~ Red Praises ~

Class given on 14/05/2009: FilterCam - How to create your own presets

• CodeBastard Redgrave: Greetings everyone! And welcome to this class titled: FilterCam, how to make your own filters
• CodeBastard Redgrave: Before I start rambling on what exactly FilterCam does, I think a video is worth a million words, so I will give you a few minutes to view the following promotional video: http://vimeo.com/3401209
• CodeBastard Redgrave: So, what does FilterCam does?
• CodeBastard Redgrave: Simply put it is a universal camera filter for SecondLife, that works as a HUD. You wear it, and can use different pre-programmed effects called "presets" to enhance your image inworld, directly, without post-processing.
• CodeBastard Redgrave: You can use it for machinima as well as for normal SL (tm) photography. It is an incredibly flexible tool, but also very easy to use for beginners. However, if you have basic knowledge of Photoshop, you can also extend the FilterCam HUD with your own presets, which is the point of this class,
• CodeBastard Redgrave: This said, nobody stated that you could not post-process FilterCam shots ;) There is no limit to your creativity, as many have showcased on Koinup, posting FilterCam shots that were enhanced with post processing in the most creative ways!
• Mary Wickentower: can you use it with windlight presets?
• CodeBastard Redgrave: Since Mary mentions it, FilterCam 1.04 actually actually can force Windlight presets on your viewer but only if you use a RestrainedLife compatible viewer, like the Cool Viewer. Unfortunately this is out of the scope of this class, but if anyone has questions about it, I will be pleased to answer them after the class.
• CodeBastard Redgrave: FilterCam is dead easy to use. You just wear it. Then you should see a bit of chatter that will tell you that FilterCam is initializing. Then you will see the HUD appear on the lower left corner of your screen.
• CodeBastard Redgrave: Please wait until it is fully loaded, since it reads all presets from a notecard contained within the HUD, it can take up to about 30 seconds to fully read the presets.
• CodeBastard Redgrave: Once it is loaded, operation is quite straightforward and easy.
• CodeBastard Redgrave: The only thing you really need to remember, is how to click on the interface.
• CodeBastard Redgrave: A short click, with button pushed for less than half a second, will have as an effect to minimize and maximize the HUD.
• CodeBastard Redgrave: This is to get it out of your way, if you want to point and focus on an object or an avatar, as wearing a HUD that takes your whole screen prevents focusing on inworld objects.
• CodeBastard Redgrave: Then, a longer click, more than half a second, will bring you to the Preset menu.
• CodeBastard Redgrave: This is what the Preset menu looks like. Simple enough. You can navigate until you find the Preset you want, click on the button, and there you go. The selected Preset will take effect immediately.
• CodeBastard Redgrave: Basically, it is all a beginner needs to know to operate FilterCam. I really made it "idiot proof", so beginners could enjoy it as well as advanced users.
• CodeBastard Redgrave: Of course, one thing important to remember, if you want to take snapshots using this HUD, don't forget to check the "Show HUD objects in snapshot" checkbox in your Snapshot dialog window.
• CodeBastard Redgrave: Or else, of course, the HUD filter won't show on your snaps. I also recommend to detach every other HUD you are wearing to avoid them appearing in your snaps, exception made of MachinimaCam, since they are both compatible and can be used together.
• CodeBastard Redgrave: That's it for a primer on FilterCam, we will now examine more advanced FilterCam operation, namely chat commands.
• Mary Wickentower: Not compatible with photodice hud then ?
• CodeBastard Redgrave: FilterCam is completely programmable, and it benefits of an advanced chat command interface, allowing you to tweak and create your own filter presets.
• kafee Iwish: aw can we have some examples on pics
• CodeBastard Redgrave: Sorry Mary, I am not familiar with this HUD. Fact is, every visible HUD will show. If the one you mention is invisible, it would work.
• CodeBastard Redgrave: If you need samples of what FilterCam can do, you can check by tagged pictures on Koinup here: http://www.koinup.com/works/tag/filtercam/
• kafee Iwish: mm yes sure but how look the pic first and how it look after
• CodeBastard Redgrave: So let's proceed to examine the most important FilterCam chat commands. You can have an overview of all commands on the FilterCam documentation page on MechanizedLife.com: http://www.mechanizedlife.com/filtercam-english/
• kafee Iwish: i think tahts what everybody want to see
• CodeBastard Redgrave: I don't have before/after pictures Kafee, i'm sorry.
• kafee Iwish: ah :s
• CodeBastard Redgrave: The documentations are also available in spanish and german, and soon in french too.
• CodeBastard Redgrave: There are 2 chat commands that are primordial to know when creating your own filters using FilterCam. But let's briefly examine how it works.
• CodeBastard Redgrave: FilterCam is a 4 layer screen overlay.
• CodeBastard Redgrave: It covers your entire screen, and 4 superimposed layers allows you to overlay 4 different texture masks.
• CodeBastard Redgrave: The layers are numbered from 0 to 3 inclusively. That totals 4 layer. You have fine tuning control on every of those 4 layers.
