filter with images

i know we've had this discussion before and i dont even recall the upshot of it. but since looking at sjeti's recent christmas ornament and easter egg filters, in which he says you can use imported images to map the surfaces, it once again occurred to me that having filters with dedicated images would be a good idea.

but, this is the new part, i think. if it's too difficult to program or makes the filter too bloated to have 16 different surface images, why not make a library? maybe a filter, that wanted to use dedicated or certain imported image files as part of the filter, could have a tag or link that pointed to a library of images appropriate to that filter. if you clicked the tag or link, the filter would download those image files also and save them as part of that filter.

so, again, using sjeti's recent filters, he uploads the filter and uploads the image files, both going to their respective library folders and when someone else downloads it, you'd have the option of not only downloading the filter, but also in downloading the image files associated with that filter.

that filter, in one's own FF, might then have a file subtree from which to choose image files for that filter. these could also be moved around or used on other filters. they would still be normal .jpg's or whatever but not locked to just that filter. it would just a convenience to have them located initially with the filter they were designed for.

now, i know i can set up my own windows explorer files so that i can easily draw certain image files easily for one given filter. but the difference here is that sjeti's original image files that he used to design the filter would be available (providing he wanted to share them, of course).

and, i also know there's the risk of the whole copyright issue. it could get very easy to just start throwing in image files that werent truly your own. so, that could be a big deterrent as well. nonetheless, i still think it's a good idea. and i also know we could just share image files here on the forums, but the percentage of folks that are going to use FF is not the same percentage that will frequent the forums.

and, even if you didnt want to allow the whole image sharing thing, then perhaps the folder tree would be done to allow us to save image files into that filter file's folder tree. even that would go a long ways into organzing things.

sjeti,

hmmm, there's nothing in what i said that limits the size of the imported, stored, or library image.

in actual fact, there's no real reason an entire library of files couldnt be done for FF. i could easily see a 'presets library', 'image library' (for importing into a given filter), 'environments (hdri, exr and so on) library' and so on, all being put in a central repository on the FF servers the same way the filters are.

and that last one could really be a boon. i've been experimenting with converting .jpg's to .exr's and importing them for use with surface filters. this is fun stuff! but, there's no place here on FF to let others have these as well; at least not the final renderings. i suppose i could post the original .jpg's and let others run them through their FF's to convert them, but why re-invent the wheel? these final rendering files are just too large for the forums to post and yes, i might be able to .zip them small enough, but it just seems a bit awkward and unnecessary when this could be done much the same way filters are done.

and yes, i know the FF team is trying to get this thing released, so i'm not asking for anything in the next five minutes it's just something for down the road.

thanks, vlad.

generally speaking, the imported files i use in FF are no larger than about 2 or 3 megs. i suppose it could get a bit cumbersome with 90 meg files and such. maybe a file size limit would work. i hate limits but i do see where things could get a bit ugly. the .exr/hdri files i've been making generally convert to about 2 or 3 megs (when using no larger than 400 pixels on a side). so, a limit there seems pretty reasonable too. i'd love to be able to share some of the environment files and be able to import other's hdri's as well.