To install the program, start SETUP.EXE and follow the instructions on the screen. Once installed, Filters Unlimited
can be used immediately with your graphics program.
Filters Unlimited is intended as a plug-in, and as such only functions with a graphics program that supports Adobe
Photoshop compatible plug-ins.
Important: To enable the Host-Program to successfully integrate Filters Unlimited, you must give the path
to the relevant plug-in directory during installation. For Photoshop this is the directory Plugins, Plug-Ins or
something similar, depending on the program version installed. For more information please read the relevant documentation
for your graphics program.
After starting Photoshop (or any other graphics program), you can find Filters Unlimited under the Menu Filter,
submenu <I.C.NET Software>. Select this menu entry and Filters Unlimited’s main window is displayed with
over 350 included filters, clearly arranged in two list views.
Select a catagory from the left pane and in the right window appears a list of all the filters belonging to this
catagory. In the preview pane to the right, you can see a preview of the currently selected filter, as applied
to the active image.
Select the desired filter from the pane on the right. Underneath the preview window, there are 8 sliders which
allow you to alter the parameters of the current filter. Adjust the sliders until you are happy with the effect
as shown in the preview pane. Alternatively you can click the Randomize button, which creates a random set of parameters
that can produce some interesting effects. Clicking the Reset button reverts to the original settings for the filter.
Once satisfied with all the settings clicking OK applies the filter to the whole of the currently active image.
Some of the filters allow you to select a color gradient. In this case an additional button is available at the
bottom of the window from which you can select one of the 100 included patterns. Selecting this button opens a
list window, from which by double-clicking the desired entry or by clicking the Select button, the desired gradient
can be applied to the filter.
Filters Unlimited works in RGB, Grayscale and CMYK color-modes. In the cases of CMYK or Grayscale, when Filters
Unlimited is started, an automatic colorspace conversion is performed as the program works internally in RGB-mode
only. Depending on the size of the image this can take a few seconds. When the filter is applied this conversion
is reversed. If this process is too slow, you can simply convert the image to RGB-mode before calling up Filters
Unlimited. For more information on how to do this, read the manual to your graphic program.
Hold down the CTRL-key to switch between original and filtered image in the preview pane.
To stack multiple filter effects hold down the ALT-key while pressing the "Apply"-Button. A real timesaver if you want to combine multipe effects w/o leaving Filters Unlimited.
By double-clicking a filter, or by selecting the Presets tab of the main window, you can define filter presets.
On this page, the normal two panes are replaced by a single, larger window. From this list window you can define
the various settings for a filter, including a preview of the effect. By selecting Add... a dialog window appears,
with a reduced picture of the current preview window and a text field where you can add a short description of
the preset if you wish. Clicking OK adds these settings as a new entry in the list. Repeat this process to define
as many presets for your filters as you wish.
Double-clicking an entry in the list, results in the defined preset-settings being applied to the filter, and updating
the preview window. In this fashion you can create a whole set of custom settings for a filter, that can be quickly
and easily accessed and applied when needed.
Particularly interesting is the use of the Randomize button with this feature - click the button as often as you
want until an interesting effect is produced, and add this to your catalogue with the button Add.... There is no
limit to the number of presets that you can store.
With the arrow keys you can change the position of the currently selected preset in the list, the button Edit...
allows you to change the preset’s description and Delete will remove the currently selected entry from the list.
Clicking the Set Default button sets these settings as the default for the current filter. These settings will
automatically be recalled the next time the filter is called up, and clicking Reset will also revert back to these
settings.
Filters for which presets have been defined are displayed in the main filter list with an additional symbol.
You can easily move a filter from one category to another, by simply selecting it and dragging it over an entry in the category list on the left (Drag & Drop). More than one filter can be moved at a time if you wish by dragging the mouse over the list with the mouse-button pressed to make a multiple selection, or alternatively holding down the CTRL-key while clicking the filters you want to select. The selected filters can then be dragged to the desired category - this behaviour is comparable to that of Windows Explorer.
Right-clicking in the left category pane produces a context menu. Selecting New... from this menu results in the display of an edit field where you can enter the name for a new category.