• CodeBastard Redgrave: So, you could for example use 4 different textures and superimpose them, control color, transparency, and also glow.
• CodeBastard Redgrave: I made FilterCam before the 1.22 version of the SecondLife viewer, when glow actually had a dramatic effect when worn as a HUD. Today, it's not as important as it was. So glow is almost always set to 0 value.
• CodeBastard Redgrave: Let's examine the first FilterCam command, how to alter filters.
• CodeBastard Redgrave: I think everyone is pretty much familiar how to cast chat commands in SecondLife.
• CodeBastard Redgrave: FilterCam operates on channel 5 by default. You can change the channel as you wish, of course. Read the documentation for more information.
• CodeBastard Redgrave: So, the first command is called "filter". This command allows you to alter the properties of one of your layers.
• CodeBastard Redgrave: The format may seem cryptic at first, but you will quickly get used to it. It always works the same way, and is consistent.
• CodeBastard Redgrave: So, let's say for example, I want to simply change my first layer ( #0 ) to be red, and half transparent.
• CodeBastard Redgrave: I would do: /5filter 0 red 0.5 0
• CodeBastard Redgrave: That means affect layer #0, turn it red, 0.5 transparency, 0 glow
• CodeBastard Redgrave: Then, let's say I want to affect the second layer ( #1 ), to add blue to it, so my final result is a purplish color.
• CodeBastard Redgrave: I would do: /5filter 1 blue 0.5 0
• CodeBastard Redgrave: My two layers (0 and 1) will add up. The red color of layer 0 will add up with the blue color of layer 1, and voila, we have a purple filter.
• CodeBastard Redgrave: You can do the same for all 4 layers, each of them will add up on your screen.
• CodeBastard Redgrave: This will require you a bit of practice first, since it's more advanced, but you will quickly get your way with it.
• CodeBastard Redgrave: In effect, it allows you to control and fine tune every of the 4 layers, to make a complete filter set, that we call Presets.
• CodeBastard Redgrave: Now, what about texture masks?
• CodeBastard Redgrave: To alter the texture on each of the 4 available layers, you will need the "mask" command.
• CodeBastard Redgrave: It is simpler to use than the "filter" command, but works in the same way basically.
• CodeBastard Redgrave: If you examine the content of the HUD, you will see it contains a bunch of textures. All of those can be used to create presets. And of course, you can drop your own textures in there to create your own effects!
• CodeBastard Redgrave: The format is really simple. It's only the layer number, as seen previously, and the name of the texture in your HUD's inventory.
• CodeBastard Redgrave: As an example, I used one of the first FilterCam texture, called "cinema". This texture is simply 2 black stripes, giving you a cinematic effect, much as seen when you go to the movies.
• CodeBastard Redgrave: So with this command: /5mask 0 cinema
• CodeBastard Redgrave: What we do is ask FilterCam to apply the texture called "cinema" on the first layer ( #0 )
• CodeBastard Redgrave: Again, you can do that for the 4 layers, and the alpha textures will overlay, effectively "merging" them on your screen visuals.
• Tuxedoe Karu: can a filter have both a color and texture, or only one each?
• CodeBastard Redgrave: So, those are the 2 basic FilterCam commands that allows you to create any effect by combining layers on your screen, much like Photoshop.
• Honour McMillan: cool :)
• CodeBastard Redgrave: They can Tux, absolutely.
• Tuxedoe Karu: ok, so effectively you can have 4 colors and 4 textures merging
• CodeBastard Redgrave: You can alter transparency to 0.5 on layer 0, for example, and add the cinema texture on the same layer.
• CodeBastard Redgrave: Yes, you can, absolutely.
• [11: 49] Tuxedoe Karu nods, nice
• CodeBastard Redgrave: But remember if you put a color tint on the same layer you have a texture, the color will affect the texture, pretty much like when you tint your clothing in SL.
• Tuxedoe Karu: ok
• CodeBastard Redgrave: So, when you have applied your masks and altered your 4 layers of filter, you are pretty close to have created your own Preset.
• CodeBastard Redgrave: Now, the magic command: the Dump command.
• CodeBastard Redgrave: Simply by typing /5dump, you will obtain what we call a "Dump String" in your chat window.
• [ML] FilterCam HUD v1.04: Current Preset Dump: 0 yellow 0.5 0 cinema 1 white 0.5 0 cinema 2 red 0.1 0 none 3 black 0 0 none
• CodeBastard Redgrave: This "dump string" is an exact snapshot of your actual filters as you applied them.
• CodeBastard Redgrave: Important note: Make sure to apply to all filters and all masks on all layers before "dumping", or else the dump mode will return stupid defaults (this is to be fixed soon).
• CodeBastard Redgrave: Anyways, let's examine briefly what is contained within the "dump string"
• CodeBastard Redgrave: I broke the dump string in 4 lines as you can see. You probably figured out that it sounds pretty much like the same syntax as the "filter" and "mask" commands merged together. Well, it's prettu much exactly what it is.
