Ideas

Ideas.

Hi FF Team.

First of all, Thanks for the new version. It is much faster and the new features are great.

Here are a few ideas and comments to improve it even further

Order of controls
The new ‘Order of controls’ is great but how about Titles and Separators maybe even the options for Bold and text color Etc.
Also
The order of controls at the permalink now do not match the order of controls in the filter

Frame Component.
This is much better than I could have hoped for. It works great and is very fast.
But it could be improved further with more inputs. Separate inputs for top, bottom, left and right and maybe corners would give many more possibilities. (Or a more intelligent frame component) An example would be for adding grain to a wood frame. The grain should be horizontal at the top and the bottom and vertical on the sides although I have just about got a method for this, but extra inputs would be easier.

Drawing
I know this has been mentioned in other threads, and I understand the reasons for not being able to import images, so let’s have a basic drawing tool.
Some shapes are difficult to make from gradients etc but would be so simple with a brush. Drawing could be recorded (like a PS action) and then manipulated like noise or patterns. For example, look at the code for Mike’s superb Barbed Wire fence. Or ‘Hello World’, a simple brush tool could have made these much easier to build.

Zoom Workspace
The new zoom in the filter editor is great and a much needed improvement, however it is too domineering. Every filter I open defaults to max zoom out and I now have to zoom back to normal before working. This is becoming a little annoying. Could we have a ‘remember zoom’ setting so that we can set up a default zoom.

Lastly
A couple of questions to save starting new threads.

I notice that frame and border filters are dropping into ‘Effects’ and ‘Textures’ sections. This is because they can be made with and without the Image component. Where would you prefer them to be?

How can I delete a filter?
I have tried to update ‘Page Curl’ with the frame component but I cannot find a way. I can make it work again but I would be using a similar method as before. It may be good to start a thread where we could post filters that require deletion. Would you prefer that I delete it or repair it?

What does the ‘Fixed Size’ checkbox do in the frame component?


Thanks for listening.

Ken.

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Ken wrote: I notice that frame and border filters are dropping into ‘Effects’ and ‘Textures’ sections. This is because they can be made with and without the Image component. Where would you prefer them to be?

The Texture/Effect distinction is automatic. The logic is simple: if a filter needs user-supplied data, such as Image, Selection, Minimum, Maximum or Average, it is considered an Effect. If a filter can work without external data, it is considered a Texture. The Frame component doesn't affect this distinction (despite being located in the External category).

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Ken wrote: What does the ‘Fixed Size’ checkbox do in the frame component?

When it is turned on, the global Size control doesn't affect the frame width. When you turn it on, the Size slider will affect the frame.

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Ken wrote: Could we have a ‘remember zoom’ setting so that we can set up a default zoom.

I'll add this to the plan. By the way, how do you zoom in/out in the Editor -- mouse wheel, hotkeys or toolbar buttons?

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Ken wrote: I am mainly using the mouse wheel. The problem is that the zoom always tries to centre on the results component. It would be nice to be able to zoom out, move to the area of the filter I want to work on and the zoom back in. But this is difficult; I have to keep repositioning the centre.

That's quite strange. On my system, I can zoom out using the scrollwheel, position the mouse over the component I want to zoom in on, then zoom in on that component using the scrollwheel. If that doesn't work for you, maybe it's a bug?

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Ken wrote: Thanks for making me look at that again.

You're darn right, ! Anytime