Select the filters you want to delete as described above. Call up the context menu by right-clicking in the window. Select Delete from this menu and confirm deletion by clicking Yes in the confirmation dialog. In this manner you can also delete entire categories from the left window. Warning: This operation cannot be undone! Be careful what you delete.
Click a filter name twice, once to select and again to edit (this is not a double-click!). You can now edit the name for the filter. Again this is the same behaviour as in Windows Explorer, and also works for renaming categories in the lefthand list view.
Select the filters that you want to copy as described above and call up the context menu by right clicking with
the mouse. Now select Copy to followed by the database to which the selection should be copied to.
This menu only contains databases which are know to FiltersUnlimited. Initially, after a fresh installation of
FiltersUnlimited, there is only one database available, so this submenu will be empty. For more information on
how to create databases see the topic Filter Databases.
Select the filter that you want to duplicate as described above and then select duplicate from the context menu (right-click). An exact copy of the filter is then produced with the prefix Copy of .... This can now be loaded in the editor and changed as desired. For more information see the topic Creating your own filters.
Filters Unlimited is not restricted in the number of databases it can use, nor are these databases restricted
in the number of filters they can contain. However only one database can be active at a time. For Filters Unlimited,
a database is a special sub-directory on your hard-drive, in which a file exists for each of the filters in the
database. To enable quick access to all of these filters, Filters Unlimited also creates and manages an index file
for each directory. Every database directory has the format Name.db, where Name is the name of the database. All
databases MUST be sub-directories of the directory you've chosen while installing Filters Unlimited. This information
is only relevant if you want to backup your databases, copy them to another computer or work with more than one
graphics program.
When you first start Filters Unlimited, there is only one database, containing the included filters. To create
a new database follow these steps:
Select the tab Navigator and then the button Database found at the bottom left. This produces a pop-up menu. Select the menu-item New... and enter the name for the database in the edit window that appears. Please note that special characters are not allowed, so restrict the name to letters and spaces only. Click on OK to create the database.
Click on the button Database to display the database menu, and select the Open... item. You can now select from all available databases in the open dialog. Click on OK to open the selected database, which will then become active, displaying all the filters it contains.
The last 8 databases used can be selected from a list in the database menu. Simply select the desired database from this list to open it.
If you have downloaded filters from the internet, or have found useful effects on one of the many CDs distributed
with magazines, you can import them into Filters Unlimited. This process converts the filter to Filters Unlimited’s
internal format and adds it to the currrently active database. The filter is then ready to use; there is no need
for a complicated conversion, and once the filter is successfully imported you can even delete the original file
to free up space. To find out which filters and fileformats are supported please read the appendix.
To import a filter, click the button Import... on the Navigator tab. Now select the file format of the filter to
import, select the directory where the file can be found, and select the file to import. As soon as you have confirmed
your selection, the filter will be imported to the current database and will now appear in the Navigator’s list
window.
On the internet there are currently over 3000, mostly freely available Filters, that you can import into Filters Unlimited without any trouble. Only Filters Unlimited makes it possible to use and manage such a large number of filters. Ranging from spectacular to useful or interesting pretty much everything is available that you can imagine. From our homepage at http://www.icnet.de you can navigate to Websites containing all conceivable filters from our extensive list of links.
Filters Unlimited is not only able to manage and use filters, but can also be used to create your own effects
from within a fully intergrated development environment. You can either modify the existing filters or create your
own completely new custom filters.
Select from the list a filter that you wish to edit and press the button Editor.... Filters Unlimited then changes
to the editor mode. In this mode, the entire source code to the filter is displayed and can be changed as required.
Clicking Save leaves the editor and stores the changes in the database, Cancel discards all changes.
To create a completely new filter, first select New... from the filter list window’s context menu (right-click).
A new entry is created in the list view the name of which must be entered in the edit box. Filters Unlimited has
now created a minimal filter, that simply copys the source image. This basic filter can be called up in the editor,
where you can add your code.
