Two exciting new silhouette series overlays + ADDITIONS

[Arwin Profile]

You're right Andrew, the variations are endless, which is the power of SPE and indeed you have to stay focused on that what you did had in mind, otherwise you lost track (or a lot of time ) But sometimes..

But for the silhouette and any other 'overlay' I think its good to keep the original photo as it is, you can always play with the color, gama, contrast.. by using the Image Treatment tool of SPE when your ready with your image.

For a one-click ready effect or an effect that affect the original image that much (Like a Pastel effect), it's a good idea to give as much control to the effect as possible with a tone and hue node as example.

It's also better in case you, as example, use two of your grids on one image, this will make the color of the photo, in this case, stronger with every grid you apply.

But, thats what I think

Looking forward to see your 'Colored window frames and grids' and thank you a bunch for the congratulations on my Stage Light effects, really appreciated!


Here is an example (combined in one image) of your altered 'Ab silhouette figures', gives them a nice neon look

Shall I do this for the whole serie and upload them?

Cheers,
Arwin

[andrewb2012 Profile]

Go for it young man - again a BRILLIANT innovation - I'm more than happy for you to do the rest, after all, the end result here is your idea, not mine. I'll look forward to using them. It has got very exciting here on the forum of late - the creative juices seem to be flowing somewhat!

Great to hear from you - I'm constantly amazed at what can be achieved! We are moving in a new direction at the moment, probably started by your innovative stage lighting effects.

I've been making new border frames and hope to upload them today - using the same 'final' structure as the silhouettes. Again feel free to develop these once they are live!

Keep up the creative output - it is truly wonderful!

Cheers,

Andrew

[Arwin Profile]

Ghehe I think its indeed a small flood of creative juices, but in my case it started with your silhouette figures in which you did put a lot of time and effort to create them, thats why I asked for an approval

Thanks again!

Cheers,
Arwin

[DBenterprises Profile]

I noticed when I G. Blur the windows/grids, sometimes most of the grid disappears in the combined image. It (the grid/window looks just the way I want but combined with my image it mostly disappears). If I decrease some on the radius, then it will all show up but may be less blurry than I wanted. Any explanation for this? Or how I can get more blur without loosing the pattern combined with my image? Hope I explained that correctly. I'm really just beginning to understand how this program works, but it's making much more sense than it did just a week ago.

[Arwin Profile]

Hey DBenterprises!

Good to hear you're more and more familiar with the effect editor in SPE!

Question about the blur, does your structure looks like this one:

Structure.jpg (44.11 KiB) Viewed 4332 times

Ive addded a grid from Andrew on this image which is fully blurred, I can still see the grid, except from the darker spots in the image, which is normal I guess

Full G-Blur on Grid.jpg (148.03 KiB) Viewed 4332 times

[DBenterprises Profile]

Aha! I didn't add a normal merge after the g blur. I had gone straight to multiply merge. Yup, it works now. Thanks a bunch!

[Arwin Profile]

Cool!

[Arwin Profile]

The 'Tree silhouettes series one' looks really awesome Andrew! I think they will be widely used, very handy and useful!

Only thingy I see, and I dont want it to say it to loud, so I will say it very softly "They have the same masking isue"

I've attached some images, I explain..

Image 1: The original photo
Image 2: The photo with one of your tree silhouette effects, you see a small tree on the leftside of the main tree that's half visible.
Image 3: I've masked-out the part of the half tree (and some of the air )
Image 4: The photo with the same tree silhouette effect and mask but without the hue node. (Think this is a beauty and really finished with your effect!)

I think if I want the photo more warm, cold, lighten or darker, I can search for an effect that do just that, instead of being able to do it in a silhouette overlay effect.
Hope it's ok I've pointed this out agian, it's meant as constructive criticism

Again I think the silhouettes series are great and really a nice addition to the SPE gallery!

Cheers and have a good night!
Arwin

(Click to enlarge the image)

Mask Issue Example 1.jpg (272.69 KiB) Viewed 4332 times

Mask Issue Example 2.jpg (296.83 KiB) Viewed 4332 times

[andrewb2012 Profile]

Hi Arwin,

I have already taken on-board all that you have said - however, there is no way that I can adjust effects after they have been submitted to the Effects Gallery (now I personally think that effect creators should be allowed to modify, improve or correct effects when necessary - but that is just my opinion). I totally understand where you are coming from. In an earlier reply I said that I would drop the 'Hue' slider on new effects where that slider would effect the original. But I have uploaded new effects that have a hue node within their structure - but where they have been placed does not affect the original.

One of the MAIN REASONS for the problem occurring in the first place is that if you set all the sliders to '0' (which would make no change to the original) then the sliders simply will not appear. So if you wish to have a slider appear in the final effect you have to give that slider a positive or negative value often exceeding +/- 30 (this indeed alters the original). I would like to be able to chose which sliders appear in the final effect and to be able to set the value to '0'. Now I know this is a source of frustration for others - so I hope Admin will address this problem in the near future, because, as things stand, things are not perfect and could be a lot better.

So rest assure - I have fully understood all that you have said and am almost in full agreement with you. However, let me make one point - there are many users who simply apply and effect at a single click (and perhaps play with a few sliders). When I made the original silhouette effects, I was particularly thinking of them and tried to give them the opportunity to alter the original image a little to suit their taste - believing that many users, especially newbies to Smart Photo Editor might not be familiar with masking techniques. Interestingly, experienced users can, by using 'Manual Edit', achieve results that go far beyond the generic effect - that's the real beauty of SPE.

Another thing that I love about SPE, is that users have the abilty to develop existing effects - so look what has happened recently:

I created a few series of silhouette overlays with the intention of introducing some new elements to the effects gallery. My target group was the more inexperienced ones who might get a real buzz out of adding a character to their image (dare I say it - a BIT OF FUN!). A second intention was to put the whole concept of such overlays before the SPE community in the hope that it would INSPIRE others to create their own (and BETTER) versions of my simplistic models. Now this particular discussion has certainly captured your imagination and that of DBenterprises - both of you found a problem with the effects when using masking technique (which I had not discovered during their creation). Out of this a great deal of cooperation has taken my original effects to new heights and both of you good folks have worked along side me to develop, at least effect structures, that show the untapped potential of SPE. That's what it's all about,

To this end I've started a new discussion (based on ideas from this one) which shows that I have hit a problem, that as yet, I have been unable to resolve in the creation of a new effect.

I would be grateful for your help. To my friend DBenterprises, it would be nice to see some of your work which I'm sure will be inspirational.

Kindest regards,

Andrew

[Arwin Profile]

Hi Andrew,

"I have already taken on-board all that you have said"
Hahaha, I wouldn't say it again, what? "nothing" *shaking his head and saying; nothing, I didn't say anything*

I agree about the ability to have more control on the uploaded effects by the creator, a simple delete option would be the simplest way but there was a discussion before about this.
It is possible to give Tony a list of your effects that can be deleted (so you can upload the improved versions again) he has written a program to do such deletions.

Also agree about the sliders in the effects (0.030 changes to see them) but this is also a matter of time and time is money, so as long it is, as it is, just use sliders when it is really needed, I guess I'm already satisfied with the more sliders (effect control) we will see in the new version of SPE!

But I understand where you're coming from and the way you design your effects, don't want to say anything wrong about that, rather, I learned a lot from your effects! I'm just thinking with you, DBenterprises and any other that like to join the discussion(s)!

And indeed, would be great to see some of your effect designs DBenterprises!

Have a great day!
Arwin