Drop Shadow and other effects, KrisVDM's Plugin Pack (updated 2024-03-23) v.5.0.5.0

[KrisVDM]

UPDATE:

In version 5, two new adjustments have been added: Monochrome Recolor and Duotone Recolor.

All adjustments and effects have significant performance improvements.

 

Version 5.0.4 - 5.0.5 :

Performance improvements in the DropShadow effect and Make Color transparent adjustment.
Added a circular mode to the Fade Edge effect.
Improved compatibility with portable Paint.NET installations.

 

Effects per category:

• Drop Shadow: The "Drop Shadow" effect, under the Object effect menu. With offset, widening, blur, and a color picker with transparency.
• Duotones: "Duotone Light", "Duotone Ink on Paper" and "Duotone Recolor" adjustments.
• Monochromes: "Cyanotype", "Grayscale on Colored Paper", "Monochrome Ink on Paper" and "Monochrome Recolor" adjustments.
• Color Accent: "Color Accent" adjustment.
• Fade Edge: "Fade Edge" effect, under the Photo effect menu.
• Gradient: A four-color, non-linear "Gradient" effect, with high quality color dithering, under the Render effect menu.
• Gridlines: Draws a grid with horizontal and vertical lines, under the Render menu.
• Object Align: Aligns the object in the selection to the selection.
• Make Color Transparent: Adjustment to make a given color transparent.

 

This version contains an installer. Just run the installer, it will ask you which effects you want to install and copy the required dll's into the Paint.NET effects folder. It will make no other modifications to your system.

Please note: Paint.NET version 5.0.12 or later is required. For recent changes, see https://www.vandermotten.be/paintdotnet/history.

 

Download: https://www.vandermotten.be/paintdotnet.   

 

Leave your reactions here in the forum.

 

[Andrew D]

Even as good as the idea sounds, I'm not keeping it, for these reasons:

1. Having a sub-menu in Adjustments just does not look right.

2. The 4 effects are placed in a un-nessesscary menu, instead of places related to where it should be.

3. Most of the adjustments can be done using Curves easily.

4. What happens if we don't want a certain plugin? It just clutters up space.

[pyrochild]

Put yo' effects where they belong!

"Smart Effects?" Honestly...

[Fisherman's Friend]

This sounds like a recommendation not to download them..? :shock:

[Mike Ryan]

I miss the old Drop Shadow. I cant even change the color? Ugh. Can I have my drop shadow back please!

[Curmudgeon]

hehe, I was typing that too...I liked the ability to type in the RGB for the shadow, although the new widening radius is nice too

[BoltBait]

OK, guys. Be nice.

Kris is sharing his hard work free of charge here.

[KrisVDM]

All colors in all effects are controlled by using the colors window before starting the effect/adjustment. That applies to the shadow color too.

I did it that way for a number of reasons: it's in line with the built-in effects; the colors window is more powerful than anything I can provide in the dialogs, IndirectUI doesn't support it and the dialog box for the drop shadow had become big enough already with the new widening radius. I guess the lack of support by IndirectUI is the killer argument here. Rick?

About the submenus: you do have a point and I did consider placing the effects "where they belong". Their are pro's and con's either way. At least this way the demo adjustments don't clutter your adjustments menu. If you're a developer, feel free to change the source code to move the effects around or remove the ones you don't like, just don't redistribute the modified source or binary.

And about the "smart" thingy: the base classes needed a name, and in a way, they are "smart" in the sense they do take away a lot of the programming complexity. But I guess I got my inspiration from Jan Tielens' SmartPart.

Kris.

[Andrew D]

Anyways, I'm going through the source, I presume to remove effects you simply delete the .cs for it, correct?

Also, where I can change the sub-menu's for these effects, I'm looking through the code and there are so many mentions of what the sub-menu is called I have no idea how to change it.

EDIT: I also need to re-reference everything now

[pyrochild]

And about the "smart" thingy: the base classes needed a name, and in a way, they are "smart" in the sense they do take away a lot of the programming complexity. But I guess I got my inspiration from Jan Tielens' SmartPart.

Kris.

I'm not saying it isn't smart. I'm just saying that I'd rather have my effects menu sorted based on what a plugin does, rather than the relative intelligence of the plugin package.

[jchunn]

Looks like another vote for a feature in PDN to allow user-organized effects menu

Thanks for the effects!

[KrisVDM]

Anyways, I'm going through the source, I presume to remove effects you simply delete the .cs for it, correct?

Also, where I can change the sub-menu's for these effects, I'm looking through the code and there are so many mentions of what the sub-menu is called I have no idea how to change it.

Indeed, delete the files in the demo folders (and in those only!) for the effects you don't need from the project, or edit the .csproj file directly.

To change a submenu, modify the third parameter in the constructor call. For example, change

        public SmartBlurEffect()
           : base("Smart Blur", Resources.SmartBlurImage, "Smart Effects", EffectFlags.Configurable)

to

        public SmartBlurEffect()
           : base("Smart Blur", Resources.SmartBlurImage, "Blurs", EffectFlags.Configurable)

Kris.

