pog
Premium
join:2004-06-03
Kihei, HI
 ·Hawaiian Telcom
| [FYI] I'm working on another PS plugin...
Pog's Lab Blender
Every now and then, I get the PS plugin bug...  This time, I want to make my existing Lab plugin a little more complicated so I have a lot of sliders and buttons on this work-in-progress! This is my second day on this... but I hope it's usable.
Just to be clear, the file below seems to work fine, is virus-free, and might be fun! It is, however, an alpha version... This plugin works with any Windows program capable of hosting Photoshop plugins (of the .8bf variety). Sorry, no Macs. Unzip the .8bf file, drop it into your plugins folder, restart your application... most of you knew that already, I think!
 pog_lab_blen···lpha.zip 116218 bytes
zipped plugin (.8bf)
I will try to explain how it works. The basic idea is to take an 8-bit RGB image, convert it to floating point Lab mode, then do an overlay blend with itself, and finally convert back to 8-bit RGB. Many of the steps along the way are configurable.
screenshot
1) Input - bottom layer tuning:
•lightness power: applies a simple curve to the L channel
•black/white points: levels adjustments for L channel (can go outside the normal range by a very large margin)
•gray point: as expected, I think.
•a and b power: applies a curve to a and b Lab channels.
•monotone output: if checked, the image's varying color values are ignored for this layer and a constant a/b value is used (next two sliders).
2) Input - top layer tuning: identical controls to bottom layer
3) Blend - overlay tuning:
•L/a/b opacities: specifies the amount of the image in step 1) to show vs the result of the blend. Sliding all the way to the left shows only the step 1) image. All the way right, is 100% blend.
•threshhold: a regular overlay blend is part "multiply" and part "screen"... the threshhold for deciding which blend to use is 50%. This slider lets you set it differently... it's probably only useful at 0, 0.5 and 1, though.
•L/a/b amplifiers: just my attempt to preserve the interesting effects I got from my horrible math in the other plugin. These are inserted as coefficients to the overlay math... by default (at 0.000), they do nothing.
4) output tuning:
These are largely the same as already described in 1). These applied to the result from step 3) but before re-conversion to RGB. The button for "grayscale" acts on RGB data, though (floating point)... and is a simple average (RGB/3).
The 4 little lock buttons are for use with the random/reset buttons. When enabled, those areas are immune to the random/reset functions.
There's a lot to tweak here, I think... any feedback would be most welcome!!!
PS... please remember to turn of the clipping warning before applying the filter... otherwise those warnings will be inserted in the output. (I will fix this later).
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My Site |
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inciter
Noobie
Premium
join:2000-08-30
Rohnert Park, CA
|  No feedback on this one yet, but for new members that don't know pog, I can say as a user of his plugins they are very high quality and well worth checking out.
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Learning something everyday makes not a Noobie, but a Professional Noobie! Like me... |
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iSpark
Capturing Memories Making Dreams
Premium
join:2000-07-17
Conway, SC
 ·HTC Inc.
| reply to pog
Thanks for your hard work pog, it's really appreciated.
I liked your last plug-in and use it often.
This one looks really good, I'll try it out, and thanks again.
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Dreams come true. Without that possibility, nature would not incite us to have them. |
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pog
Premium
join:2004-06-03
Kihei, HI
·Hawaiian Telcom
| reply to pog
I've done a bit more on this one... it's a great learning experience for me, I must say!!!
For anyone that does not know why "Lab" is kewl: »LAB Edits - Side by side
Anyway, the controls are basically the same as before. I don't have a decent histogram working yet but there are some image stats... the stats are based on the portion of the image displayed in the preview only. Still, this is the main reason I started writing this plugin... I was having a very hard time keeping things within the RBG working space. The stats should be helpful.
PENTAX *ist DS
77mm 1/320th F5 ISO200
original image
PENTAX *ist DS
77mm 1/320th F5 ISO200
default settings
PENTAX *ist DS
77mm 1/320th F5 ISO200
"non-destructive" coloring
It's not actually non-destructive... but it's close enough for me.
PENTAX *ist DS
77mm 1/320th F5 ISO200
semi-random monotone
The other reason for writing this plugin was for me to see first hand how one thing affects another... this is why there are so many sliders... and why they have so much range. I don't know that any of this is better than what could be accomplished natively with Photoshop/et al... but I think it would be pretty hard to duplicate some of the effects of this plugin...
Anyway, if anyone's interested, here's the updated plugin along with 2 presets that were used in this post (save/load of presets is working now )
pog_lab_blender.zip 127539 bytes
zipped .8bf and 2 presets
As before, unzip to your plugins folder... this is still alpha software, so it's not all prettied up or fully tested yet.
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My Site |
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altermatt
Premium
join:2004-01-22
White Plains, NY
·Verizon Online DSL
| said by pog  :For anyone that does not know why "Lab" is kewl I didn't until you came out with your first LAB plugin, and now it's a staple in my arsenal; sometimes I'm surprised at the difference it makes! Looking forward to this one, though I admit that at my level, I often use the first one at just the default settings. Haven't yet mastered the thinking behind adjusting each, though the explanation you provided in your post here should go a long way towards getting me started.
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The truth of a thing is the feel of it, not the think of it. -- Stanley Kubrick |
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jaykaykay
4 Ever Young
Premium,MVM
join:2000-04-13
Scottsdale, AZ
·Speakeasy
| reply to pog
If this works as well as your other plug-ins, you've made it a whole lot easier for others to understand and do some phenomenal work. Thank you so much for sharing with us your talents, not only in photography but in writing plug-ins too.
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JKKAge is a very high price to pay for my maturity. If I can't stay young, I can at least stay immature! »www.pbase.com/jaykaykay |
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pog
Premium
join:2004-06-03
Kihei, HI
·Hawaiian Telcom
| reply to pog
I'm glad this might be helpful! Here's another example... I've overdone things a little but the only real clipping issues are on the street sign (solid color anyway) and some highlights here and there that can and should be blown, IMO!
PENTAX *ist DS
77mm 1/250th F11 ISO200
original file
PENTAX *ist DS
77mm 1/250th F11 ISO200
retouched file
plb-haiku_ad···olor.zip 243 bytes
filter settings file
(plb-haiku_add_color.plb)
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My Site |
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jmmay
Jared M
Premium
join:2003-04-15
Loranger, LA | reply to pog
Thanks. Very nice plug in. I will be playing with it a lot.
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When you have to shoot, shoot; don't talk. |
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McSummation
Mmmm, Zeebas Are Tastee.
Premium,MVM
join:2003-08-13
Round Rock, TX | reply to pog
Dumb question from a noob PS user. This is a .plb file, the others I've downloaded from you are .8bf files. My PS v4 does not appear to recognize the .plb file. So, what is a .plb file? |
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pog
Premium
join:2004-06-03
Kihei, HI
·Hawaiian Telcom
| said by McSummation :Dumb question from a noob PS user. This is a .plb file, the others I've downloaded from you are .8bf files. My PS v4 does not appear to recognize the .plb file. So, what is a .plb file? The .plb file is a settings file for the last filter (.8bf) that I uploaded... »Re: [FYI] I'm working on another PS plugin...
.plb ... pog's lab blender
You can save and open settings with this last version, IOW.
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My Site |
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McSummation
Mmmm, Zeebas Are Tastee.
Premium,MVM
join:2003-08-13
Round Rock, TX
·AT&T Southwest
| Yep. fourboxers clued in this, obviously, lost noob. 
I'm learning how to use the PLB plug-in. There's a lot of function there already and it looks like you've got more planned. |
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