Carnival Colors (Andrew Plugins Volume 18)

The plugin set consists of one plugin and themed around gradients and gradients. The plugin also comes with 77 output / blend modes such as frames and tiling and Solarization and color and pencil sketch edge effects.

Installation of Plugins Set

Please place the 8BF files in the plugins folder (or plug-ins folder). Please place the documentation and any ini files (holding presets) in another folder as required. The install process is not an automatic process. I would suggest copying the plugins into a sub folder of the plugins folder such as 'third party plugins'

Photoshop ® CS 2 [c:\program files\Adobe\Adobe Photoshop CS2\plug-ins\...]

Photoshop ® CS [c:\program files\adobe\photoshop CS\plug-ins\...]

Photoshop ® 7 [c:\program files\adobe\photoshop 7\plug-ins\...]

Paint Shop Pro ® 9 [c:\program files\Jasc Software Inc\Paint Shop Pro\Plugins]

Paint Shop Pro ® 8 [c:\program files\Jasc Software Inc\Paint Shop Pro\Plugins]

Canvas 6 [c:\program files\Canvas 6\Canvas Tools\plugins]

Painter IX [c:\program files\Corel\Corel Painter IX\Plugins]

Illustrator CS 2 [c:\program files\Adobe\Adobe Illustrator CS2\plug-ins]

Expression 3.3 [c:\program files\Expression 3\Plugins]

PhotoImpact 8 [c:\program files\Ulead\Ulead PhotoImpact 8\Plugins]

Please consult your application documentation for others

The presets, I would suggest, should go in a common folder with a structure such as c:\...\preset\blur\... for ease of finding the plugin presets.

The documentation, by default, is in a sub folder of the plugins, but this also can be placed, if required, in a common folder for all plugins.

Removal of plugins

Please simply remove the plugins from the plugin path. Either delete the plugins and the associated ini files from the plugins path or drag them from that folder and place in a storage folder for future use.

Serial Numbers

Please store the serial number file, generally of the format ...Serialno.txt and store this for safe keeping, or write down the details of the serial number included. This will be useful for any updates / upgrades or in contacting graphicxtras for a possible replacement CD. Please note, if you have downloaded the plugins from Shareit site, please (please) make a backup of the file set on CD or a floppy disk (s) or DVD as the download file is generally only available for a short time.

Initial Use of plugin

Please access via the filters menu of Photoshop (or your current application). The plugins appear in the AP categories such as AP [Blur] AP [Color] AP [Distort] AP [Edge] , being the basic category / functionality of the plugin

RGB

The plugins were designed for use with RGB images but they work fine in many color modes such as CMYK and grayscale and LAB modes. The plugins were designed for 8 bit color images but the plugins also work fine in 16 bit / per channel mode, though the results can vary (plugins using negatives will not work well). The plugins can be used in selections as well as on separate channels.

Buttons

The plugins come with (generally) consistent buttons along the button of the dialog for various shortcuts to modify the slider and dropdown settings.

'Xtreme' If you wish to experiment with the plugin and don't want to spend hours moving sliders and controls back and forth, simply click the 'Xtreme' button to randomize most of the settings (not all and not the most extreme of settings). Extreme can result in a wide range of experimental effects or just a blank or single color screen. The xtreme button is a good start point for trying out the plugin(s).

'Color' button randomizes only the color sliders in the bottom center of the dialog, the small red green and blue sliders. The sliders are added post effect / pre output to the image. If you want to create a red output, move the red slider to the right. To create an orange color output, move the blue and green to the left and the red to the right

'Blend' The blend (or output) button randomizes the blend dropdown. The blend dropdown includes 77 output / blend options (at present) and modifies the image accordingly. Some of the blend modes are tiling or mirror options and these work in 99% of plugins, but some of the plugins output the pixels in weird and wonderful ways and the seams of the tiles fail in these. Most of the blend mode options are color based, tweaking the final output by setting the tone or saturation or lightness or red channel and others. Each version of the plugin sets include new output options.

The plugins also come with other buttons but these are labeled relating to the plugin such as a gradient button (randomizes the gradient settings) or pattern (randomizes the pattern settings) or tweak (randomizes only a small number of value settings) or jitter (jitters left or right the current values). Most of the buttons appear on the bottom row but some also appear along the 'row' above (too many buttons..)

