Plugins & External Programs

[Alan9940]

Hello All:

New user to PhotoLine. I would really like to understand how plugins and external programs work with PhotoLine, but have been unsuccessful in getting anything to work. I've searched these boards for help and have seen references to folks using Topaz filters, PTLens, etc, but when I setup and tried to use Topaz Adjust, for example, it crashes on me. I would love to have access to Perfect Effects 8, a few of my Topaz filters, and PTLens; all of which would exponentially increase the usefulness of PL!

First, my assumptions... 1) plugins would be any program with .8bf extension? and 2) external programs are actually mini-applications like Topaz products?

Can anyone help me to understand exactly how to set up these programs in PL, how I would properly access them, and what to expect? For example, in Photoshop when using Topaz filters I always duplicate my layer, and then run the filter since most Topaz filters do not return as a new layer. Should I expect the same functionality in PL?

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Best regards,
AlanH

[OldRadioGuy]

Hi, Alan. Good to see you're giving PhotoLine a try.

... when I setup and tried to use Topaz Adjust, for example, it crashes on me. I would love to have access to Perfect Effects 8, a few of my Topaz filters, and PTLens; all of which would exponentially increase the usefulness of PL!

First, my assumptions... 1) plugins would be any program with .8bf extension? and 2) external programs are actually mini-applications like Topaz products?

Topaz plugins are .8bf plugins on steriods (additional support files), and they run great in PhotoLine. (With some limitations, most can be included as part of a PL action). In Windows, point PL to the main Topaz folder: Edit -> Options.

1-PL Options.jpg

Make certain the "Search in Folders" option is checked. After installation, make a copy of the image layer in PL, then open the Topaz filter from the Filters menu. Once back in PL, you can apply a mask and paint on the mask to limit the filter to only part of the layer or you can use opacity/blends as in Photoshop.

PhotoLine limits the above setup for third-party plugins to four. For more than that, you must copy the plugin files to the Plugins subdirectory in the main PhotoLine program installation directory.

For external programs, including plugin standalones:

3-External Programs.jpg

Filters -> External Programs -> Manage External Programs. Browse to the external program's EXE file, add it, and it will be listed with the other external programs in the filter menu. I use onOne's Perfect Photo Suite 8 and save as a new file when launched from PhotoLine.

I hope this helps a bit.

Bob

[Hoogo]

First, my assumptions... 1) plugins would be any program with .8bf extension? and 2) external programs are actually mini-applications like Topaz products?

Yes, plugins are named .8bf,at least on windows, don't know about Mac. But both versions for 32bit and 64bit are named like that. If you have a 32bit plugin, it will be invisible in 64Bit Photoline, and vice versa.

[Alan9940]

Hello Bob,

First, I probably should have mentioned that I'm on an iMac. That said, however, and with your help I was able to get Topaz Adjust working. THANK YOU!! Now I'm going to have to go out and download/install all my other Topaz plugins...yippee!

But, PTLens is still not working for me. Following your instructions, I went to Filter>External Programs>Manage External Programs, clicked the "+" sign to add PTLens, navigated to my Applications folder and added it (mine has a .app extension which I'm not sure is the same as .exe on Windows side--I'm more familiar in general with Windows platform.) When I click on it to run it, I get a dialog box asking if I want to "Edit Active Layer", "Edit Original", etc, so I take the default "Active Layer" and PL appears to send a temporary TIFF file to PTLens. But, PTLens gives me a message box saying that it doesn't accept TIFF. Any ideas?

Also, since I messed up trying to add Topaz Adjust to PL the other day I now have an entry for it on my External Programs list. When I highlight it and click the "-" sign to remove it, it seems to go away, but not really... When I return via Filter>External Programs it still shows as an entry, and then when I navigate further down via Manage External Programs it's back on the list! Any idea how to permanently remove this entry?

Thanks, again, for your help.

