RE: Filters Unlimited BETA2 available!

["Michael Johannhanwahr" <mjohannh@provi.de>]

Martijn worte:

> 1) It looks very good. I like the way the titlebar is placed and
> controls are intuitive and easy. Minor "problems" are the sliders,
> which would benefit from having the ability to set them more
> precisely (up/down buttons, text input/ PS5 style sliders).

The problem is that there is not enough space left in the main window 
to support this kind of sliders. I wanted to keep the window small 
enough to fit on a 640x480 screen resolution. But I will keep this in 
mind...


> 2) It was easy to import my own filter archives (using Harry's PiCo
> for converting the plugins to .FFL format) and it does seem somewhat
> faster than FF (though I've done no real testing).

Well, unfortunately it's not faster than FF. It's still an
interpreter and this takes some time to execute. I'm working on a x86 
code JIT compiler but it's currently not stable enough to be 
released. The main thing is that it works - then I will spend some 
time on screwing up the performance.


> 3) Being a filter-author, I'd like some protection against rippers,
> I know it's not hard to recompile FF filters, but FU makes is VERY
> simple. What do all you gals/guys think, do you think there's an
> added risk to using FU.

The same problem already exists in PiCo and nobody was crying. 
Believe me or not, I've spent a lot of time thinking about this 
problem. But I didn't found a solution. For the first version of FU I 
had in mind that the filter developer provides a password for 
encryption of the code. But this is a problem for Actions where I 
need the code without knowing the password. The only solution I could 
think of is recording the bytecode in Actions... hmm I will think of 
it.


> 4) I'm currently thinking of supporting FU, but in order to support
> it, I'd need a registered copy, and to be honest, $35,- is just too
> much (especially with the, probably more expensive, FM getting ever
> nearer). If it were about half the price, I'd be the first in line.

[Martijn, look into the private email]
Well, Filters Unlimited is a commercial product and compared to other 
plugins very cheap. Do you know a commercial Photoshop plugin for 
less than 49 USD? I think regarding to the "unlimited" amount 
of effects you can get, Premiere and Actions compatibility, the price 
is OK. FM is a different story and I don't think that both products 
will interfere.


> 5) What about the extra functions? I noticed an new intensity
> channel, but no new functions. How about a FF-like program with
> iteration abilities (ie. while(<expresion>)? <true>:<false>, just
> thinking out loud), is this hard to do? I've seen tiny
> basic-interpreters doing this.

This is the domain of FiFo and FM. FU is designed to be strictly FF 
compatible and has just some additional functions. These will be 
documented in the FF reference of the final release.


> 6) And now some small suggestions (please stop me if I'm getting
> annoying): How about a small indication on the progress when
> starting FU on a CMYK picture? (FU converts CMYK pics to RGB for FF
> processing, right?), 

Yes, that's right. I will add this to my todo list. Unfortunately, 
the color conversion routine of Photoshop are very slow. I don't 
know why there is such a big difference between changing the image 
mode and using the color conversion proc...


> also FU seems to lock-up PS5 when processing an
> effect to the point of the screen not being able to refresh.

??? I don't understand. Please explain again in other words.


> If you're still here; please note that I may be nagging a bit, It's
> my nature. Don't take it personal. If I didn't see a future in this
> program, I wouldn't bother giving my opinion.

I appreciate any comments in any form. Thanks a lot.

Michael.

--------------------------------------------------------------
Michael Johannhanwahr  mailto:mjohannh@provi.de   ICQ:#6653703
Robert-Bunsen-Str. 70  http://johann.simplenet.com
28357 Bremen, Germany  phone: +49 (0)421 256312 / fax: 2576325