Download parameter file “bug05.ink”
I’ve found a new toy.
It makes everything look like it was ripped out of an old book, so to speak.
Costs money. $15 US. Fully functional demo download.
Just like uscomic.8bf, it often takes uninteresting images and transforms them, lifting them to higher quanta.
People like me need all the help they can get.
I mostly use the Bayer pattern, but the bubbles can be pretty good too.
I use queen (or burn), softlight, or procedural+. Overlay has worked once or twice. Some of them seem to do the same thing.
I think you’ve got 2 weeks to buy it before it stops working, but maybe you can rip them off for longer.
Download parameter file “bug17.ink”
It’s one of the cheapest filters made by Flaming Pear, but it’s also their best. I tried out a bunch of the other more expensive ones, but I didn’t find them useful. I don’t think freaks like me are their target market.
I think it just adds a patterned layer and merges it with a preset method, but the Bayer method is a little more sophisticated. I’m just guessing.
One of the best rationalizations for not paying for shareware is: I’m not finished checking it out yet, I need another year. The next one is: I’m not a rich professional like they are, so I don’t need to pay. Next: If they want people to buy it, then why are they giving it away for free? After that: Pretty soon I’m going to be so sick of using this thing I won’t want it anymore, and why should I pay for something I don’t want? Finally: Stealing is a victimless crime, like throwing a rock into a crowd.
When used with the GIMP it’s really slow. Which is too bad since the GIMP has tear off menus which makes it a lot more convenient to access frequently used filters. XnView is much faster, but it’s hard getting used to having only one level of undo.
Download parameter file “beetle05b.ink”
What does it do? It dithers the image using a variety of patterns. Not really, but that’s the general effect. Dithering is much like a texture layer, but it can also re-draw the image, creating something that is categorically different.
Dithering or half-tone patterns can be very creative, altering the color and appearance of the image in intriguing ways. But not always.
Saving as a jpg makes for smooth gradients, but to keep the colors from changing (for the worse) you’ll have to up the quality to the point the file size is ridiculously big. I save them as 256 color pngs, indexed in Irfanview which has a good dithering algorithm that preserves gradients adequately.
When something works out well, ask yourself why and try to reproduce those conditions. Digital skill is all about becoming part of the algorithm.
Download parameter file “crown09q.ink”
Filters are tools, they don’t do anything on their own. That just about describes me too. Computers make everything so easy. That’s why we’ve accomplished so much.
This filter really works well with the Inkblot Kaos fractal program. I only use the first “stalks” setting, but that one makes such awesome stuff I wouldn’t have time for any others. The formula parser allows you to dream up enough creative variations to keep you busy for ages.
I think of the two programs as a team: Inkblot is the pottery wheel which forms the clay, India Ink is the kiln that fires it and adds the glaze.
Tim,
You can do some amazing things with those filters, especially flaming pear.
I used flaming pear several years ago and it was one of my favorites until it expired. Some of the other filters that were interesting were the ones that created solar flares.
Thanks for the post processed images that are on display here at orbit trap. I think they are unique and add the sites appeal.
regards,
Steve
Yesirree, I’ve got nothing but praise for them filter writing guys. There for a while it was me an’ melancholytron all the way baby.
And I know I read here somewhere recently how the .8bf files can be applied in UF. So that’s a new trick fer me (as opposed to Fermi).
And while we’re on the subject of filters let me (please?) mention the other neat collection of stuff called “actions” (Dunno if UF has >that< feature. Don't got the latest one yet but boy ohboy come this thursday!). Actions is merely the recording of steps done so they can be repeated again later on. There was a collection of them for sale I think on Renderosity (though it might've been Daz)that converted the pix into different kinds of line drawing -- trees cool. I sometimes actually despair that (Virgil) Finlay or (Maxfield) Parrish* never got the chance to play like we do. They’re gone, but we ain’t and those guys certainly were giants with broad enough shoulders upon which we all may stand. Speaking of that now familiar Devil/Angel trick, did you know Newton (yep the very same one) had kind of a “humorous” mean streak in him? When he made that quip about see farther,yadda,yadda,shoulders of giants,so-forth-and-so-on… he was addressing a midget? *or (Aubrey) Beardsley — going back to Panny’s “First there’s this cigar,see? then there’s not, then there is”, contribution. (If you missed it — I humbly refer you to the B52’s lyric entitled “Monster” for a precise)
Thanks for the compliment, Steve. Of course your programs have contributed a lot to the final results. Inkblot expecially produces these very pale gradients that India Ink reacts with very favourably.
I haven’t checked out the solar flare filter or the one John mentioned, Melancholytron, but I probably will now. I found another one called “Illustrator” by Peter Bailey of Xero, his company, I guess. I creates a wonderful ink illustration effect. It’s part of a multi-filter download.
John, I think the actions your referring to are usually called “scripts” if I’m thinking of the right thing. The GIMP does scripting, called “Script-fu” and it’s also a series of graphic operations each of which are separate functions the graphics program does. It’s amazing really, because all of these scripts are merely combinations of effects that users have discovered on their own.