The patch tool? External programs?

[greenmorpher]

The Patch tools is offering no function at all. I presume it fell over in beta and we'll get a tool in the next update. Yes? Or is my installation not right.

Same goes for External Programs. Any particular kinds of programs? I am running PTLens as a plug-in -- absolutely no problems, a wonderful addition to PL -- but I wanted to try its stand-alone mode just for fun as an external program. I can select it but PL won’t list it. I tried TextEdit too, just for fun, but again, while it can be selected, it will not list.

Help please?

Cheers Geoff

Geoffrey Heard
General Manager
Bushtrack Enterprises Ltd
http://www.bushtrackpng.com

[Pjotr]

In my Windows7-64bit-version PTLens is listed as an external program when i select it. No problem here with Nik* and others.
Edit: possible solution: after choosing the path to the program you have to hit +button below. I did forgot it several times until recognised it.

[bkh]

Same goes for External Programs. Any particular kinds of programs? I am running PTLens as a plug-in -- absolutely no problems, a wonderful addition to PL -- but I wanted to try its stand-alone mode just for fun as an external program. I can select it but PL won’t list it.

After selecting the external program, use the "+" button to add it to the list. (Frankly, I don't understand why PL doesn't add the chosen program to the list automatically.)

Cheers

Burkhard.

[bkh]

The Patch tools is offering no function at all. I presume it fell over in beta and we'll get a tool in the next update. Yes? Or is my installation not right.

Yes, as the Hubers said in the German forum, it got into the released version by accident. The patch tool has been in the betas even before PL 17 and, afaik, hasn't made any progress since then, so don't expect it too soon. (Works a bit like the repair brush: make a selection and click on the part of the image which should replace the selection – the structure will be copied, but the colour will be adjusted to fit the borders.)

Cheers

Burkhard.

[Herbert123]

Two other applications to test as external "plugins" are Krita and Gimp - with Gimp you gain access to a lot of fun unique filters. Works great.

Krita does not support tiff, so be sure to work with a psd file and send it over as a complete file.

[greenmorpher]

The Patch tools is offering no function at all. I presume it fell over in beta and we'll get a tool in the next update. Yes? Or is my installation not right.

Yes, as the Hubers said in the German forum, it got into the released version by accident. The patch tool has been in the betas even before PL 17 and, afaik, hasn't made any progress since then, so don't expect it too soon. (Works a bit like the repair brush: make a selection and click on the part of the image which should replace the selection – the structure will be copied, but the colour will be adjusted to fit the borders.)

Cheers

Burkhard.

That sounds like a potentially neat kind of tool, Burkhardt. Did you find it so in beta, or is it to close to doing what the repair brush does to matter? If the patch tool potentially offered a useful difference, I would like to see it come to fruition. And hey, the patch tool ikon looks so cool! (How shallow am I? )

Applause to the Hubers for publicly admitting e mistake. How many other developers would have admitted that? I like that.

Cheers, geoff

[OldRadioGuy]

The Patch tools is offering no function at all. I presume it fell over in beta and we'll get a tool in the next update. Yes? Or is my installation not right.

Geoff, I discovered operation by accident. Select a portion of the image that needs repair with one of the lasso tools. Then select the Patch tool and drag the cross-hairs over the part of the image you want to substitute. You'll see the area duplicated within the lasso with feathering outside that boundary. There's an intensity adjustment in Tool Settings but no other control.

A feathering slider is needed, but the tool in its present state is useful in some situations.

Bob

[greenmorpher]

Same goes for External Programs. Any particular kinds of programs? I am running PTLens as a plug-in -- absolutely no problems, a wonderful addition to PL -- but I wanted to try its stand-alone mode just for fun as an external program. I can select it but PL won’t list it.

After selecting the external program, use the "+" button to add it to the list. (Frankly, I don't understand why PL doesn't add the chosen program to the list automatically.)

Cheers

Burkhard.

Hi Burkhardt

Thanks for this. Yes, the "+" is unnecessary -- it should just add the selected program. Further, if there must be a "+" to click, it should be up at the head of the list box and clearly labelled: "+ Add selected program to the list". it should be bigger, and colored green. The "-" should be a contextual alternative, which should show when a program in the list is selected and it should be red colored and read "- delete from list". Double clicking the program in the list should launch the program.

And, of course, the interface shouldbe consistent. Tthe listed programs should show in the menu just as the plug-ins show under "External Programs" and the "External Programs" item should be "Manage External Programs".

Cheers, geoff

[greenmorpher]

Two other applications to test as external "plugins" are Krita and Gimp - with Gimp you gain access to a lot of fun unique filters. Works great.

Krita does not support tiff, so be sure to work with a psd file and send it over as a complete file.

And PTLens app works well in Windows? (Why use the app when the plug-in works perfectly and offers the same functionality?)

I just tested PTLens app as an external program on my Mac (X.6. and it wouldn’t work. I presented it with JPEG files saved out of PL and also with a "virgin" JPEG opened by PL from iPhoto.

1) Edit Active layer: PTLens said it doesn’t support TIFF.

2) Edit document: PTLens app says it doesn’t support TIFF.

3/ Edit Original file: PTLens app says it doesn’t support JPEG!

I stress -- PTLens PLUG-IN works perfectly so whether or not the app works doesn’t matter at all in reality, but hey …!

I’ll let Tom (the PTLens app man) know.

Cheers, geoff

[greenmorpher]

The Patch tools is offering no function at all. I presume it fell over in beta and we'll get a tool in the next update. Yes? Or is my installation not right.

