Filter Forge Help - Using Filter Editor

Panning the Workspace

To pan the Workspace, hold the right mouse button and drag.
Alternatively, you can hold and drag the mouse wheel or middle button.
You can also switch to the Hand cursor and drag with the left mouse button.
If you see the Don't Panic! button, don't panic!

Zooming the Workspace

To zoom the Workspace in and out, use the mouse wheel.
Alternatively, you can use menu commands and hotkeys listed in the View menu.
You can also switch to the Zoom cursor . In this mode, click to zoom in and Alt⌥-click to zoom out.
To see the entire filter tree, click the Zoom to Fit button on the toolbar, or press Ctrl⌘+0.
When you zoom with the mouse wheel, the current cursor position is taken into account.
You can reverse the mouse wheel zoom direction in the Interface Options (Tools > Options > Interface).

Selecting Objects

Selecting objects (components, remappers, connection warnings etc.) is performed when the cursor is in the Arrow mode: .
To select a single object, click it.
Use the marquee selection (hold the left mouse button and drag) to select multiple objects.
Use Ctrl⌘-click or Shift-click to add/subtract a single object from the selection.
Hold Shift while selecting with a marquee to add multiple objects to the selection.
Hold Ctrl⌘ while selecting with a marquee to invert the selection status for multiple objects.
To select all objects on the Workspace, choose Edit > Select All from the menu, or press Ctrl⌘+A.
To select the subtree of the selected component, choose Edit > Select Subtree from the menu, or press Ctrl⌘+T.
To select the Filter Controls thingy* under the Result component, choose Edit > Select Filter Controls from the menu, or press F.

Using the Preview

The Preview pane in the upper-left corner shows the output of the selected object.
If the preview is locked, the Preview pane always shows the output of the component it's locked to, regardless of the current selection.
To lock the preview to a specific component, double-click it.
Alternatively, you can select that component and check the Lock Preview checkbox above the Preview, or press Enter.
The preview can be locked only to map components and curve components – you can't lock to any other Workspace objects.
When the preview is locked to a component, a notice is shown over the preview and an 'eye' icon is shown on the component's caption.
To pan the preview, hold and drag the right mouse button; or, when the preview cursor is in the Hand mode , hold and drag the left mouse button.
To zoom the Preview in and out, use the mouse wheel.
You can also switch to the Zoom cursor . In this mode, click to zoom in and Alt⌥-click to zoom out.
Clicking the Actual Pixels button sets the zoom level to 1:1 so that the image pixels correspond to screen pixels directly.
If the preview size in the Main Window has been reduced (View > Preview Size > Reduced), the Editor uses a reduced preview as well.
To get the RGBA color value of the pixel under the mouse pointer, switch to the Color Inspector mode – or hold Shift – and click.

Adding and Deleting Components

Components are located on the Components Bar and on the Components dropdown menu.
To open the Components Bar, click the Components button in the upper-right corner.
To open the Components dropdown menu, drag a new connection from a component's output, or drag a new connection from a component's input, press Tab while dragging any connection, or right-click the canvas and select Create Component.
To add components, drag them from the Components Bar to the workspace or select them from the Components dropdown menu.
To quickly toggle the Components Bar on and off, press C.
Dropping a component onto an input of another component creates a connection from the newly-created component to that input.
Dropping a component onto an output triangle of another component creates a connection from that output to the default input of the newly-created component.
To delete the selected components, press Del.
The Result component cannot be deleted.

Connecting Components

To create a connection, drag a line from the output triangle ('nose') to the desired input ('slot'), or click the output triangle, then click the desired input.
Cyclical connections are not possible.
Inputs accept connections according to their type – 'green to green, blue to blue, gray to anything'.
For more information on component types, see Map Components, Curve Components and Numeric Components.
Some components have required inputs that must always be connected.

Cut, Copy, Paste, Duplicate, Undo and Redo

To cut, copy and paste selected objects, press Ctrl⌘+X, Ctrl⌘+C and Ctrl⌘+V respectively.
Alternatively, you can choose Edit > Cut, Edit > Copy and Edit > Paste from the Editor menu.
The Result component cannot be copied, pasted or cut.
Internal connections between components are preserved during copy/paste operations, while incoming and outgoing connections are not.
To duplicate an existing connection, hold down the Ctrl⌘ key and drag the connection line to the new input.
To clone one or more components with all their incoming connections, select the components and drag them while holding the Alt key, or press Ctrl⌘+D, or select Edit > Duplicate from the Editor menu.
The clipboard contents are preserved between the Editor sessions, so you can copy/paste components between filters. To store a group of components permanently, save them as a snippet.
To undo the last action, press Ctrl⌘+Z or choose Edit > Undo from the menu.
To redo the last action that has just been undone, press Ctrl⌘+Y or choose Edit > Redo from the menu.
The number of undo/redo levels is limited only by the available memory.

Creating Filter Controls

To add controls to the Settings tab, add control components to the filter and connect them to inputs you want to control.
A single control component can be connected to multiple inputs.
The way control components affect their target inputs can be fine-tuned via remappers.
To appear in the list of controls, a control component must be connected to the Result component, directly or indirectly.
Control components cannot be connected to required inputs.
Connections resulting in non-intuitive filter controls lead to connection warnings.
To see filter controls within the Editor, select the Filter Controls thingy* under the Result component.
To quickly select the Filter Controls thingy* without panning the workspace, press F or choose Edit > Select Filter Controls from the menu.
The order of controls in the list can be customized in the Order of Controls dialog.

Saving and Renaming Filters

To save a filter you're editing, click the Save Filter button in the lower-right corner (this will close the Editor).
To quickly save a filter without closing the Editor, press Ctrl⌘+S or choose File > Save from the menu.
To rename a filter, specify the new Filter Name in the Filter Info dialog and save the filter the usual way.
To save a copy of the filter, choose File > Save As... from the menu.
You can save a copy of the filter under the same name as the original – duplicate names are acceptable.
The filter name is not a filename, so you can use any characters (spaces, commas, slashes etc.)
Downloaded and pre-installed filters cannot be edited directly – when you edit them, the Editor creates a copy in the default folder in Custom Filters (usually My Filters).
Filters are always saved to the Custom Filters category.
To locate the filter file (.ffxml), close the Editor and choose Filter > Locate File from the Main Window menu or press Ctrl⌘+L.

Other Tasks

To get the RGBA values of the color under the cursor, Shift+click in the Preview area.
To specify the information for the filter's About tab, use the Filter Info dialog.
To submit a filter to the Filter Library, use the Submit Wizard.
Old versions of components are located in the Obsolete category, which can be turned on in Filter Editor Options.
The direction of connections between components can be set to Right-to-left in Filter Editor Options.
The opacity of the Workspace grid can be adjusted in Filter Editor Options – this may be useful for the owners of LCD monitors.
See also: Filter Editor Menu and Hotkeys.

* If you can come up with a better name for this, let us know!