Foxxee's Gem Maker

Hey Foxxee It seems as though this concept is very useful.....I'm always seeing people wanting to incorporate jewels and gems into their work.....

Really nice!!!

Wondering if a filter layering of Steve's Crystal Ball filter would help?

BTW Foxxee... loved the way the gems turned out!!!!

Spectacular and Sparklie!!!

Refraction and a blur may help in the FF components. ((Thinking outloud)). Then test lighting and surace height...

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Wish I could add the beveling

Curve components... possibly a nice string of them and slider adjusters when you find the right combo. ((Thinking outloud again)).

Looking good, maybe steal/borrow a bit from the sparkle filter or whatever it's called, and you can make it all-in-one.

jffe

Excellent real gem quility well done that sparkle adds beautifly to it

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Hmmm, I used curve once by accident and can't recall what it did. Where would I place that in the scheme of things?

That's your bevel... you had mentioned you wanted to mess with the bevel.
The components are Blue... for Bevel~

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Steve, have you submitted that crystal ball yet?

Was thinking just a layer application of his filter over the gem... however Steve is the King of Glass so he might have some curve structures and tips to give for sparkles.

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I do have refraction, even had it twice, but that was overkill I think. As for lighting and surface height, I haven't tried them yet

I just took a peek at the gems again. Try this... add a blur component as the last component that plugs into 'height' at the results component. (((see if that doesn't help)))

I imagine that with a filter like this ... you'll be adjusting lighting and suface height for each and every preset.

About the refraction... yes if you have it twice... no on a third. I excited you are understaking gems! Rooting for ya!~

I hope I made sense... came in from pulling weeds at 9:30 pm... the tips of my fingers feel like they are trying to blister~ LOL

I would load your place with plants and turn it into a tropical forest.....plants seem to have a relaxing effect.....well, with me they do

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and i believe FF can do your sparkle and bevel. isnt there a bevel on frames, on the corners control?

Ah... 'no'.

Here is a screen shot for Foxxee...

The frames unit comes with some built in bevel choices... or you can make your own by pluging the (blue) curves in yourself.

I noticed on one of Steve's Crystal balls he used Circular Arc and Wave for his beveling...

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Sheeze, I sure could use a manual about now, and with lots of pictures to guide me with

Actually they have one... Go to Help, then Filter Forge Help.. I'll include a screenshot of that after this one. Since you've been making graphics over a decade the simpliest way to get you in the right frame of mind is to make you think of Blade Pro... the edging choices... same as the curves you see here... simple beleving (hope that helps).

Click to view larger images~

Hope that helps...

make your own curve structures and have fun. On my background tiles I have great fun playing with curves/bevels... have fun and make your own curve structures!~

Forgot to mention on the above screen shot... controls (grey) can be plugged into the green slots... for some very nice slider controls you can rename to fit your filter.

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And I'm really sorry if my explanation on what carved gems were came across harshly, Kraellin. It wasn't my intension, but sometimes things sound differently when read through type and you can't see the persons face actually smiling back at you

i was teasing, dear, in a sort of self-deprecating sort of way pay no attention to the man behind the curtain

I am really ashamed to have to bump my own thread up like this, but please could someone answer my guestion about the Size/Pixel Slider I asked above

Thanks,

Oh... good question... I have an asnwer but I think there might be a better answer.

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I have one request that I would like to impliment if I could, and that's being able to lock the Size/Pixel slider to maximum size... if that's possible? It really bugs me to have to keep putting it all the way up to max just to get the best 'normal' shape for any gem I'm generating, and it would surely cut way back of the frustration factor for others who may not have the same patience as I do to churn out 15-30 bad samples just to find a good one.

It could be possible to lock the slider but if so I don't know how.

2nd about churning out 15-30 bad samples... why? Pull your slider all the way up then select the preset to make sure it is selected (little grey box around the preset) and click the arrow and choose 'update'. Do that to each sample and you will see the largest possible setting for each sample.

don't forget that the presets will be on 'seamless tile mode' when showing in the library... so make sure the first 8 look good this way.

Sometimes it's not as easy to explain with text... if you need a screen shot for anything I've said above ... let me know.

I wish I had a better answer for you then that~

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Persidio wrote: Can I please? Pretty Please? If you say yes I won't be able to cut it out till tonight or tormorrow... but please say yes..

Let me make one up for you, Persidio
And 'Thank You', I am really pleased that all of you were so free in sharing your tips with me so that it finally turned out the way I had envisioned it

p.s. forgot to say I already do that with the Size/Pixel Slider, doesn't seem to prevent the next batch of random gems to turn out all odd shaped and disproportionate

Yep... checked properties and it came thru as a png!!. Went to save.. checked the file extension and ... sure enough.. .png (double checking).

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p.s. forgot to say I already do that with the Size/Pixel Slider, doesn't seem to prevent the next batch of random gems to turn out all odd shaped and disproportionate

What I suggested will not prevent the next variation from turning out smaller... after clicking for each variation the slider will have to be pulled to maximum.

However odd shaped and disproportionate is not due to the Size/pixel slider... that's another area... when you say odd shaped what do you mean? like an egg? or disproportionate? in what way? Not sure what you are seeing? The Size/pixel slider from what I understand only affects the size. You must have some other sliders that are pulling the shape ect,.