Geoff, I discovered operation by accident. Select a portion of the image that needs repair with one of the lasso tools. Then select the Patch tool and drag the cross-hairs over the part of the image you want to substitute. You'll see the area duplicated within the lasso with feathering outside that boundary. There's an intensity adjustment in Tool Settings but no other control.

A feathering slider is needed, but the tool in its present state is useful in some situations.

Bob

Hiya Bob

Sometimes I wonder whether I am too cautious for my own good. Of course you have to make a selection, that's why it is called "patch" right? Doh!!! (Pass another 26 beers -- Oktoberfest is coming up in Herbertshöhe -- the German name for Kokopo, where I am based, dating back to 1884-1914 when this area of East New Britain was German held. But they didn't change the name of East New Britain to a German name, so far as I know. Why not??? Anyway, the beer's good.)

As you say, a feathering slider. Possibly also some sort of tiling dialog?

The trouble is, I look at it and can see a bit of fun happening, but I'm not sure under what circumstances I could use it in serious action.

Maybe with tiling available, yes?

Cheers, geoff

[photoken]

A feathering slider is needed, but the tool in its present state is useful in some situations.

Yep. Because the patch is feathered into the selection, you have to remember to make your initial selection well away from the edges of the area you want to remove. Then the Patch Tool is definitely useful:

patch 01.png

patch 02.png

[greenmorpher]

A feathering slider is needed, but the tool in its present state is useful in some situations.

Yep. Because the patch is feathered into the selection, you have to remember to make your initial selection well away from the edges of the area you want to remove. Then the Patch Tool is definitely useful:

patch 01.png

patch 02.png

You're cunning as a bag full of monkeys, Bob! Yes, it would be useful -- it would be even more so if when you clicked on the place where you wanted the patch to come from, it showed you an outline of what you are getting. Potentially a nice little tool.

hey, I might be able to get away with only a dozen beers at Oktoberfest!

Cheers, geoff

[greenmorpher]

Two other applications to test as external "plugins" are Krita and Gimp - with Gimp you gain access to a lot of fun unique filters. Works great.

Krita does not support tiff, so be sure to work with a psd file and send it over as a complete file.

And PTLens app works well in Windows? (Why use the app when the plug-in works perfectly and offers the same functionality?)

I just tested PTLens app as an external program on my Mac (X.6. and it wouldn’t work.…

Well, folks, I've consulted by email with Tom the PTLens man and it DOES work -- and just fine too.

The trick is that you do NOT use PTLens APP as the External Program in PL -- you use the third component you get when u download PTLens and that is PTLensEdit.

Add PTLensEdit to PL as an external program and you are laughing.

It won’t handle layers with Alpha channels, however. I ran into some difficulty with this initially because somehow or other, I had Layer>Layer Properties>Use Transparency switched ON as a default so whenever I opened a new image, PL automatically applied this Alpha channel.

Switching that off meant PTLensEdit then worked fine as an external app in PL.

THE TROUBLE NOW IS that I need help to make Add Transparency the default again. Having switched it off, it is reluctant to come back on unless I switch it on when I open each image! And I don’t want to do that. I use it quite a bit and I NEVER erase to the background color. Help, someone, please! If I don’t have it as a default then don't use it for a while, I am likely to forget how to invoke it. Anno bloody Domini and all that.

Cheers, geoff

[bkh]

That sounds like a potentially neat kind of tool, Burkhardt. Did you find it so in beta, or is it to close to doing what the repair brush does to matter? If the patch tool potentially offered a useful difference, I would like to see it come to fruition. And hey, the patch tool ikon looks so cool! (How shallow am I? )

It's quite a while ago that I tried the tool – well before the release of PL 17 – and although it's been there in all the beta versions since then, I never really found a purpose for it. When the replacement area is too different from the area to be replaced, the colour transitions are just too visible, imo.

But they didn't change the name of East New Britain to a German name, so far as I know. Why not???

I was pretty sure they didn't use "New Britain" for one of their colonies and had a quick look. According to the German Wikipedia, New Britain was called Neupommern (New Pomerania, after the German state Pomerania), and the division into "East" and "West" provinces seems to date back only to 1966. Of course, I don't know if either term was ever used by the locals at that time. It's curious that traditions like "Oktoberfest" continue to exist after 100 years (or was it a recent re-invention like everywhere else) – anyway, enjoy the beer!

THE TROUBLE NOW IS that I need help to make Add Transparency the default again. Having switched it off, it is reluctant to come back on unless I switch it on when I open each image! And I don’t want to do that. I use it quite a bit and I NEVER erase to the background color. Help, someone, please! If I don’t have it as a default then don't use it for a while, I am likely to forget how to invoke it. Anno bloody Domini and all that.

Afaik, PL never adds transparency to a picture by itself. You'll always have to turn it on – either explicitly, e.g. by using "Layer Properties …" or by ticking the "Transparency" checkbox in the layer attributes, or implicitly – e. g. the Auto-Transparency tool turns on transparency. Layers created by "New Layer" are also transparent by default.

Cheers

Burkhard.

[photoken]

When the replacement area is too different from the area to be replaced, the colour transitions are just too visible, imo.

I dunno about that. Although there is no tool that I'm aware of that will invisibly clone or patch radically different colours into each other, the Patch Tool worked quite well with complicated subject areas:

fish 01.png

fish 02.png

It's a great way to get a very good (and fast) starting point for object removal. With those fishes, all I needed to do was use a few quick clicks with the Replacement Tool to smooth out a couple of transition areas.

Of course, it makes no sense to ask for an indicator of the source area since the entire image is the source and you're watching in real time what will be patched into the initial selection.