Filters work in Filters Unlimited like a calculator. You define a formula, and each pixel in an image is set to
the result of the formula. It is possible to define an individual formula for each of the 4 color channels (R for
the red channel, G for the green, B for the blue and A for the transparent or Alpha channel). There are various
variables, constants and functions available enabling you to create an almost unlimited number of filters. A complete
reference to the available functions is accessable from the program with a click on the Language reference button.
The language that Filter Unlimited filters uses is fully compatible with that of Adobe Filter Factory. This plug-in
can be found on all the original CD-ROMs of Photoshop or Premiere. There you can also find a more accurate description
in WRI or DOC Text format. If you intend to work intesively with filter programming, we recomend the Filter Factory
Programming Guide from Werner Streidt. This is freely available on the internet in HTML and PDF form. A link to
the website can be found on our Homepage under Links.
Filters Unlimited uses a large extended function set that greatly surpasses that of the original Filter Factory.
There are more functions, and even in-built bitmaps and gradients to choose from. For a better overview of what
is available, consult the Language reference.
Photoshop actions allow you to record a series of commands executed within Photoshop, and to play them back at a later time. With Filters Unlimited, this feature enters a new dimension. All the important parameters to a filter are recorded, and can be played back later, even on a different computer. All that is required to do this is Filters Unlimited and the relevant ATN-File that contains the actions. For exact playback it is not necessary to have the recorded filter installed on the maschine.
Paint Shop Pro since version 8.0 also supports scripting. The only difference between Photoshop Actions and PSP scripts is that PSP stores scripting parameters in .PspScript files.
This file format was first introduced by the program Plugin Commander in 1997 from Harald Heim, and since then has spread extensively over the internet. The filters from Andrew Buckle (Andrews’s Filters) or the well known Filter Factory Gallery come mostly in this format. An advantage of this file format is that many filters can be stored in a single file, saving disk space. However a disadvantage of the format is that no other program supports this format to date, and the filters require conversion before they can be used by another graphics program. Filters Unlimited can import this format into one of its databases, and from there use it directly. To import this format, an FFL file is simply selected, to which a complete list of the contained filters is displayed. Now either all or just selected filters can be imported by clicking OK.
This is the only format that graphic programs with Plug-In capability can use directly. It involves special
DLLs, that are loaded and executed directly by Photoshop, PaintShop Pro or other graphics programs. A drawback
of this format is that all 8BF files need to be loaded by the program at startup. This can take a considerable
amount of time when many plug-ins are installed. Amoung others, Photoshop also has an internal problem if many
plug-ins are used: above a certain number of filters or plug-ins in general, there is no more room in the menu
and the filters are unclearly listed in one single category others.... In the worst case, the rest of the filters
are simply ignored. Plugin Manager offers aid to this problem. Please visit our Homepage to get more information
on that issue.
It is only possible to import 8BF format files of Filter Factory, which can usually be identified by there size
(either 48KB or 56KB). Other 8BF files such as the filters supplied with Photoshop or Kai’s Power Tools, Eye Candy
etc. cannot be imported. These filters are built differently and don’t make their source code available.
This is the file format created when you save sourcecode from Adobe Filter Factory. This format is not widely used, and has the disadvantage that neither the description of the sliders, nor the name of the filter or category are saved to the file. As such, when a file of this format is imported by Filters Unlimited, a category and filter name is generated from the filename automatically. This must be manually altered afterwards: the source must also be edited to give the sliders names.
This file format is the native format of Filters Unlimited, and contains all the relevant information to a filter,
such as its sourcecode and defined presets including preview images. All other formats that are imported result
in a file of this type being automatically created in the current database directory. To distribute your own filters
to other people, you need only to copy the relevant file from a database directory. To install the filter, simply
copy this file into a Filters Unlimited database directory, and it will be automatically recognised and intergrated
by next start of Filters Unlimited.
I.C.NET Software GmbH
Michael Johannhanwahr
Robert-Bunsen-Str. 70
28357 Bremen, Germany
http://www.icnet.de
info@icnet.de
support@icnet.de
Filters Unlimited is Copyright © 1999-2003 I.C.NET Software GmbH. All rights reserved.
Filter Factory is Copyright © Adobe® Systems, Inc.
Photoshop® is a trademark of Adobe® Sytems, Inc.