Features Already Requested

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http://filterforge.wikispaces.com/Fea...st+Archive

Alright guys & gals, I spent a few hours hunting through the feature request forum to compile the following list. Naturally, the list contains only 'open' feature requests (i.e. those not implemented yet), and I have included only those feature requests that the FF team has commented on in some way, plus those of monumental importance they chose to not comment on. A 'feature assessment by FF team (as perceived by Crapadilla)' has been added in parenthesis behind each feature request. I assume no liability for correctness or completeness!

Alright, here it comes...




First, some general quotes on feature requests, to get you into the proper mood:

"Any operation that is not unique for Filter Forge and can be done with other tools automatically gets a lower priority on our to-do list."
-- Vladimir Golovin

"We prefer to spend our resources on adding things that cannot be done in other software, rather than reinventing the wheel by adding stuff that can be done with thousands of other programs, many of them free."
-- Vladimir Golovin

"Our codebase for pattern components is currently based on rounded rectangles, and to introduce hexagonal tiling (or any tiling based on non-rectangular polygons) will require a new codebase. We'll probably rewrite it in the future, but this is currently a low-priority item."
-- Vladimir Golovin

"Entities should not be multiplied beyond necessity."
-- William of Ockham

GENERAL

- 3dsmax/maya/xsi/cinema4d plugin. (Considered)
- After Effects/combustion plugin. (Considered)
- OpenGL/DirectX preview window showing combined filter maps on a 3D sphere/cube. (Considered, low priority)
- Animation capability. (Often requested...)
- Simple keyframing & batch render. (Painfully often requested...)
- Compile .8bf files from FF filters. (Abandon all hope all ye who request this! No cushions for you!)
- Random filter generation. (Not very likely to happen ever! We hates it, we hates it,'dem crappy filters!)

RENDERING ARCHITECTURE

General

- Unclamped float pipeline (Non-clipped HDRI). (Planned)
- Multi-pass rendering. (Postponed for future releases)
- Fresnel reflection approximation. (Already there, but no UI)
- Render region. (Considered)
- More Anti-Aliasing kernels. (Considered)
- Hair/Fur filter type (as in Simple/Surface/Hair). (Planned, low priority)
- Toon filter type (as in Simple/Surface/Toon). (Unlikely)

Seamless Tiling

- Locking texture edges for producing tile-sets. (?)
- Global Force Seamless Tiling on/off option. (Planned, low priority)
- Support for non-seamless filters. (Currently planned for version 2.0)

Lighting & Shadows

- Direct Lighting (Phong-based multiple point lighting). (Already there, but no UI)
- Shadows via Ambient Occlusion. (Prototyped, but very slow)
- Hard Shadows. (Unlikely, very expensive to render)

Render Maps

- Transparency map (Inverted Alpha). (Considered)
- Export/save multiple render maps at once. (Planned)
- Custom Render Maps. (Considered)

PHOTOSHOP INTEGRATION

- Support for more than one PS layer. (Not supported in Adobe Photoshop SDK v6.0, which is used for compatability)

MAIN UI

General Usability

- Menu option to revert to Default lifesaver image. (Planned)
- Drag & Drop images into the filter preview window as a fast way to 'open image'. (Planned)
- Open current render as external image. (?)
- Ability to rename filter without launching editor. (?)
- Undo/Redo for the Main program window! (Planned)
- Numeric fields should show more digits. (Planned)
- Numeric fields should support basic arithmetic operations. (suggestion didn't go down particularly well.)
- Display filename of currently loaded image. (Planned)

Filter Browser

- Collapse Filter browser to make room for Filter controls. (?)
- Customizable 'MyFilters' category including sub-folders. (?)
- Set location of 'MyFilters' folder. (?)

Randomizer

- more randomizer fine-control. (Planned)
- locking controls to exclude them from randomization. (Planned, low priority)

Filter Presets

- ability to name presets. (Planned)
- reorder presets via drag & drop. (?)
- More than 20 factory presets per filter. (Considered)

Filter Info Tab

- make author's name a hyperlink to 'All filters of that author' page. (Planned)

FILTER EDITOR

General UI

- Large Preview. (Considered)
- Ability to minimize program window. (Planned)

Node-Network Editing

- Drag&Drop component component into an existing connection between two nodes, automatically connecting inputs/outputs. (Planned)
- Lift component from a connection without destroying the data stream. (Planned)
- Switch foreground/background inputs of blend via hotkey. (Planned)
- Mute/Passthrough component. (?)
- Locking components from editing (paramter values, connections, position). (?)
- Component Grouping / Subroutines. (Planned, high priority)
- Push-pin/null/pass-thru component to 'bend' connections. (Considered)
- Double-click slider title on the settings tab to quickly locate coresponding component. (Planned)
- Add components via dropdown menu or context menu. (Overhaul of component panel planned)

Filter Controls

- control ghosting for 'unused' controls. (?)
- separators between controls (via 'Order of Controls' form). (Considered)
- dividing the Filter Controls into sub-categories. (?)

