More Library Categories

i was looking at how many filters are in the 'misc' category today... quite a few; over 400, in fact. it might be time to make more categories.

i could easily see some specifics, like: Noise, Refraction, Manipulation (as maybe a sub-set of 'Distortion'), Glass, Metal, Stone/Brick (as a sub-set of 'Building'), Photo-Art (as opposed to simply 'Photo'. photo art is like the charcoals and sherri's filters where straight 'photo' would be more about making a photo look better as a photo), Water, Objects/Shapes, Blurring, Skewing (as a sub-set of 'Distortions'), Lighting/Re-Lighting, Abstract, Impressionist (maybe as a sub-set of 'Photo Art'), and i'm sure more could be added.

with the number of filters rising almost every day, it's getting harder and harder to find a specific filter or effect.

yep yep yep...I am all for that

+5

I think being able to get to this link http://www.filterforge.com/filters/recent_rss.php more easily would increase the exposure of filters.

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Vladimir Golovin wrote: In order to add a category, we must make sure that the newly-created category has at least five filters with Editor's Picks. This is what currently prevents us from creating more categories.

Why so? If I'm not mistaken, there already are categories that contains less than 5 EPs, like the 'Frames' categories for example.

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Vladimir Golovin wrote: We just want every category to have several 'showcase' filters at its top.

Hmmm... an official filter challenge, maybe?

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Kraellin wrote: vlad, are there any that are close to having the five required?

We're working on a list of candidates, but I haven't checked this area recently.

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Crapadilla wrote: an official filter challenge, maybe?

I would try to do it, but you would probably have them all done before I even got started LOL.....

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Crapadilla wrote: Pixelation Loads of pixelization/crystalization/mosaic effects on the library that would warrant their own category.

----Woot ! Low-fi C64 heaven.

jffe

well, in misc images (not textures), there are a number of filters that would be in 'building' or 'stone', but since the images side doesnt have these, that would be a start. i see a number of 'brick' types in there.

and 'building' types could be broken down too. 'glass', 'wood', 'metal', etc.

we also have a pretty good assortment of 'cloth', 'textile', and 'fabric' types.

hell, you could make a single category our of voldemort's filters. lol. he has over 400 just by himself, and steviej is catching up quickly

'objects' probably have enough for their own category by now. filters like 'easter egg' would be an example of 'objects'. ron's 'orb' filter is another example of 'objects'.

'landscape/scenery' might have enough to warrant a new category. filters like 'landscape' and my 'waterfalls' would fit there. and i know there are others.

'paper/canvas' might be another.

'backdrops' another.

i see some 'organics' in the misc category. all those 'alien' types are actually 'organic'.

all those paint brush types actually belong in 'creative', but you could make another for 'art' types. i think someone else mentioned 'painterly'... same thing. the 'sketch' and 'edge' filters could also go in there until they bust out with enough for their own category.

and while we're on the subject of folders, i just thought of a reason to not have more user folders, the downloads wouldnt know where to put things. but, i dont care about that. put them in the regular categories and just may more user controlled 'my favorites' that do nothing but bookmark filters. i still want more 'my filters' categories as well, but the 'my favorites' thing just needs more so i can sort the library better and bookmarks would do that just fine.

generally speaking, if a category starts to hit 50 or more filters and especially when it hits over 100, it starts to get quite unwieldy and shld branch out. going through 200, 300, and 400 filters just to find one, is not very viable and i'm guessing a LOT of good filters have gone unused for this reason.

if you think of it from an artist's point of view or a 3d texturizer's point of view, what are they doing when they open FF to find and use something? they are working on something in particular, say a 3d room, for example. and they want to find a 'floor' filter. so, they look in 'building' maybe. and maybe they want a specific type, like oak flooring or parquet. searching through 127 filters is ludicrous to someone working for a company with time constraints. he wants a tree, a table of contents or index or search functions. and he may not be connected to the internet and not able to search the online library using those search features.

Building:
...Indoors:
......Floors
.........Carpets
.........Vinyl
.........Wood
............Oak
............Parquet
............Pine
...Outdoors:
......Stone

etc, etc, etc.

'misc' has become the collection bin for the lack of other categories. normally, 'misc' would be your smallest category.

i'd also consider doing away with the 'texture' and 'image' divisions. this is misleading in a lot of cases. some do both and those always end up in the 'image' category. thus, someone may miss those completely thinking he only wants to look in the 'texture' side. you also eliminate the need for two 'trees', two almost identical indexes.

and whereas i know it's probably MUCH easier to adjust just the web site side of the library, it's actually MORE important to adjust the program side. you've got a fair number of users who use FF while NOT online. so, a search function in the program is more important to me than one online. i download ALL filters. and i know you have those users who work offline because i've seen the number of requests of 'how do i get/download the filters when my machine is not connected to the net?'.

this IS my current number one desired feature, better organization of filters, in the program library and user controlled organization! (ok, one and two )

Textile folder would be nice for fabrics, lace, knitted, and quilted stuff.

thanks, steve.

and dilla, speaking of voldemort's filters, i think you could add one more category to your list, sphereify, polar coordinates or warp.

well, speaking of the editor's picks, i think if the sort of re-organization we're talking about here were done, you'd see those editor's picks show up in the categories lacking them. a vacuum tends to fill, as it were. i sometimes just look at how many filters are in a given current category and pick the one that has the fewest and start making one for there. a lack of editor's picks in a category is actually an incentive to authors. 'oh, if i make one for that category i may have a better chance of getting an EP!'.

Vlad, is there any chance we'll see some category updates soon?

Well, I'd like to see tags and tag clouds too, but I was under the impression that this was going to be implemented after 2.0 goes beta. Until that time comes, I thought the additional categories we were talking about here would be a nice way to organize the filter flood...

Great news!

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Kraellin wrote: and please, please, please Exclamation open the 'my filters' to user-made sub-categories!!!

Yup, that would be awesome, especially for us filter authors. I'm not so sure we're going to see this anytime soon though... (see below)

Yeah.

OT: I'm beginning to wonder whether the GUI was coded already with the OSX version in mind. Was it coded 'platform-independent' with a small OS 'layer' on top, or do they have to do it all over again because it was - in a way - hardcoded to windows? I would imagine there would be years of coding work involved with the FF's complex GUI if it would have to be made 'platform-independent' now...

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Vladimir Golovin wrote: Unfortunately, no. That's why the Mac version is taking so long.

If there is a complete re-development of the whole GUI taking place now to make it platform-independent, then I assume that you guys would also be forced to re-develop parts of the windows GUI in order to unify the codebase for v2.0? Looks like we are at least a year away from anything looking remotely like a v2.0 beta. Damn!

Yes, I agree with the title of this thread, Be able to have MORE LIBRARY CATEGORIES !!!

Please, Please, why it is really so difficult to be able to have MORE library categories, and be able to create our own categories ?

In so many years since FF 1.0 nothing has changed on this.