It's raining outside so I can't weed... (((( )))) I may play some xbox 360 later today though... since it's raining outside... LOL. Gotta take a break today... make filters and post...

Ah ah...

Just ran into this on my Photo Mask Edge 2 filter. I had to rip out some curve controls I'd put in... (((my suggestion is to copy the entire filter to a new filter... get your reflection settings for the results panel correct and make sure the new filter is an exact replica... don't rename the filter as I've heard some people have lost original filters doing that... copy and paste into a new filter and adjust your control panel settings exact... and also the 'Lighting' panel settings. Then you should have an exact copy to work with.

Then.... look at your bevel/curve settings... if you have any control sliders in your curve components start pulling them one by one... click the bottom of the results component so that you have a view of the filter and you can see the action of pulling each slider from the curve component. Do this until you find the culprite.

If you still have not found the culprite... which I think you will... then go to the frames component and start doint the same thing,,, one control at a time. Replug the control if it is not the culprite.

For the photo edge mask filter I had to pull about 4 sliders... to get rid of it.

Hope that helps... and others may have better advice. All I can do is tell you what worked for me. (((That is a problem though... big... because when you pull the sliders you may not have the same look exactly... it will be similar but the edges should come out a little bit when you pull those sliders... so you could just end up with a larger gem? (or worse)... keep me posted... taking a break soon but I'll be checking this thread on and off all day in case you need any help...

Here is a screen shot of the sliders in the control components. You can see the results window has the end result for the filter.

As I unplug each slider one by one I can see how it affects the filter...

Hope this helps... but I think this is what you need to do to your filter... because it looks like a bevel problem to me... I hope I'm wrong... but I had this problem on the very filter in the screen shot (I fixed the problem this way... but also had to pull a setting on the frames filter... can't remember which one)... one of the width sliders... margin width maybe... but only do that as a last resort after checking the curve controls.. because the frames controls... argh you don't want to mess with those if you don't have to. Assuming you have a frames component of course... but I do know you have curve components and I'd be surprised if you don't have controls plugged into them. Let me know if this helps at all...

Click to view larger image~

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Persidio wrote: you don't have an amplitude curve with sliders do you? LOL

Hmm, back to see if I do or not. Sure as heck can't find it in the Frame or Tone Curve, of which I only have one in the components as it is.
Will go look again, thanks for your help

Is this a gems 2 or an update? Going to gems 2 to take a look now ... just to see what curves you have working...

Well I just took a look and I'm guessing that the two filters are very different on the beveling... simply because the sample and the old filter don't resemble each other.

All I can say is to check the Frames Bevel components. And double check those~

By the look of the curve on the Circular Arc you don't have anything mapped into it.

I do see you have a reverse circular arc above it... My best guess is going to be to say your problem may or may not lay in that Circular Arc. (((I'm sorry I'm guess I'm not much help.

I pulled up the HELP... in FF... in the search area I put in Circular Arc...

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Minumum and Maximum define the output range of the curve. When the Minimum value is greater than the Maximum value, they get reversed – the Minimum parameter defines the Maximum value and vice versa. This is needed to avoid turning the curve upside down

Since the curve is reversed in the component above... I wondering if this couldn't be the culprit. I'm not sure... go to the HELP page and put Circular Arc in the search parmeter.

Another area to look at is the 'Bias'... although it is not plugged directly into the Frames component it does effect the beveling... I'd check all the curve components on that chain and also run a search from the help file on each. (((troubleshooting sucks I know)))

Some info from bias:

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Minumum and Maximum define the output range of the curve. When the Minimum value is greater than the Maximum value, they get reversed – the Minimum parameter defines the Maximum value and vice versa. This is needed to avoid turning the curve upside down.

If you want me to look at it (no promises I can fix)... and you don't want to put the file in the forum threads you can email it to me at temptressoffate@yahoo.com or rogue_river@hotmail.com (((Honestly I can't promise I'd be any help... and also I think you can do this on your own... but wanted to offer if you get frustrated)))).

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and jean, i think the 'save as' works just fine. the person that was losing versions of his filters found out he was only using the 'save' and not the 'save as'. i use 'save as' all the time and it works just fine. when you see one of my filters named '...1c' or something like that, i've saved as version 1, 1a, 1b, and 1c, each time using the 'save as'. i even completely rename at times... filter 'xxx' save as 'yyy'.

Oh I was hoping you'd show up!!!!

(((TY)))

Hey thanks for the lock out advice... (((I need glasses... a little box hey... ))))

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Kraellin wrote: oh, and d'oh! i meant to compliment foxxee on this one :roll eyes:. i blame it on old age. oh wait, i blame it on steve! yeah, that's the ticket! it really is stunning, la fox Smile

Ahh, poor Steve (gives Steve a reassuring pat on the back)

Oh well... la Fox??? How fancy, and French of you... hehe. And thank you for your compliment too


And Persidio, I'll go take a look. It may be my best option to just add a 'Notice' in the filter's Description; "Pushing the Size/Pixel Slider to Maximum for optimal results."

la fox, il ne a' pas de quois (boy, i'm rusty). i think that means 'you're welcome' (but being that i'm so rusty, it may well mean, 'i like ugly nails for breakfast )(and i'm pretty sure 'fox' has a french equivalent too)