Order of Controls form

- Support drag & drop. (Planned)
- Select multiple controls to move them at once. (Planned)

Filter Properties

- Disable 'Size, pixels' control slider on Filter Settings tab. (Considered)
- Disable 'Variation' control slider on Filter Settings tab. (Considered)
- Disable 'Randomizer' (or certain kinds of randomization) on Filter Settings tab. (Considered)

Components

- SDK for coding components. (Not planned)
- Collapsing/minimizing components. (Prototyped, tested and rejected)
- Spline/Vector paint. (Not planned)
- Ability to set component presets (default values). (Planned, low priority)
- Probability Maps for Worley-based noises. (Unlikely)
- Particles and particle trails acting on image and gradient-based forcefields. (?)
- noise types that are much more regular variants of the standard perlin/worley types. (didn't appear to go down well!)
- 'Fixed' and 'Proportional' options for gradients. (Considered)

- Absolute Offset. (Planned)
- Bomber components (i.e. particle placement components). (Planned)
- Color Math (arithmetic channel operations). (Planned)
- Color Regions component (various modes). (Considered, but technically difficult)
- Conditional Switch. (Planned, low priority)
- Comments/Notes component. (Planned, low priority)
- Derivative (???) component. (Planned)
- Erode/Dilate (Minimum/Maximum). (Planned)
- Expression component. (Considered)
- Find Edges (Sobel). (Planned)
- Fractal Generators. (Planned, possible issues with Seamlessness)
- Frame component enhancements: NGon corners, asymmetrical frames, square fit. (?)
- Gridwarp. (No word from devs. Issues with Seamlessness?)
- Illumination/Lighting component. (Considered early on, but has been scrapped due to usability/learnability design decisions)
- Mapped Blur ('Depth' Blur). (Planned and already prototyped, but slow)
- Median. (Planned)
- More Gradients (radial, angle, diamond, box). (probably on low priority, as they can be assembled using other components)
- More Noise Types. (Unlikely. You can make tons of noises by using profile inputs, input mapping, noise distortion, etc.)
- More Patterns & Tilings. (Planned, low priority)
- Multiblend component with blend modes. (Not going to happen!)
- NGon/Star shape and geometric primitives generator. (Planned, likely to be introduced alongside bombers)
- Per-pixel Switch. (Considered)
- Polar Coordinates. (Considered)
- Rotate. (Considered, issues with Seamlessness)
- Radial Blur. (?)
- Radial Gradient. (Considered, issues with Seamlessness)
- Reflection component. (Considered early on, but has been scrapped due to usability/learnability design decisions)
- Repeat. (Considered, speed issues)
- Scale. (Considered, issues with Seamlessness & bitmap based components)
- Script component. (Considered)
- Selection of color ranges. (Considered)
- Shadow component. (See 'Lighting & Shadows' above)
- Smart Blur (egde preserving). (Considered)
- Text. (Considered, likely to be introduced alongside bombers)

Curve Components

- Bezier Curve (i.e. user editable curve type). (Planned, but requires serious architectural redesign)

Controls

- Math for controls. (Planned)
- Slider with biased value distribution. (Planned, low priority)
- List Control/Dropdown selector for dropdown menues. (put on hold, possibly scrapped? Suggest again and you'll definitely get no cushions!)
- Ability to customize value ranges of sliders appearing on the Filter Control Tab. (?)

Misc.

- Ability to load more than one source image into a filter. (Planned)

FILTER LIBRARY

- Redesign of categories into a tag-based system. (Considered, categories WILL get redesign eventually)
- Quality Coefficients for authors i.e. ratio of submitted filters to popular filters and editor's picks. (Considered)
- Rendering Speed Classification for Library Filter showing on filter details page. (Considered, but unlikely)
- Include author name along with filter title. (Considered)

WEB-RELATED

- Community collaborative knowledge-base, wiki-style, holding tips, tricks and tutorials. (Considered)


Puh! Additions/corrections are welcome...

Quote
uberzev wrote: Everyone can edit this page... http://filterforge.wikispaces.com/Fea...st+Archive

I guess I should explain further. I made us a wiki that anyone can edit. If you guys would like to collaborate on this or any other document feel free to post there.