[Andrew D]

Anyways, I'm going through the source, I presume to remove effects you simply delete the .cs for it, correct?

Also, where I can change the sub-menu's for these effects, I'm looking through the code and there are so many mentions of what the sub-menu is called I have no idea how to change it.

Indeed, delete the files in the demo folders (and in those only!) for the effects you don't need from the project, or edit the .csproj file directly.

To change a submenu, modify the third parameter in the constructor call. For example, change

        public SmartBlurEffect()
           : base("Smart Blur", Resources.SmartBlurImage, "Smart Effects", EffectFlags.Configurable)

to

        public SmartBlurEffect()
           : base("Smart Blur", Resources.SmartBlurImage, "Blurs", EffectFlags.Configurable)

Kris.

Ah, thanks for clearing that out.

[vista?]

I miss the old Drop Shadow plugin where you could specify the colour of the shadow from within the plugin window. Oh well. I suppose I'll have to get used to setting my colour first then applying the shadow.

Also, how come (for me) all the codelab files have errors when opened up? I mean they open up fine but there are error messages in terms of the coding

[Andrew D]

I miss the old Drop Shadow plugin where you could specify the colour of the shadow from within the plugin window. Oh well. I suppose I'll have to get used to setting my colour first then applying the shadow.

Also, how come (for me) all the codelab files have errors when opened up? I mean they open up fine but there are error messages in terms of the coding

If your trying to use CodeLab, you definetely will get build errors, as CodeLab uses a simplified version of writing a C# effect, like with namespaces and references.

You'll have to use Visual Studio 2008 (Express versions work fine aswell) to view to code correctly.

[vista?]

I miss the old Drop Shadow plugin where you could specify the colour of the shadow from within the plugin window. Oh well. I suppose I'll have to get used to setting my colour first then applying the shadow.

Also, how come (for me) all the codelab files have errors when opened up? I mean they open up fine but there are error messages in terms of the coding

If your trying to use CodeLab, you definetely will get build errors, as CodeLab uses a simplified version of writing a C# effect, like with namespaces and references.

You'll have to use Visual Studio 2008 (Express versions work fine aswell) to view to code correctly.

Oh, right. Thanks for that.

(Although for the sake of a few effects, I can't be bothered to buy VS) :wink:

[Andrew D]

I miss the old Drop Shadow plugin where you could specify the colour of the shadow from within the plugin window. Oh well. I suppose I'll have to get used to setting my colour first then applying the shadow.

Also, how come (for me) all the codelab files have errors when opened up? I mean they open up fine but there are error messages in terms of the coding

If your trying to use CodeLab, you definetely will get build errors, as CodeLab uses a simplified version of writing a C# effect, like with namespaces and references.

You'll have to use Visual Studio 2008 (Express versions work fine aswell) to view to code correctly.

Oh, right. Thanks for that.

(Although for the sake of a few effects, I can't be bothered to buy VS) :wink:

You can get a Express version which is free and unlimited in how long you can use it for.

However, it misses quite a few features important for program production, however for .dll's, there's more than you need features wise.

[BoltBait]

Anyways, I'm going through the source, I presume to remove effects you simply delete the .cs for it, correct?

Also, where I can change the sub-menu's for these effects, I'm looking through the code and there are so many mentions of what the sub-menu is called I have no idea how to change it.

Indeed, delete the files in the demo folders (and in those only!) for the effects you don't need from the project, or edit the .csproj file directly.

To change a submenu, modify the third parameter in the constructor call. For example, change

        public SmartBlurEffect()
           : base("Smart Blur", Resources.SmartBlurImage, "Smart Effects", EffectFlags.Configurable)

to

        public SmartBlurEffect()
           : base("Smart Blur", Resources.SmartBlurImage, "Blurs", EffectFlags.Configurable)

Kris.

OK, that's not the right way to make this change.

Please do it this way instead:

        public SmartBlurEffect()
           : base("Smart Blur", Resources.SmartBlurImage,  SubmenuNames.Blurs, EffectFlags.Configurable)

By using SubmenuNames.Blurs your effect will show up under the localized "Blurs" submenu if you are running Paint.NET in a language other than English.

[Andrew D]

Anyways, I'm going through the source, I presume to remove effects you simply delete the .cs for it, correct?

Also, where I can change the sub-menu's for these effects, I'm looking through the code and there are so many mentions of what the sub-menu is called I have no idea how to change it.

Indeed, delete the files in the demo folders (and in those only!) for the effects you don't need from the project, or edit the .csproj file directly.

To change a submenu, modify the third parameter in the constructor call. For example, change

        public SmartBlurEffect()
           : base("Smart Blur", Resources.SmartBlurImage, "Smart Effects", EffectFlags.Configurable)

to

        public SmartBlurEffect()
           : base("Smart Blur", Resources.SmartBlurImage, "Blurs", EffectFlags.Configurable)

Kris.

OK, that's not the right way to make this change.