• CodeBastard Redgrave: The dump string is virtually separated into 4 blocks, one for each filters, and contains all parameters you previously set your "filter" and "mask" commands to.
• CodeBastard Redgrave: So, to put it shortly, a "dump string" can be used to create your own Presets in the _preset notecard.
• CodeBastard Redgrave: Now that we created our filter, and we have our "dump string" in hand, we can use the dump string to create a new Preset.
• CodeBastard Redgrave: To get to the "_preset" notecard, one needs to actually edit the HUD that is present on their screen.
• CodeBastard Redgrave: In the HUD's inventory, you will notice that the first object is called "_preset". This is the notecard containing all of our presets.
• CodeBastard Redgrave: You will also notice that there's a bunch of textures. You can, of course, add your own!
• CodeBastard Redgrave: They are ordinary textures. I recommend making them 1024x1024. You will need to make at least some part of it transparent if you want it to be useful.
• CodeBastard Redgrave: How to make transparent textures is out of the scope of this class, but since most of you are builders and Photoshoppers, this should be no mystery to you.
• CodeBastard Redgrave: Reading a few tutorials on "Alpha channels" with Photoshop should get you there quickly. Once the texture is made, make sure to save it in TGA or PNG format with transparency, upload it inworld, and simply drop in into the FilterCam HUD inventory.
• CodeBastard Redgrave: FilterCam will use the exact same name of the texture that is in the inventory, it is case sensitive too.
• CodeBastard Redgrave: So, let's take a look at what the _preset notecard looks like.
• CodeBastard Redgrave: You will notice that there's one line per Preset.
• CodeBastard Redgrave: The format is really simple.
• CodeBastard Redgrave: Basically, it's your preset name, followed by a pipe symbol ( | ) and the infamous dump string.
• CodeBastard Redgrave: Preset names must be unique. Preset names cannot exceed 12 characters.
• CodeBastard Redgrave: Those are the only limitations basically. The notecard can contain a few hundred presets, which are only limited by script memory. Script memory is shown when you start the HUD. So if memory is running low, you should be careful not to add more presets.
• CodeBastard Redgrave: A funny thing is that, when you get used to it, you will probably ditch the chat commands, the dump mode all along, and create your own filter presets directly in the notecard.
• CodeBastard Redgrave: You can simply copy one of the lines, like the Default one, paste it at the end of the notecard on it's own like, modify the preset name (change Default to Whatever), and alter the different parameters for every needed layer.
• CodeBastard Redgrave: Save your notecard, stop editing the HUD, et voila. FilterCam will reset and grab your new preset, and make it available in the Preset menu.
• CodeBastard Redgrave: So next time you click on the HUD to get the menu, it will appear in there.
• CodeBastard Redgrave: I will take questions if any of you have some, because I think we are pretty done with how to add up your own presets to FilterCam.
• Sasara Klaar: Codie, I want to make custom textures - what are the aspect ratios of normal, widescreen, and ultrawide? So I can make textures at that size and then squish them to 1024x1024.
• CodeBastard Redgrave: The aspect ratios are the exact same thing as if you dealt with your own PC screen. Normal is 4:3, Widescreen is 16:9.
• CodeBastard Redgrave: As you stated, you will need to "compress" those into 1024x1024 for them not to look super stretched once applied as filters.
• Sasara Klaar: and ultrawide?
• CodeBastard Redgrave: Ultrawide is a bit weird, you may need to experiment. They are something like 16:5
• Sasara Klaar: ok, great, thanks
• CodeBastard Redgrave: I made the Ultrawide setting after a report from a friend that had a wide screen laptop that was very low on heigth, but super wide.
• CodeBastard Redgrave: A small note, please remember that you can add up to 4 masks. So if you want to cross your own masks with existing FilterCam masks, you totally can do that.
• CodeBastard Redgrave: Any other question?
• Tesa Jewell: Thank You Codie, going to play with it later today. This is fun ㋡
• CodeBastard Redgrave: Pleasure Tesa! XD
• Kiya McMahon: pfew looks like there is some work to do on it..
• CodeBastard Redgrave: I plan to have a way, in the future, to actually share masks and presets. So you will get some news about it when it is implemented.
• Kiya McMahon: ooh that would be great
• Tesa Jewell: yay !
• Kiya McMahon: Thanks Codie.. I'll play with it definately
• CodeBastard Redgrave: Yes! I think FilterCam users will appreciate having a way to exchange those. Note that you can always send the textures to someone, and copy them your Preset notecard.
• Sasara Klaar: How do you feel about aftermarket selling of masks/presets?
• CodeBastard Redgrave: If there is no other question, we will close this class =)
• CodeBastard Redgrave: I have no problems with that Sasara, as long as it respects authorship of the mask textures.
• Tuxedoe Karu: Thank you ;-)
• CodeBastard Redgrave: Note that all textures contained within FilterCam are copyrighted by Ryker Beck, but are put free of use for everyone that wants to use them.
• CodeBastard Redgrave: If there is no other question, we will conclude this class =)