If the community finds it useful, we could have this list posted in a sticky thread, and update it every month or so. The list obviously isn't comprehensive, as it doesn't include feature requests submitted via the contact form, but it could be a good place to come to if you suspect your new feature request might be redundant.

Also, this list might serve as a good indicator of the things coming in v2.0. The non-seamless framework for example, and the various components that would go along with it, like Scale, Rotate, etc. Also I suspect, we will see component grouping/subroutines and a new component type for the particle bomber tools.

Dilla, I just took some time to read through the posts....and found that you did a really good job of covering the noteworthy items.....

Someone else edit the wiki other than me so it doesn't feel so lonely there.

Updated the wiki a bit, adding some links, corrections and restructuring.

Quote
Crapadilla wrote: Alright, here it comes...

Man... just looking at this list makes me sick!

Vlad, could you place the link to the wiki into a separate sticky thread (and possibly lock it)?

The thread could be named 'Before posting here, read this!' or something like that. Could save us a lot of redundant posts...

ermmm....

No, but I had fun modifying that little gif quick & dirty, so I guess we're even.

LOL that was a riot.....who needs a comedy club

Quote
Crapadilla wrote: And why would that be?

I don't like to think in terms of 'features' -- I usually concentrate on systems that make features possible. Systems are the core, features are a byproduct.

Quote
uberzev wrote: Ok, where's the systems request forum?

It's right here

Quote
StevieJ wrote: WIKI's getting burried

Its contents are built into FF help system, so there's no need to keep it.
EDIT: Oh, you mean another Wiki, sorry for confusion.

We'll try to set up a Wiki here on filterforge.com -- the only thing which may pose problems is integrating it with our login system. I'll forward this to the web team.

Too early to say

+1 for giving Dilla more publicity.

Quote
Crapadilla wrote: You meant +1 for reducing redundant feature requests, I'm sure.

+1 for clarifying what I meant.

Excellent!

Quote
Vladimir Golovin wrote: Also, it would be great if the feature requests had links to the relevant forum threads, so that anyone could continue the discussion in those threads without spawning new ones on the same topic.

Done.

Yeah, I make suggestions and Dilla gets credit for them...those were the days... LOL...

I find interesting this excellent and very well done list made on 2007 by Crapadilla with a lot of work and where it puts what could be considered, what is planned and what not or has low priority.

It would be interesting to rebuild again this list in 2012 and see which of the things of this list have been already been implemented in Filter Forge 2.0 or FF 3.0 and what still keeps as a request, and what things that perhaps before was considered and know they are not anymore considered, or probably the opossite, that low priority things before, could have a higher priority now.

