Polaroid frame that will work with ALL images

You know... I was quite surprised when I searched the filter library for "Polaroid" and I only got two results. Not to mention that they're highly stylized and quite original. It eventually made me just want a generic Polaroid filter which just added that "Polaroid frame" around the photo (with optional effects.)

So I got to work, began working on the most generic thing I can come up with. Now all it needs is some more realism which I obviously need help on. So far so good.

Here are some results:

Any critiques?

i dont remember polaroids being offset in the frame like that, but then, it's been over 40 years since i owned one

nicely done on the non-square images.

i dont know what you want as far as realism. the polaroids all had a white frame, i think. and only a couple had a serrated edge along the bottom. but, if you really wanted to push it, there were also the polaroids that you added the fixer to once the film had developed. you had a pad and dipped it in this smelly stuff and smeared it across your photo to keep it from fading once developed. god, i can still smell that stuff

Hm... I'll need to find some way to control the amounts of the perlin noise....

Often the variations are "okay" but disappointing. Occasionally it gives a really good variant.

To be real I want to make something like a ink stain or some kind of smudge of a finger print.

Oh well... I'm working still.

rgoer, that multi-polaroid concept along with different background textures would be an awesome filter.....slow, but it cetainly would get loads of use.....

THE RETURN TO POLAROID FILTER... (take two)

I just saw this thread, and it had 7000+ viewings! How'd that happen?

Anyway, let's get it straight. It's difficult using the "frame" component because it already has built-in properties which make it a hassle to actually build the frame. What I had to wrap my head around was how I can make it so that it works with every single image out there, without having the user to crop the image first. Of course, I can ask users to crop images, but.. that's just asking people to do something for the filter, which isn't the purpose of it at least in my philosophy.

The current problems are just as obvious as they are.

1. Unequal Width of frame: This is where FilterForge actually made me a bit upset! It's the most difficult part about fixing this filter so it works. How do I make the width of this filter EQUAL with the top width?! I think I got several ideas, but it bothers me how it's uneven. In Polaroids they are.

2. Too much vignette: easy fix (in fact the Polaroid I have has no vignette....)

3. There's a bit of flat edge that goes around the frame currently. Okay that's not correct. It's only at the bottom. It also makes the little hatch sizes smaller. You'll see what I mean if you take a closer look at a Polaroid film. It's got hatches, but they start becoming different sizes.

4. Coloring, tints and tones: Well... I don't know. I'll leave it. But I kinda want to give it a much authentic look with version 2. Polaroid does tend to make color errors sometimes, which is the fun part, it's got a greenish, tonal cast on it. Polaroids can also be "not so sharp" the bit of fuzz can always make the picture look just a bit blurry.

Tons of other problems too lol. I might as well just remake the whole thing.

In researching Polaroid's chemical processes I came a cross that some folks have begun reworking (or they call it reinventing) instant film. They bought up a Polaroid factory and are set to release something by 2010. Hm... "save the polaroid!"

What a tough summer project.

oh, and you can also see i added a bit to allow for color frames, if you want, but you'll have to plug that part in.

you're welcome

i didnt test it to see if you could just write fixed options for vertical and/or horizontal aspects, but it might be cleaner if done that way, rather than having control settings that dont work. up to you, of course.

throw me a little credit in the description when you get it done

it also wouldnt be that difficult to make a script for paint shop pro or an action for photoshop to just swipe four white lines around a given image

also, it occurred to me after posting that filter, that you shld also make use of the zoom and shrink type filters to enclose your image within that whole framework, to get it properly there instead of having the frame covering up parts of the image.

hey, when you post on the forums, it's always a community thing

Yeah that's not much of a big deal to solve. But all the stuff would have to come part by part. I'm currently focused on the framing methodology first.

So uhhh

1. Frame. Thanks Kraellin! Lots of credits
2. Getting the image fit nicely. (Aim for less crop)
3. Authentic color reproduction???
4. Simulation of development <---- holy god would need crazy amounts of help with getting this right.

hear is a method from Welcome to the Machine 2 for zoom and pan

Aside from the resizing problem (which has been dragging my feet for a while) there's room for other experimentation.

Remember the goals I set? the 4th one was: Simulate Development.

Well I researched several things about the development of instant film while I was in College. Back in February, I began a quest to finding out how instant film was developed. I was basically doing a project for myself which required me to obtain some knowledge of the chemistry. Thought it'd be nice to learn a thing or two before attempting to even begin writing about them. The professors who I talked to pretty much dropped bombs on my brain as they discussed the beauty and the details of instant film processes. I never got to do the project in the end, but now that info has somewhat become useful to look back on.

Basically instant film is a tiny dark room. Has the light sensitive KCR/MG/YB layers. They've been designed to be paired with complementary colors. So Cyan Dye - Red / Magenta Dye - Green / Yellow Dye - Blue. OH MY GOD K+CMY - RGB. And yes a layer of reagents layers of timing, acid, and to finish it off the clear plastic make up a single sheet of Polaroid film. Pretty much like having a whole darkroom at your finger tips.

But focusing on the coloring aspects. This is where I banged my brain against my desk until I decided to pretty much ditch the whole thing I researched above, and go for something ridiculously simple. So all of that thing above was just for your learning experience / entertainment. I played with it for a while just to entertain myself. I think I got something decent.

Keep in mind its just a trivial feature, nothing fancy.

:o! Wipe on a fixer?! When was this? :o

Anyway the colors you see are derived from 101X101 px samples of color from reference photographs of Polaroid being developed. Should be good enough for something trivial as this. The typical Polaroid takes about 3 minutes to develop, worst 4 minutes. With a 0 - 100% slider, its a breeze.

Also, the way that this works is that there's a node that cycles through a gradient. It's simple, fool-proof, and a million times better than constructing a complex reality. Should be perceptually accurate, although I figured after watching several videos of Polaroid development, the ranges with Shadows and Midtones tend to come out reddish first. I've tried several blendmodes, but "darken" seems to work best visually. Well, lets just put it this way. This feature is for fun.

Meanwhile, in LAB3015, Skybase had been working quietly on the Polaroid Filter. It's tough when Filter Forge is a hobby and not a job.

While I scratch my head I finally threw in the "developer" component into the filter. See previous posts.

I removed several options, replaced them... and hopefully it makes more sense.

NOW the biggest problem of why I am not releasing this yet. It looks .. unrealistic Really. It just looks plain boring and it doesn't qualify with my expectation. Oh well, I'll put up an update anyway just so that people can have something!

It is also slow. Yes it does need super optimization. But I think its been reduced quite a lot.... Otherwise I have to kill a couple features.

Finally, I'm one of those over-achievers. Just hold on... this filter is going through a serious operation.

This was successfully accomplished already.

http://www.filterforge.com/filters/8944.html

Yeup. It was for one frame only. At this time FF1 was basically made specifically for seamless tiling. 2.0 was probably the best update since it allowed the sort of freedom and offered quite a huge load of fun stuff to play with. It was a pleasure to see the moment I could make the "dream polaroid frame filter" in FilterForge.

I'm currently developing what seems to be the "next big thing for FF polaroid frames" which is the multi frame version of this polaroid thingy. It's not so tricky but I'm still drilling at several methods. Pretty sure others are trying too.