Best regards,
AlanH

[Hoogo]

The webpage of PTLens says that it comes both as standalone and as plugin.
I would prefer "plugin", you don't have to care about file formats, and it fits more easy into the workflow.
"External progam" is especially useful for standalone applications that were not meant to run as plugin.
Did you try to add PTLens as plugin?

[Alan9940]

@Hoogo,

The dmg package for Mac is a complete install--Photoshop plugin, Aperture plugin, stand-alone app, etc--but I failed to copy off the plugin version. Again, like above I was trying to set it up as an external application when it's much simpler and actually works to run as plugin; which, as you said, would be the preferred workflow, anyway. I created a "MyPlugins" folder, placed the PTLens plugin there, pointed PL to it and it works just fine now. Thank you! I'll get there...eventually.

OK, now that I've messed up my External Programs list...any idea how to permanently delete entries that shouldn't be in there? As I said to Bob above, highlighting the entry, clicking the minus sign (to remove), and then "OK" to get out doesn't actually remove the entry. Two items that I've put there by mistake are still on my External Programs list regardless of what I do. Any ideas?

Best regards,
AlanH

[greenmorpher]

Hello Allan

Welcome to the real world of dead easy installations and whatnot provided by the Huber bros.

You will have worked out by now that you can install as many plug-ins as you like in PL Mac -- just stick them in a folder or folders and select that in the Preferences > Extended > Plug-in Modules. You can have four folders in there.

I am running PL 18.5 on OS X.6.8 -- I am sticking with the 6.8 because I want to run Rosetta so I can run Canvas X, Eudora and Personal Manager. So I have PL 18.5 running 64 bit mode and I have PL 17.1 set up to run in 32 bit with Rosetta installed as an Extended Program (my only one, actually) so I can use a couple of the old 32 bit plug-ins which it would be a waste of money buying in 64 bit.

In PL 18.5 running 64 bit, I run the plug-ins Focus Magic, ePaper Press PTLens, Topaz Adjust v.5, and Topaz Remask v.4.

As for deleting apps from Extended Programs -- sorry, no experience and no problem with it.

Of course, if you are desperate you could just delete PL and its preferences ~/Library/Preferences/Photoline, then reinstall. As you have already experienced, installing this program takes all of about 0.0137 second! Totally painless!

Cheers, geoff

[bkh]

OK, now that I've messed up my External Programs list...any idea how to permanently delete entries that shouldn't be in there? As I said to Bob above, highlighting the entry, clicking the minus sign (to remove), and then "OK" to get out doesn't actually remove the entry. Two items that I've put there by mistake are still on my External Programs list regardless of what I do. Any ideas?

Looks like a small bug in PL – if I press the "-" sign, the program entry disappears, but once I quit and re-launch PL, it's back there. I'd remove the unwanted entries to the end of the list and ignore them until this gets fixed. (If this really annoys you, you could remove the entries in the PhotoLine.xml file in the PhotoLine preferences.)

Cheers

Burkhard.

[Alan9940]

@geoff

Thanks for your input. I think I've got everything finally worked. I have 6 of my most used Topaz filters and PTLens installed and working. I have other tools, too, but I'm holding off on installing into PL as I'm trying to avoid the bloat and I'd like to get really comfortable with these tools in PL before I add anything. I'm so thankful for the help on these boards as the internal Help file and other info I tried to find was not very clear on plugin use. Guess I'm more used to the automatic methods of installing these types of things in Photoshop!

@bkh

Wow...actually glad to hear it's a small bug because I thought I was losing what little mind I have left! So, I'm assuming that some day the removal process will work as expected? I will just ignore those entries for now. Thanks!

Best regards,
AlanH

[bkh]

Wow...actually glad to hear it's a small bug because I thought I was losing what little mind I have left! So, I'm assuming that some day the removal process will work as expected? I will just ignore those entries for now. Thanks!

Seems to be already fixed in the just-released beta version (the developers continue to surprise me!), so there should be a fix in the next official version as well.

Cheers

Burkhard.