it?

[Cc4FuzzyHuggles]

Well, to be honest I'm not sure I could convince you. I can only imagine how busy you are. I wouldn't want to put even more weight on your shoulders. And you already give your valuable time maintaining the plugin index, which I might add, you do an amazing job with it, so thank you for your time and effort with the current plugin index. If you want to provide me with any lists of plugins by category, I will be very thankful, but it's really up to you, because I don't want to be asking for too much.

If you want to know why I want lists of distort and render plugins/effects, here are my reasons :
 
1. I'm not looking to find plugins by name, I'm looking to find new plugins from categories that I like, such as the Distort category and Render category.
The plugin index is great if you are looking for a specific plugin and know it by name. Unfortunately though, most of the time, I find myself not knowing the name of a plugin, but instead I have an idea of what I want to do to an image. For example, if I want to turn an image into a cool abstract picture, I go to the distort category. I don't know what plugins I want to use, let alone the names of the plugins, but I do know what categories I want to browse.

2. I want plugins that render things on my canvas, but render plugins are surprisingly hard to find amongst all the other plugins in the plugin section of the forums and the plugin index.
I'm not much of an artist, and I can't free-hand anything, so when I have a blank canvas I like to render something on it. A list of render plugins would be very useful to me, and it would enlighten me of plugins I've been missing out on. I could sort through the plugin index one plugin at a time, but it's when I start doing that that I wish there was a plugin list that sorted the plugins by category. And while I sift through the plugin index, I also come to realize I don't understand what more than half the plugins listed there are, meaning I don't recognize which plugins are render plugins.
 
3. When I want to make cool textures and patterns, I often go seeking for effects in the distort category, and sometimes the stylize category. But I feel like I always end up using the same plugins. So on numerous occasions I've wanted to go and find more distort plugins. But where do I find them? Or what if I already have all of them and I just don't know it?

4. Sometimes I like specific plugins or I have favorite plugins, and I want plugins that are similar to those plugins. The “Plugin Browser” offers some suggestions, and I can ask on the forums for recommendations. But unfortunately, both those options don't always have answers. For example, the plugin browser doesn't suggest anything for Dents, and people can't recommend plugins that they don't know of too. But if I want another effect like Dents, I would assume, that if one exists, it would be in the distort category. If there was a list of distort plugins, I could go look for similar plugins to Dents on my own.

Speaking of the plugin browser though, it would be nice if it had a sort by category option. The tags are very helpful, but I'm more familiar with paint.net's categories. So if there are distort plugins that I don't have yet, it would be cool if the plugin browser listed them. I did try to use the key word “distort”, and it gave me a good handful of plugin suggestions. But the list didn't quite give me what I was hoping for, and it seemed to be missing some plugins/effects, and it suggested a couple of dead plugins. The plugin browser is still great and I love it, but I think a category option would make it even better.
 
5. There is actually an outdated category plugin list available on the internet, but it is on a website that I despise, since that website just so happens to be a website that offers paint.net's plugins illegally (they even have a donation button at the bottom of the page). The website scares me as it's responsible for hosting virus infected plugin packs, I would like to see that website get shut down. However, the website is such a tease since it does show and list many plugins by category in a nice collapsible folder tree. I wish there was an alternative and safe place I could view paint.net's plugins by category, and browse for plugins that I might want and might enjoy from the distort and render categories.

 

6. I am mostly wanting lists of distort and render plugins, however, I won't complain to have lists for every category, as I like the stylize category a lot too. And depending on my projects, I do favor different categories at different times. Some of my projects have been having more focus on color, so I have been taking more interest in color plugins, which tend to be found in the adjustments tab and effects color category.

 

I would love lists of plugins for all categories, but if I could at least have distort and render plugin lists, that's all I was looking for, for right now.

Edited March 6, 2015 by Cc4FuzzyHuggles

[Maximilian]

I second the above mentioned suggestion and reasons for it, if a newbie's opinion counts for something Also thanks from me for everything done so far, EER!

[BoltBait]

Hello.

Is there a complete list of “Distort” plugins/effects and “Render” plugins/effects anywhere?

Try using the plugin browser: http://forums.getpaint.net/index.php?/topic/29308-

EDIT: I see you've already tried that. Well, sorry, but that's the best we have at the moment. Perhaps, you'd like to take on the challenge of compiling such a list?

[Red ochre]

CC4 - have you tried 'Dents - classic' ?

 

http://forums.getpaint.net/index.php?/topic/9296-ed-harvey-effects-archive/

[skullbonz]

I think CC would do a fine job of making a list categorizing all the plugins that could be added to EER's plugin index which I am sure he would be happy to add.    

[Ego Eram Reputo]

You've convinced me Fuzzy Nice arguments in your very thoughtful post.

I'll whip up a list of plugins-by-location over the next couple of days. It will be functional. Not necessarily pretty.

I'll use PDF format so it can be attached to the Plugin Index downloads area.

[Cc4FuzzyHuggles]

Thanks Red ochre, I have tried classic dents before and I really liked it. The plugin was somehow removed from my effects folder at one point though. So thank you for pointing me to it again, I'll re-download it.

 

A list of distort plugins will be great for me to find plugins to try, but if anyone wants to recommend plugins to me, I'm fully open to suggestions.
A few of my favorite distort effects/plugins are Dents, Twist+, Sin Wave, Jitter, and Water Reflection.
The render effect that I use for almost everything is Clouds, I don't know what my other most used render effects might be, since what I use changes with each project.

 

 

Thank you very much EER. Any minimum effort you do will be appreciated. I'm happy to hear that even if their isn't a list of plugins sorted by category at the moment, their is now one in the making.
Question though, if it will be in a PDF format and if it will have many plugin categories, will the pdf have a table of contents? If it has a table of contents it would be easy to copy a category title and then "find" to jump to the right list. Or will the pdf have a table of contents that links to each section?

Edited March 6, 2015 by Cc4FuzzyHuggles

[Red ochre]

Hi Cc,
If you download the existing full Pdf and open it (Adobe reader), then go to Edit/Find or Edit/advanced search and type in Distort, you can click through all likely plugins quite efficiently.

 

Using advanced search I found the phrase "Effects > Render" 94 times!

[Ego Eram Reputo]

What do you think of this?  It's only 83kb and runs to 13 pages.

 

Plugins by Location Mar 2015.pdf

[ReMake]

What do you think of this?  It's only 83kb and runs to 13 pages.

 

Good idea, excellent realization. Allows to be guided easily by search of necessary effects. It is very useful!

[Cc4FuzzyHuggles]

It's wonderful! Thank you very much!

 

It would be even better with a table of contents of some kind, but I'm not sure if that's possible, and you don't need to spoil me. Haha.

 

Thank You EER!

[Ego Eram Reputo]

Its in alphabetical order by location. Effects > Color comes before Effects > Distort. Within the menu they are ordered alphabetically by plugin name.

[skullbonz]

Man you are fast.  

[TechnoRobbo]

try using the keywords "distort warp" simultaneously that will add to the mix.