Ramlyn's Filter Library

Ramlyn's Filter Library



Recently I encountered a few problems in uploading some filters.
Some are too slow and Filter Forge Library doesn't accept them.
Others can't be uploaded because of other reasons.
I don't have much time to re-check them and try to make them faster ( I'm not even sure if it is possible ).

I also have filters that had final results too similar to filters already uploaded by other people so, even if Filter Forge Library didn't refuse them, I decided not to upload them.

I thought that some people may enjoy them, so I will post them in this topic.

"Stone World Landscapes 4 - 雷の嵐"
( read : "Stone World Landscapes 4 - Kaminari no Arashi" )





Here is the link to download it :

Stone World Landscapes 4 - 雷の嵐

The filter can use any image to create a 3D landscape.
It combines the image with a surface ( the combining level and the colors are customizable ) or changes the image to white color, split the image in blocks or other ways.
It can overimpose on the image other pre-defined circle/sun/star shaped figures to increase the 3D effect ( these figures can be customized too ).
It then adds two kinds of lightnings : from the sky and on the ground. Every single lightning can be customized ( shape, color ) or completely deleted.

The problem of this filter? It takes long time to start rendering the image ( once the first part of the image appears, then it ends to render rather quickly ).

This filter includes a modified version of the filter Lightning by mitaywalle, used for the lightnings in the sky.
Thanks mitaywalle for the great idea.

The first preset ( see the first photo ) has a small circular lightning. It is not a mistake. I simply liked it so I decided to keep it. The other presets don't have it. It can be deleted changing the variation of the lightning 05.

Rendering time depends on the computer. I have very old one using Windows XP and not much RAM memory ( less than 1 GB ), so it takes long, but newer computers should do in much shorter time.
The problem of this filter is in the "smudge" component. That's where it takes a lot of time.
I have no clear idea about how to solve. I can make the previous parts more simple, hoping that smudge may take shorter time to work on them, but I'm not sure of the results. The lightnings should give no trouble, they are very fast.

I found a way. I moved the lightnings AFTER Smudge.
The result is less nice, but the speed is much higher.
I already uploaded to the library. If no problems, it should be there tomorrow.

Interesting filter. The speed improvements help quite a bit (2 or 3 times faster). Larger files probably need a fast 4 core or more CPU with at least 4GB of memory. I did some testing on my 2 machines. Here are the render time results:

old MacBook Pro (2 core CPU): 600x600 1 min 50 sec, 3200x2400 3 hours 7 min
fast Windows 7 (4 core, 8 thread CPU) 600x600 27 sec, 3200x2400 22 min

This is somewhat slow, but not unreasonable. I've attached a test file, a gazania flower I use often for testing.

I think the reason that the image is not in the center is it is not square (photograph, 4x3 pixel ratio, flower IS in the center). What this means: if you want it to center an image that is not square, all of your components that have an X-Y anchor at Default (Scale component, for instance) have to be changed to deal with this. I have been using Image Bounds. There can be issues when you change all of your components, but it is the only way to center a non-square image that I know of.

The Spherical Connection

FULL VERSION

Basic preset :



Shields & emblems :



Bacteria, virus, protista :



Explosions :



Whirlpools :



Christmas decorations :




The pictures you can see are from the presets of the Lite Version.
The original filter has over 200 controls, that allows you to modify every preset at the best, depending on your needs, on your tastes, on your feeling.

I can't post the full filter in the library, because the number of presets is limited to 100.

You can download the original one here :

The Spherical Connection

What is this filter useful for?

Do you want to make water bubbles, for beer, for soft drinks, for the summer feeling?

Do you want to make your own shield for fantasy games or your family emblem?

Do you want to try some scientific picture, recreating bacteria, virus or protista?

Do you want to create an explosion using some sphere or polygon?

Do you want to make a whirlpool or a Christmas wallpaper?

Do you want to change your normal picture to a picture composed of small squares, balls, hexagons, thorns, stars, etc etc ?

You can do all with just one filter.
And.... another good thing is that.... it is not slower than filters that can do only one effect.

I'm going to upd ate all my filters on two basis :

1. Controls order.

As written here.... Idea for ordering controls .... , I think it is good to put the controls in a way that allows to find them easily.
If the controls are collected depending of their characteristics, it can be faster for anybody to change and customize the result.
This can be especially useful in filters that have more than 10-15 controls.
I will add symbols like > or - to put controls with similar characteristics on the same column or to move on the left a control that may work as index for a following group of controls.

Here is an example :




2. Filter's theme

EAdams suggested that It may be difficult to find some filter if the filter name is weird or in foreign languages ( see the topic here Filters Name ).

A way to solve this would be to select names that are connected with the filter use, such as Watercolor for watercolor-like filters.
But.... calling all filters with painting or watercolor effects simply "painting" or "watercolor" would be boring. And also, I may have many painting filters, other people has many painting filters too. It may become hard to find the filters for the opposite reason : too many filters with too similar names.

So, I thought this:
FF uses "Categories" to split the filters.
Inside these Categories there are many kinds of filters and there is still space to split them in smaller groups.
I will try to se t my filters names like they were composed of two parts:

1. A filter theme.
This will be the first part of the name and should help to find the filter in the library very quickly.
It will be only one word.
It may not widely explain the filter use, but it should be a hint.

2. The filter name.
This can be anything. A name is a name, I think. The reasons of a name can be many: surely the filter look, but also what inspired us while making it, an invented world, or anything else ( we may even decide to dedicate it to our girlfriend or our son and call it with their names. It's up to us ).

Then the names will be something like : "Blood : Nightmare in the Night", "Flowers : Sabrina", or "Horror : il fantasma nel televisore".

I thought to solve this also because the Search option in FF and in the Library never shows fully the results. Many filters containing the right Keywords don't appear in the search when we insert those Keywords. Also, if the Keywords are only a bit different, like "Colored" instead of "Color", those filters don't appear too ( at least for me ).

I don't know if it will be possible to do it with all filters. It may be very hard to find the right Theme for some filter. Anyway I will try.
I also may need to completely change the name of some filter because, adding one more word, the original name may become too long.

Just teleport your picture anywhere you want !

Coming soon ! ( Maybe today or tomorrow in our library. My Filter number 201. Ha! Ha! )

Ha! Ha! Thank you! I'm happy you like it.

Now I'm working on something ....new but not so new.
After making Sliced Multicenter 3, I made a filter with about the same style, but using cubes instead of flat polygons.
The result was nice but not too different from Sliced Multicenter 3, so I didn't upload it.
Now I'm modifying it, cutting away some options and adding instead the chance to color the result in many different ways.
Below you can see it while I'm still working on it (this preset will probably not be in the final filter).

Nice! Hangul!

He! He!
Hi Skybase. You were faster than my message.

Quote
Ramlyn wrote: New filter :

very nice typographical art, love it

Quote
Ramlyn wrote: I'm going to post a filter using Hangul ( Korean characters ) as base to generate a picture.

Have you done the Korean Characters yourself inside FF?

Other examples :

Or a different color :

Thank you!!
Making Kanji would be muuuuuuuch more complex. Even Hiragana would be very though, because of the curve lines.

Thanks SpaceRay!

The work was less complex than what I thought. Just repetitive, to put together the characters.

Thank you!!

The filter is here : Hangularity

And........
I made also one using Runes : Elder Futhark

After long time, I post here a new filter that will not appear in the Library.

Here is the filter :

Art-In.ffxml

Still much to do