Quick Start: Using the Effect Creator

[darrenp]

EffectEditor.jpg (146.71 KiB) Viewed 22947 times

To create your own effect, click on the 'Effect Editor' button on the right side of the interface.
To edit the node network for an effect you have applied to your image, click with the right mouse button on its tab and select 'Manual Edit'.
To merge two consecutive effects together, click with the right button on the leftmost effect and select 'Merge With ...'.

All of these actions will launch the Effect Editor in the left side panel. The panel is divided into three sections:

• The top section is the Node Toolbar. It organizes the available nodes in groups and also provides a search facility.
• The middle section consists of the Effect Canvas ('the canvas') on which you can build your effect by dragging nodes to it from the Node Toolbar. Just above this is the Effect Canvas Toolbar.
• The bottom section is the Selection List. It displays selections that are available on the input to your effect.

You can adjust the space used by the Effect Editor by using the vertical divider between the side panel and main panel.
You can also adjust the space for the canvas by using the horizontal divider below it, even maximising it so that the Selection List is hidden.

The Node Toolbar

• The available node are organised in groups.
• The first group is a hard-wired set that we thought would be useful for users starting out with the effect editor. Feel free to experiment!
• Drag operations to the canvas to add them to your effect network.
• Search through the available effects by typing keywords into the search tab in the Node Toolbar. Nodes are returned in order of relevance.

The Effect Canvas

• Drag nodes to the canvas from the Node Toolbar.
• Click on a node to select it (or start dragging on an empty part of the canvas to create a 'drag rectangle'). Once selected, nodes can be moved (through dragging) or deleted by pressing the delete button in the Effect Canvas Toolbar or the delete key. You can also add to the current selection by clicking on nodes with the CTRL key pressed.
• Drag from node outputs to node inputs to create links to chain them together.
• Double-click on a node to edit its parameters. Note that some nodes do not have explicit parameters -- you may have to interact with them directly in the right-hand main panel.
• The green circle highlights which node input or output is currently being shown in the right-hand main panel. Click on a node input or output to change what you want to see.

The Effect Canvas Toolbar

• Zoom in and out of the canvas using the first two buttons.
• Click on the auto-layout button to save you the effort of laying out your node network nicely. There are several ways we intend to improve automatic layout. Let us know what you think of it so far...
• You can also select unused nodes. These are nodes that are not contributing to the output of your network. Selecting these (and then deleting them) is intended to help you keep your network tidy.
• Click on the delete button to remove any currently selected nodes.
• Click on 'Add Image' to select an additional image to use as part of your effect. Note that this process creates a Load Image node and a Scale node. These are both necessary. :-)

The Selection List

• Click on 'New' to create a new selection. You will be returned to your effect network once you have created the new selection.
• When your effect is published, it will only be visible to users who have made a selection of the same name.
• Once you have some selections in place, click on 'Edit' to change them.
• Note: you can't currently delete selections.
• Note: currently you can only create selections on the effect's input, not on images you have loaded into the effect.

When your effect is ready for publishing, click on the 'Publish' button within the Effect Canvas. The button should have a green light next to it at this point. If it has an amber light, something is wrong with your effect. The tooltip on the button will tell you what the problem is. Alternatively, you can click the button and a dialog box will come up explaining the problem. Once you have fixed any issues, follow the instructions on the effect publishing page.

Now you have an overview of creating effects, it's time to learn more about the individual nodes. There are many available so here is a list of nodes (in order) that we think will help you start creating your own great effects:

• Merge
• Tone
• Filter
• Gaussian Blur
• Gaussian Smart Blur
• Gradient
• Gradient Map
• Multi Color Match
• Hue Saturation Brightness
• Invert Selection
• Image To Selection
• Depth of Field
• Border

You can also see a full list of filters here.

[thru the lens Profile]

My RH button shows as "Effect Editor" not 'Create Effect'

[admin]

Thanks, thru the lens, we changed the button, but hadn't updated the help. I've fixed it now.

Tony

[SmartPhota Profile]

I think we need a video tutorial on this. It's not clear at all. There are buckets or nodes and things to connect, but I don't see how can I create the connections. Bottomline, the most important part of the program does not have a video tutorial.

[admin]

Hi SmartPhota,

To create a connection: simply drag your mouse from the output (a yellow semi circle on the right of a node) to the input (a yellow semi circle on the left of a node). The best way to get to understand the system is apply an effect you like from the gallery, right click on it and choose "Manual Edit".

You are completely right about the video tutorials, so we are in the process of creating one right now.

Tony

[SmartPhota Profile]

Hi SmartPhota,

To create a connection: simply drag your mouse from the output (a yellow semi circle on the right of a node) to the input (a yellow semi circle on the left of a node). The best way to get to understand the system is apply an effect you like from the gallery, right click on it and choose "Manual Edit".

You are completely right about the video tutorials, so we are in the process of creating one right now.

Tony

I am glad to hear this and that you are so open to suggestions. I cannot wait to try my "creative" skills when I learn to!

[admin]

Hi SmartPhota,

We've uploaded our first set of video tutorials for the effect editor. You can watch them here.

Tony