'Open Preset' - open a preset file. The preset file is in the same format for all plugins, so it is recommended when saving plugins, save them with the name of the plugin so you can select the required settings. In most cases, it won't matter if you select the incorrect ini file for the plugin, the settings will be set as required but in some cases, this might result in a very extreme image. Once opened and selected, the plugin ini file information will set the sliders for the required effect. The effect might vary from image to image (if the image is a lot bigger or the image is a lot darker etc, the general effect might vary)

'Save preset' - Saves all the current settings. If you are using a plugin called Noise_RandomTimes, I would suggest saving the preset (ini) file to a folder marked 'noise' and then to a file marked 'randomtimes' or 'noise_randomtimes' and ended with the effect type, say 'golden glow' 'warped' 'blue 1' etc

'Reset' - Reset to factory default

'Advanced' - All the dialogs have this button but many will appear to do nothing (the functionality has not been added but will be in the next release). The advanced settings are generally additional sliders that offer various features such as mixing or applying different effect modes such as blurs or randomization.

Note: some of the settings mentioned below will only appear if you click the 'advanced' button.

'100%' etc: Set preview to 100% (slow in some cases..) or 25% (quicker but less accurate)

Backgrounds for the plugin dialog.

The plugin will be displayed with a silver background by default. However, if you want to change the background, please copy the 'Andrewsplugins_background.bmp' file to the PATH folder

The PATH folder is not the real name of the folder, generally the PATH folder is 'c:\windows' but it can be 'c:\winnt' etc or a number of other possible settings. Please check your control panel for the current path setting in the system properties (advanced tab and environmental variables). Please consult your windows documentation for any updates to this. If it is just the c:\windows (and in XP it is), then just copy the Andrews plugin file into that folder. It is a bitmap file and can be any image. A number of variants have been supplied as well _1 _2 _3 and so on, please feel free to use these instead. You can also create your own by using the bitmap file as a template

Dropdowns or Combos

All the plugins come with a number of dropdown or combo controls (lists of functions). All the plugins come with a blend dropdown and this lists 77 blend modes. Some of the plugins come with an effect dropdown (and corresponding mode or strength setting) as well as additional dropdowns to modify the effect. If the dropdown is in the top corner of the plugin, it is a general control dropdown. Dropdowns further down generally offer variants of the effect

You can run through the dropdowns by selecting the dropdown control and using the up and down arrows on the keyboard or just display a large number of dropdown items and select the required entry

Blend dropdown / output dropdown: Controls the final output of the effect. If set to the first entry, the effect is as is without any modification (other than the color sliders). If the dropdown is set to inverse, the output effect is applied in inverse, and so on. Most of the blend options blend the effect and a color channel or effect such as tweaking the red channel or applying a solarisation or posterization to the effect. The dropdown is found next to the red / green / blue slider/trackbars at the bottom of the dialog

Some of the blend options include a border effect or frame so you get the original and the effect but only in the border.

Some of the blending or output options are tiling or mirror options and should work in 99% of cases but some of the plugins modify the pixels and source in many different ways and the complexity of the distortion doesn't allow for any tiling of the output. The tiling options include tiling from different corners (as a tiling of the left corner in some cases might lead to a blank screen or an uninteresting image)

Some of the blend options include edge or sketch like effects such as 'dark edge'

Effect Dropdown - Some of the dialogs have an additional dropdown and this changes the mode of the plugin. The basic mode (or first item) in the dropdown applies the effect as is.. a randomization or edge plugin. If you set the dropdown to tone or shift etc then the effect is used as a source for tone settings or blurs or shifting of pixels etc. The strength of the application being set by the mode slider (generally beneath the dropdown). Each effect mode uses the mode strength in different ways, so shift extreme, it is best to have a 0 or close to 0 setting but the blur or tone etc might have no effect if less than 100.

Preview screen

The preview screen generally starts with a fairly small image (depends on the size of the original image). You can increase the zoom by clicking the zoom slider (+ and -). Hold the shift down as you click to set instantly to 100%. If you set the preview to 25% or 12%, the end result might or might not match the preview, the 100% setting is the best match but also the slowest. Some of the plugins can be very very slow at 100% setting though this depends on the size of the original file. Use the mouse to select the position in the preview by dragging the preview position.

If you right-click the preview, any sliders marked with [R] will be modified based on the position and the size of the dialog. This is more an experimental option and useful way of trying out a wide range of varying effects by right clicks to the preview screen. Some of the dropdown options work in the same way if indicated by a [R]. Some of the [R] options are based on the current color at that point or the position from the top left of the dialog.

