The Interface tab of the Options dialog lets you adjust the parameters affecting the Filter Forge user interface. The Options dialog is accessible by choosing Tools > Options from the Main Window menu.
Allows the user to configure the color and opacity of the preview border that outlines the tileable part of the image in the preview (both in the Main Window and in the Filter Editor) when Seamless Tiling and Show Border are turned on.
Allows you to get a rough, low-resolution preview of the rendered image as fast as possible, then gradually refine it in subsequent rendering passes until the image reaches the final level of quality. You can select 3 to 5 passes, or Legacy (1 pass), or Off (every rendering block is fully anti-aliased, instead of performing anti-aliasing after the rendering).
The progressive preview doesn’t actually decrease the total rendering time: with Multi-pass Preview set to 3, 4 or 5 passes, the actual rendering time will be roughly 2 to 5% longer than without the progressive preview.
Postpones the rendering of low-contrast areas of the image to the last rendering pass (the one before the anti-aliasing pass).
Essentially, this slider specifies the threshold level of RGB contrast. During the first sparse pass, the renderer examines the channelwise variance between RGB values of pixels at the corners of each square 'patch' of the sparse image, and if this variance is below the threshold set by Degradation, this 'patch' will not receive any further refinement (i.e. samples) until the last rendering pass.
The Degradation option does not affect the final quality in any way.
Note that the Progressive Preview doesn't work well with the Use cache preservation for previews parameter (when both are turned on, the preview speed will be slower)
Switches between two styles of mouse scrolling in scrollboxes that have controls. For example, the list of controls on the Settings tab when the controls don't fit on a single screen. When set to Scroll the scrollbox itself, the mouse wheel scrolls the list and doesn't affect the controls in it. When set to Adjust the controls in the scrollbox, the mouse wheel adjusts the control under the mouse cursor (for example, changes the position of a slider thumb), and if there's no control under the cursor, scrolls the scrollbox. This option only applies to cases when the control list doesn't fit on a single screen, otherwise the mouse wheel will affect the control under the cursor regardless of the selected option.
When turned on, automatically sets the View > Preview Size parameter to Actual when a 900x900 or larger image is loaded. When turned off, the preview size is not affected by the image size. Technically, this option simply activates the View > Preview Size > Reduced menu command for images that don't fit into the preview pane without being zoomed out.
When turned on, a notification showing elapsed rendering time is displayed in the preview pane of the Main Window after the rendering is complete. This option can be used for benchmarking filter rendering speed and comparing different versions of a filter to figure out which one renders faster.
When turned on, scrolling the mouse wheel down will zoom in, and scrolling up will zoom out. When turned off, the behavior is opposite. This option applies to all preview panes and the Filter Editor workspace.
When turned on, the preview pane in theMain Window and the Filter Editor displays the name of the currently selected channel over the rendered image, for example, 'Normal' or 'Diffuse'. If the Render Channel selector is set to Final, the name is not shown.
When turned on, a notification is shown when the user attempts to save or apply a discrete filter with Seamless Tiling turned on to an image with a non-integer aspect ratio. This option applies to Texture filters only.
When turned on, a notification is shown when the user attempts to save or apply a discrete filter with Seamless Tiling turned on to an image with a non-integer aspect ratio. The option applies to Effect filters only and does not affect the message that appears in the preview pane over the rendered image, it affects only pop-up notifications.
Improves interactivity for Ambient Occlusion previews but hampers the preview rendering speed. It’s recommended to leave it off when the Multi-pass preview parameter is set to 3 Passes or higher.
