Typography Modules

I love the idea of particles, and being able to use a letter as one would certainly be interesting.

Warming up old topics here...

Quote
Vladimir Golovin wrote: Hovewer, to make filters look the same on different platforms, we'd have to embed the entire font into the filter, which is currently problematic.

I don't know what the current development plan is regarding the proposed text component, but there is an alternative to embedding the whole font into the filter: Not embedding it at all.

Seriously now. Either, the component could default to some standard public domain font that is freely available on different platforms, or Filter Forge Inc. provides its very own cross-platform font that would be referenced by all library filters containing text components (automatically overriding any font the author may have chosen). That way, when a 'text' filter is rendered for the library, it would always use that one font, and hence always look the same for all users (and all factory presets), regardless of platform.

Now, that approach probably won't be ideal for showcasing the full potential of the text generator component in the library (no fancy designer fonts and weird dingbats), but it safely maneuvers around the many legal pitfalls of embedding font vector shapes into the filter xml code.

And of course nothing hinders the users to discard the factory font and use their own fonts to customize their text filters. There are so many free fonts and dingbats on the web that a text component seems absolutely indispensable!

Just my 1.618 cents...

Well, this could be an 'External > Font/Text' component similar to 'External > Image' in that it would always load the default Filter Forge font. Either the user chooses the font via the filter controls or there could be an 'Open Font...' option in the File menu that sets the font globally.

1st post was posted at: June 3, 2006 3:33 am

as if it's a competition...

Quote: "I requested text input already"

yet it's OK and totally not important - just teasing

Quote
Crapadilla wrote: Warming up old topics here... Big grin

[]

I would dare theorize that a statement such as the above remotely implies that the author - this... Crapadilla - had at least a fleeting notion of the obvious 'already-requestedness' of this feature. If I were to analyze further, I would probably conclude that he, upon stumbling on the topic in a forum search, apparently couldn't resist adding his voice to the litany in the hopes of contributing something novel to the discussion.

[/]

I say vectors = purple. (just like the blue Curve color, but with a hue of 270)

Oh, and I heavily support this idea.

Too close to the Curve color! See, that's why I suggested purple, fool.

This is the color I'm talking about:

Another thread from 2006 that was promising to be considered for a future version of FF, but still 6 years after, there is no news about this

Please read my new 2012 version of this thread here

http://filterforge.com/forum/read.php?FID=9&TID=9456

Thinking about the Text string feature... Would it be possible to make a generic font within Filter Forge? You could then source your installed fonts on output.

I'm curious how the Text Anarchy PS plug-in does it.

ThreeDee, I had the same idea as you, especially after seeing how CFandM did it in his "The Numbers Game" filter.
The only thing is, as you said, you can't input text into FF in a simple way.
Perhaps you could use a script component that reads a text file from a pre-determined place on the hard drive. I don't think that script would be considered safe, so you probably couldn't upload the filter to the library anyway.

any other way I can think of includes using a slew of switches, which would make the filter impossible to control.

Quote
.It is not easy thou...Each letter needs to be constructed..

I guarantee that IS NOT EASY AT ALL, I just wanted to make ONE letter and have not been able to do it, and the examples available in the library of persons that have done it are a complex process to build just ONE letter or number, so imagine building a whole ALPHABET

The only thing is to wait until FF 4.0 has Vector support and then it will be like in Photoshop that can use any font to write with.

Quote
Vladimir Golovin wrote: Regarding the font feature -- technically, fonts are a special case of vectors, and in order to implement fonts we'll have to implement vectors first.

And perhaps on the on the above link the color thumnails are not big enough and are mixed so I have found another one here

http://www.squidoo.com/colorhtml

NEW THREAD IF YOU WANT TO MAKE A DEBATE OF COLOR HUES

http://filterforge.com/forum/read.php?FID=15&TID=9663

Quote
Morgantao wrote: Ummm.... Do we have any kind of confirmation that FF4 will have vector support? Or font support for that matter? And if there's a font support, we will need a text input module. You really think it will all be in FF4?

Well, I remember Vladimir or GMM have already told that Vectors will be supported on FF 4.0 and then they could also put text support.

Why would not be all in FF 4.0?

I think that this can be one of the key point of FF 4.0, if not included would be a great error.

I do not know nothing about LUA scripting but here is the manual if anyone wants to know what is supported and what not

http://www.lua.org/manual/5.1/manual.html

The major drawback of inputting the text directly into the script, is that you need to go into the filter editor to do that, and then save the filter.
The author of the filter (and script) will lose all credit for his hard work.

Unless there's a way to change the script without FF knowing it.

Quote
Guess which component

I wouldn't even know where to start

Quote
should we just wait for the vector component?

I'm not sure that would help much either....
Unless there's a way to input and format text inside FF (FF 4.0 maybe?), there's no real point to the whole exercise.
The only filter I can think of today that could benefit from text input is CFandM's Numbers Game filter.

BTW, If the author of the filter didn't care for usage statistics, a better way to input text using a script would be an unsafe script that reads a file from the HD.
That way, the user doesn't have to edit the fiter and the script.
The downside is you can't upload a filter with an unsafe script to the library.

Spaceray, you can upload the ilter to the forums with an unsafe script.
My point was actually that the author wouldn't get any usage stats either way, since noe way is posting the filter in the forum, the other way is posting the filter on the library and have the user edit it.
It's a lose-lose situation for the author, but a win-lose for the user, as you don't have to edit the filter and the script.

I agree that out of the existing filters only one can benefit from typography moduls, and that there will be many more filters if/when those moduls are released.
I guess what I was trying to say is that for having effects done ON text, you just need to make the text in photoshop and then feed it to FF. But if you want the text to be PART of the effect, you need a typography module in FF.

LOL, you're right again SpaceRay
I guess I should have mentioned the typography module is for longer text.
If you want a few letters or words it will be fine to use several image inputs with color control, but if you want to have a few sentences for example, it's not going to work.
Also if you want to make some kind of ASCII art type of filter, where the letters are not random, but make real words, again, you need typography modules.
If you want to make something like word clouds, again you need typography.

Here are examples of portraits that use text as ink. It's not random letters, it's all text that have meaning, and usually relates to the person in the image:
Amazing Text Portraits

woooo!

In brief, I came up with a way to use the bezier curve to input multiple values in a series: horizontal positions correspond to consecutive letters, vertical positions choose the specific letters.

It is not the most intuitive way to do it, but the best I could figure out with the existing components.

Looks like the filter just went through the submit queue, so you are free to explore the inner workings. In this construction, you can input up to 100 letters with one bezier curve control.

When I brought this thread from the depths of the forum back into now in february 2012, I wanted to show FF Inc. that a Typography module was needed to make in FF 4.0, and thought that was nearly impossible OR VERY DIFFICULT as CFandM said to make a Text input into FF

Quote
In brief, I came up with a way to use the bezier curve to input multiple values in a series: horizontal positions correspond to consecutive letters, vertical positions choose the specific letters. It is not the most intuitive way to do it, but the best I could figure out with the existing components.

Now I am a true Believer after having tested your filter, I am very sorry that before I have many doubts that this would be really possible to make in FF, but I really thought that this was NOT possible with the available components, BUT I AM GLAD I was totally WRONG, you have made it possible in a very clever way and have found a way to do it very well.

Congratulations and you should get a prize and award for this !!!

Quote
lipebianc wrote: Outstanding achievement! A revolution to FF's community!

YES !!! I totally agree with this.