Presets

Changed in this version to a saved ini file and opened ini file.

As mentioned above, save the current settings to a reasonably detailed named preset ini file name and use the open command to recall the settings.

Foreground and background colors

Some of the plugins (not all) use the foreground and background color settings in the current color palette to limit the color range of the effect. This is generally the case for the gradient plugins but a number of the output dropdown options take advantage of these colors to modify the output. These are indicated by FG and BG. Using different color settings can totally change the image. You can change the FG and BG in the color palette and then reapply the plugin. Some applications do not supply the BG and FG color information to the plugin and the plugin will fail in these instances or just fill the screen with black or white only

Plugins in the plugins set

Brief description of plugin

Two gradients overlap plugin + combine effects

The plug-in creates two gradients and these gradients are combined in various ways creating unique gradient and color effects and backgrounds.

Basic use

To use, select the plugin from the plugin/filter menu. The plugin appears in the category 18 of the AP series.

The plugin displays its main screen along with a preview (set at some zoom level) and all its various buttons and options and sliders. Many of the buttons have been described in more detail in the general section.

Basic button functionality

The functionality of the buttons is as follow. OK - apply effect; cancel - cancel plugin effect; Xtreme - randomize many of the sliders (not all such as the 'back page' sliders and dropdowns); Color - randomize the color sliders at the bottom of the dialog; Tweak - randomizes a couple of the sliders such as the repeat sliders; Gradient - randomizes the two gradient dropdowns and subsequent gradients and combo used; GModes - randomizes the gradient application mode and the blending between the blur action; Blend - randomizes the blending mode of the effect and original image.

A grayscale world

To try the plugin in a very basic mode would be to click the gradient button. This randomizes the gradients and as there are 12 gradients, 144 gradient mixes are possible even with that basic single button click, all grayscale.

Combine with the real world

You can use the gradients / color effects without any requirements for an original image, a blank file would be fine. If you want to combine the gradient effects and an original image, use the blend modes. The blend mode dropdown can be found at the bottom of the dialog. The dropdown consists of 40+ (ever growing) blend modes. Some useful and some perhaps esoteric. Some use the current color foreground setting or limit the output color to the bounds of the FG and BG color settings, but some apply the effect as an overlay, or apply the effect only to regions where the original image is darker etc, or apply an edged emboss of the original image to the gradient. Of course, after clicking OK you can always just fade the effect or change the blending mode or the blending mode of the layer.

Two pages - your basic and a little more

Instead of just having one set of commands in this plugin, a change. Click the > on the bottom right of the dialog and all the sliders and dropdowns of the first 'page' will vanish and a second set of sliders will appear. These are for varying the coordinate system used by the gradients as well as applying factors to the output. Click the < button and the original first page will be restored. The extreme buttons etc do not modify the second page settings. You might just like the basic coordinates and will have no need for radial or unusual color channel combinations of coordinates for the gradients, but give them a go, as some amazing color effects (even using the basic gradient options) can be created. The factors are just a minor addition, perhaps you want a redder effect.. just up the red factor a little. You can achieve a similar result by modifying the color sliders at the bottom of the dialog but the color sliders add and subtract from the result, these are a multiplication and can prove useful in many effects.

Staying on the main dialog

The main dialog has a number of buttons for experimentation and exploration. The dialog also has two main sub sets of controls: the dropdowns and the sliders.

Repeats sliders

The repeat sliders modify the repeat on a channel by channel basis (for each gradient) of the underlying structure. So if the gradient is a linear, a repeat of 2 will generate two bars or repeats of the gradient pattern.

The repeats sliders are useful for most of the gradient options. By modifying the repeat slider for the red to a different value from the blue or green, you will see different patterns of red and green and blue lines. You can click the link R-G-B slider and that will link the red-green-blue repeats sliders for each gradient. The repeats sliders are not linked gradient-gradient though.

The repeat settings can be modified by using the repeat options on the second page

x1 y1 x2 y2 blur sliders

These sliders can be ignored but if you want to explore a massive range of unusual color effects, check them out. If the blur setting is set to 1 (default), the plugin works as first conceievd, the combination of two gradients. If set to two, the plugin creates the same gradient combination and overlays the gradient over the first pass of the gradient/gradient combo. This would result in exactly the same gradient if the x1 y1 etc are zero as these control the shift of the gradients.