Please do it this way instead:

        public SmartBlurEffect()
           : base("Smart Blur", Resources.SmartBlurImage,  SubmenuNames.Blurs, EffectFlags.Configurable)

By using SubmenuNames.Blurs your effect will show up under the localized "Blurs" submenu if you are running Paint.NET in a language other than English.

It's fine for me though as I am English.

[The_Lionhearted]

First off, let me echo many of the sentiments here...thanks Kris! New things to play with!

Couple of things I wanted to mention though:

1. Lack of drop-shadow-color-picker. It was oh-so-useful, but I read your post earlier and now we're probably not going to be able to get it. RIP color picker...RIP.

2. "Grayscale on Color Paper" just makes my image black. I'm a little confused as to how this is supposed to work...? I tried it on a straight photo.

3. A few of the adjustments seem to be pointless. I'm thinking in specific of "Darken", "Lighten", and "Negative". This seems like something we could do ourselves pretty easily unless I'm missing something...

4. The "Duotone" and "Monotone" effects just seem to make my image grayscale...I'm guessing there's more to these effects than I get at the moment.

5. "Average Blur"? I don't get it... :?

6. "Fade Edge" = Awesome! I've been wanting something like that for a while!

7. "Smart Blur" looks very similar to "Surface Blur"...what is the difference?

8. I also wanted to re-iterate everyone else in saying that the submenus look a little weird...I don't have a constructive suggestion for what to do though. Sorry. :?

9. I know you've explained how to re-compile your effects into separate dlls already, but...por favor?

All in all, a good addition! My comments are merely suggestions, nothing more. Thanks for making all this stuff for us, I appreciate it!

[KrisVDM]

1. Lack of drop-shadow-color-picker. It was oh-so-useful, but I read your post earlier and now we're probably not going to be able to get it. RIP color picker...RIP.

Believe me, I share your pain...

2. "Grayscale on Color Paper" just makes my image black. I'm a little confused as to how this is supposed to work...? I tried it on a straight photo.

See point 1. You need to set the "paper color" using the colors window before applying the adjustment. The same is true for several other ones. Read the summary descriptions on my blog again.

3. A few of the adjustments seem to be pointless. I'm thinking in specific of "Darken", "Lighten", and "Negative". This seems like something we could do ourselves pretty easily unless I'm missing something...

Well, their point is in the source code. What I really wanted to do is create a framework for others to write effects more easily. And so I included some very simple samples. But you're absolutely correct: to an end user they're completely pointless.

4. The "Duotone" and "Monotone" effects just seem to make my image grayscale...I'm guessing there's more to these effects than I get at the moment.

See point 2 above. Note that the duotone ones need two colors. I personally think that the "duotone ink on paper" is one of the most useful ones in the lot (together with the drop shadow and the smart blur - that works miracles on scanned images from magazines and such).

5. "Average Blur"? I don't get it... :?

Well' date=' its a blur that averages all pixels within a certain radius, where each pixel counts as much as any other pixel. In a Gaussian blur, the center pixels have much more weight than the further ones. But the truth is, I needed this blur for the drop shadow and since I had it anyway, I just made it available by itself as well.

6. "Fade Edge" = Awesome! I've been wanting something like that for a while!

It's strange how these things go... To me, that was one in the very simple sample code category.

7. "Smart Blur" looks very similar to "Surface Blur"...what is the difference?

No idea. What's surface blur?

8. I also wanted to re-iterate everyone else in saying that the submenus look a little weird...I don't have a constructive suggestion for what to do though. Sorry. :?

Point taken. Expect an update in a few days that will fix this.

9. I know you've explained how to re-compile your effects into separate dlls already, but...por favor?

Point taken too. See point 8.

All in all, a good addition! My comments are merely suggestions, nothing more. Thanks for making all this stuff for us, I appreciate it!

Thank you for the constructive feedback. I did this as an experiment, to play with all kinds of C# 3.0 stuff. But it's nice to here people actually like (some of the) results.

[The_Lionhearted]

Thank you for the constructive feedback. I did this as an experiment, to play with all kinds of C# 3.0 stuff. But it's nice to here people actually like (some of the) results.

Oh definitely! Thanks for answering my questions!

Surface Blur is one of Ed Harvey's effects...

Can you see my confusion? I may have used too much of Ed, but they seem to do similar things. :?

And changing the colors gave me vastly different results on the Monotone/Duotone stuff. I knew I was missing something. Thanks!

[Fisherman's Friend]

Is there any way to make the cs files codelab compatible? Some of the effects are interesting, but I don't want all of them (including subs) and I'm to busy for VS.

[Andrew D]

Is there any way to make the cs files codelab compatible? Some of the effects are interesting, but I don't want all of them (including subs) and I'm to busy for VS.

It would mean re-coding them all.

VS is simple to use, you just need to have an hour or two on your hands for it to download/install and restart.

[jerkfight]

I'm scared to download this, does this delete the old drop shadow, if so can you call this one drop shadow 2, and upload the old one aswell?