If you set the blur to 10, then 10 passes of the gradients are applied with 10 different 'start' points of the gradient combination and these are blended. The blending depends on the mixBlur slider as well as blur options. Changing the blur option to difference will blend the first gradient pass to the next as a difference option, the next pass will be blended with the combination of the first two passes and shifts of pixels, and so on.

The combination of blur and pixel shifting and blend modes can result in stunning color effects and these can be further modified by changing the gradient combinations as well as the different possible coordinate systems (second page options)

Mix12

This just blends the gradients or the factor of the first gradient applied to the second. The blend is also modified by the gradient blend 12 options such as blend using the 'threshold' (for unusual metallic effects)

Dropdowns or combos

The first two dropdowns are gradient 1 and gradient 2. There are 12 gradient types (and the gradient is modified by the repeats slider) for each.

The plugin combines them based on the third dialog so the output can be the result of the difference of the two gradients (radial and linear or so on.. 144 possibles, though linear and linear without modification of the pixel shift of the origin or the modification of the repeat settings, will result in the same gradient).

1000s of different gradient combinations can be created just via the gradient 1 and 2 and blend modes

The bottom dropdown is for the blur and blending of the gradient-gradient blur passes. I would suggest trying this later after you are familiar with the plugin. The effects can be amazing but the plugin can be slow as the plugin repeats the gradient action as many times as the value of the blur slider

Save

You can also save your current values and settings by clicking the save button. The settings can be recalled as well via the presets and category. The save button saves all the current sliders. Some of the functionality is lost such as the current FG and BG or any randomization

Right click the preview - go on, you know you want to

You can right click with the mouse the preview screen. You can left click and this will reveal the original image and you can move the position of the preview. Right click and the repeat sliders will be set to a factor based on the position either up down or left right. You will notice the repeat sliders change, either getting close together or wider apart. This adds an interesting interactivity to the plugin

Gradients

The plugin can create millions of gradients, even just using a couple of button clicks and setting different coordinate systems and many different powerful gradient effects can be created. But what use are the gradients... the gradients can be used as colorful backgrounds, overlays, applied to text, used as a pattern, or as a displacement map, or use as a selection or ... as with the gradients, the possible uses of the gradients within the application is near unlimited.

Other modes

You can also use the gradients plugin in other modes such as LAB or perhaps use the plugin only in the green channel or the L channel of LAB mode or apply the channel to a selection instead of the whole document.

Repeat settings

Instead of using the basic repeat, there are a few options to break the effect / image into smaller chunks with variant repeat settings. This can create hi-impact jarred gradient effects as well as interesting landscape or zoom effects. Also useful in conjunction with different coordinate systems.

Coordinate Settings

The plugin can use standard x (horizontal) / y (vertical) settings for the calculations. Set the coordinate to 32 for a seamless tile, set to other coordinate systems for unusual warped or slanted grayscale effects or use other coordinate systems to apply different color slants or warping of color paths. Some of the coords also apply the gradient to a part of the image and a different variant gradient to the rest of the image. Some of the coordinate systems are modified by the image color. Use different coordinates to create a vast range of variant gradients

Red Factor / Green Factor / Blue

Modify the intensity of the color for a particular channel, useful if you want a brighter red gradient

Second page / first page - > or <

Access the first or second page of the dialog by clicking the > button and clicking the < to go back. The buttons such as extreme modify none of the second page settings. Most of the 'second page' items are for more advanced effects.

Experimentation settings or Randomize

These checkboxes can be clicked to randomize some of the internal plugin calculations. The values are not stored [NS - not stored] so any resulting image cannot probably ever be re-created and the data is lost after modifying another setting. The randomization is probably not much use unless the blur setting is greater than the default and then the gradients and the blending of the gradients for each pass will be randomized (so the first pass could have a horizontal gradient, vertical gradient, star, star, radial, angular ...) and this will create different and unusual combinations. This can be further modified by changing the blurring method and the gradient blend (the latter can also be randomized). The randomization is also applied to the repeats (though this is the same set of repeats for each pass and gradient and is useful for exploring possible repeat combinations without setting them individually). The randomize xy factor modifies the coordinates applied to each pass and gradient. Instead of using the current coordinates, each pass and gradient has a randomized factor applied to the coordinate, between 0 and 300 and this will compress or expand the gradient coordinate in a random manner creating additional gradient patterns. The randomize variant gradient option randomizes for each color channel of the gradients the basic or sine wave gradient (subtle but perhaps useful). As mentioned, none of these settings (other than the checkbox itself) are saved.

Warp

This setting is an additional feature that has no additional modification If set to 0, no warp will be applied and just the basic gradient will be applied. If set to greater than 0, the output (the effect is applied after all the other settings) warps the original source image based on the warp value. The warp uses the coordinate system, gradients, everything to distort the color channels of the image. The effect can be subtle or extreme and many wonderful colorful pixel shifting distorts can be created. The result, like the gradients, at times, can be coarse and you might like to apply a blur or smoothing or perhaps apply some noise to the image.

Tutorials?

I would love to add some but many of the plugin's effects are pretty esoteric at the best of times, what would I call the tutorials?? Tutorial 1, 2, etc. The best way to see the effects is via the presets. I have saved a number of effects in the initial couple of categories (I haven't filled all the slots as there would be no way for you to save your settings). You can run through the presets by selecting the preset dropdown and then go up and down the preset numbers, displaying an 'animation' of possible effects. So if there are no tutorials at this stage, I would suggest the following steps to learning the plugin

Modify the repeat settings

Modify the gradient settings

Modify the gradient blending modes

Modify the output blend modes / color sliders

Modify the x1 y1 and blur settings + blur blending mode

Modify the coordinate settings on 'second page' as well as tryout some of the experimentation settings

Use the warp.

Use the repeat settings.

For level of complexity of the plugin, I would assume that is the best order of learning the effects. The most destructive and most experimentation is the Xtreme button and this might result in some interesting effects but for 5 out of 10 clicks, the end result might be a near bland screen. The tweak button is probably the least destructive and a good way to explore the settings and variants once you have an interesting gradient combo. The gradient button is probably a good way to explore the range of gradient effects. The GMode button, like the Xtreme, can result in some extreme combinations.

Applications support

98 ME NT XP Photoshop ® CS 2 and CS 1 and 7 (as well as a number of other products such as PSP). The plugins should be fine in a number of products such as Illustrator ®, Canvas ™ PhotoImpact ™, Expression ™, and many others

Questions

Please contact me on support@graphicxtras.com (I might answer on a different mail account though!). If you don't receive a reply, please re-email. I answer all my mail but sometimes the mail is blocked or whatever or lost or something, and replies fail to arrive. You can also call me on the number above or fax a message if required.

Other plugins are available on the site http://www.graphicxtras.com (a collection of all the plugins in the series is also available)

Upgrades are generally available, either as free updates or inexpensive updates/upgrades and these can be obtained via the product pages on the site.

Please store the reference serial number or details of order.

Copyright

The plugins are copyright of 1996-2005 Abneil Software Ltd (Andrew Buckle). This product was released by Abneil Software ltd (UK based company)

Trademarks

Photoshop is registered trademarks of Adobe. We have no connection whatsoever with Adobe. Paint Shop Pro is registered trademark of Corel Corporation, as is Painter and Photo-Paint. Illustrator is registered trademark of Adobe. Other products mentioned are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective owners

Legal Agreement / License Agreement

The plugins are (c) 1996-2005 Andrew Buckle and Abneil Software ltd

The manual is for information only and is in a constant state of update and additions. The manual should not be construed as any commitment to function or use, and we can assume no responsibility for errors or any liability based on the comments made. Please let us know if you find any errors and we will try our best to update the documentation

- Plugins are non-exclusive
- Plugins can be used in multiple products on the same machine
- Plugins uses are royalty-free
- Plugins can be used on any single computer and not as a network source.
- Plugins can be used to create incredible images
- Plugins should not be used to create images that break the law.
- Plugins can be used to create logos etc but all trademarks etc must be checked by you
- Plugins can be backed up (this is definitely recommended)
- Plugins should not be copied onto a CD / DVD / Website and sold as a collection
- Plugins should not be rented etc or sold as is.
- Any copyright notices should not be removed
- Plugins may or may not work with some versions of applications (especially future releases..)
- We give a non-exclusive and nontransferable license to use one (1) copy of the product and related material
- If you don't agree with the license, you must promptly destroy / rip into shreds etc the product and docs

To the max amount permitted by relevant law, in no way shall Abneil Software ltd or our sellers/distributors be liable for damages (this includes, without limits, damages and costs for any loss of profits to the business, or disruption to your business, loss of business info, or other losses) from the use of this plugin set of or inability to create using this plugin graphics product, even if we have been told of the chance of such claims. As some areas of this planet do not allow for the removal or limits on liability for damages, the above limits may not relate to you.