Quote

Crapadilla wrote: Alright guys & gals, I spent a few hours hunting through the feature request forum to compile the following list. Naturally, the list contains only 'open' feature requests (i.e. those not implemented yet), and I have included only those feature requests that the FF team has commented on in some way, plus those of monumental importance they chose to not comment on. A 'feature assessment by FF team (as perceived by Crapadilla)' has been added in parenthesis behind each feature request. I assume no liability for correctness or completeness! Alright, here it comes... First, some general quotes on feature requests, to get you into the proper mood: Quote "Any operation that is not unique for Filter Forge and can be done with other tools automatically gets a lower priority on our to-do list." -- Vladimir Golovin "We prefer to spend our resources on adding things that cannot be done in other software, rather than reinventing the wheel by adding stuff that can be done with thousands of other programs, many of them free." -- Vladimir Golovin "Our codebase for pattern components is currently based on rounded rectangles, and to introduce hexagonal tiling (or any tiling based on non-rectangular polygons) will require a new codebase. We'll probably rewrite it in the future, but this is currently a low-priority item." -- Vladimir Golovin "Entities should not be multiplied beyond necessity." -- William of Ockham GENERAL - 3dsmax/maya/xsi/cinema4d plugin. (Considered) - After Effects/combustion plugin. (Considered) - OpenGL/DirectX preview window showing combined filter maps on a 3D sphere/cube. (Considered, low priority) - Animation capability. (Often requested...) - Simple keyframing & batch render. (Painfully often requested...) - Compile .8bf files from FF filters. (Abandon all hope all ye who request this! No cushions for you!) - Random filter generation. (Not very likely to happen ever! We hates it, we hates it,'dem crappy filters!) RENDERING ARCHITECTURE General - Unclamped float pipeline (Non-clipped HDRI). (Planned) - Multi-pass rendering. (Postponed for future releases) - Fresnel reflection approximation. (Already there, but no UI) - Render region. (Considered) - More Anti-Aliasing kernels. (Considered) - Hair/Fur filter type (as in Simple/Surface/Hair). (Planned, low priority) - Toon filter type (as in Simple/Surface/Toon). (Unlikely) Seamless Tiling - Locking texture edges for producing tile-sets. (?) - Global Force Seamless Tiling on/off option. (Planned, low priority) - Support for non-seamless filters. (Currently planned for version 2.0) Lighting & Shadows - Direct Lighting (Phong-based multiple point lighting). (Already there, but no UI) - Shadows via Ambient Occlusion. (Prototyped, but very slow) - Hard Shadows. (Unlikely, very expensive to render) Render Maps - Transparency map (Inverted Alpha). (Considered) - Export/save multiple render maps at once. (Planned) - Custom Render Maps. (Considered) PHOTOSHOP INTEGRATION - Support for more than one PS layer. (Not supported in Adobe Photoshop SDK v6.0, which is used for compatability) MAIN UI General Usability - Menu option to revert to Default lifesaver image. (Planned) - Drag & Drop images into the filter preview window as a fast way to 'open image'. (Planned) - Open current render as external image. (?) - Ability to rename filter without launching editor. (?) - Undo/Redo for the Main program window! (Planned) - Numeric fields should show more digits. (Planned) - Numeric fields should support basic arithmetic operations. (suggestion didn't go down particularly well.) - Display filename of currently loaded image. (Planned) Filter Browser - Collapse Filter browser to make room for Filter controls. (?) - Customizable 'MyFilters' category including sub-folders. (?) - Set location of 'MyFilters' folder. (?) Randomizer - more randomizer fine-control. (Planned) - locking controls to exclude them from randomization. (Planned, low priority) Filter Presets - ability to name presets. (Planned) - reorder presets via drag & drop. (?) - More than 20 factory presets per filter. (Considered) Filter Info Tab - make author's name a hyperlink to 'All filters of that author' page. (Planned) FILTER EDITOR General UI - Large Preview. (Considered) - Ability to minimize program window. (Planned) Node-Network Editing - Drag&Drop component component into an existing connection between two nodes, automatically connecting inputs/outputs. (Planned) - Lift component from a connection without destroying the data stream. (Planned) - Switch foreground/background inputs of blend via hotkey. (Planned) - Mute/Passthrough component. (?) - Locking components from editing (paramter values, connections, position). (?) - Component Grouping / Subroutines. (Planned, high priority) - Push-pin/null/pass-thru component to 'bend' connections. (Considered) - Double-click slider title on the settings tab to quickly locate coresponding component. (Planned) - Add components via dropdown menu or context menu. (Overhaul of component panel planned) Filter Controls - control ghosting for 'unused' controls. (?) - separators between controls (via 'Order of Controls' form). (Considered) - dividing the Filter Controls into sub-categories. (?) Order of Controls form - Support drag & drop. (Planned) - Sel ect multiple controls to move them at once. (Planned) Filter Properties - Disable 'Size, pixels' control slider on Filter Settings tab. (Considered) - Disable 'Variation' control slider on Filter Settings tab. (Considered) - Disable 'Randomizer' (or certain kinds of randomization) on Filter Settings tab. (Considered) Components - SDK for coding components. (Not planned) - Collapsing/minimizing components. (Prototyped, tested and rejected) - Spline/Vector paint. (Not planned) - Ability to set component presets (default values). (Planned, low priority) - Probability Maps for Worley-based noises. (Unlikely) - Particles and particle trails acting on image and gradient-based forcefields. (?) - noise types that are much more regular variants of the standard perlin/worley types. (didn't appear to go down well!) - 'Fixed' and 'Proportional' options for gradients. (Considered) - Absolute Offset. (Planned) - Bomber components (i.e. particle placement components). (Planned) - Color Math (arithmetic channel operations). (Planned) - Color Regions component (various modes). (Considered, but technically difficult) - Conditional Switch. (Planned, low priority) - Comments/Notes component. (Planned, low priority) - Derivative (???) component. (Planned) - Erode/Dilate (Minimum/Maximum). (Planned) - Expression component. (Considered) - Find Edges (Sobel). (Planned) - Fractal Generators. (Planned, possible issues with Seamlessness) - Frame component enhancements: NGon corners, asymmetrical frames, square fit. (?) - Gridwarp. (No word fr om devs. Issues with Seamlessness?) - Illumination/Lighting component. (Considered early on, but has been scrapped due to usability/learnability design decisions) - Mapped Blur ('Depth' Blur). (Planned and already prototyped, but slow) - Median. (Planned) - More Gradients (radial, angle, diamond, box). (probably on low priority, as they can be assembled using other components) - More Noise Types. (Unlikely. You can make tons of noises by using profile inputs, input mapping, noise distortion, etc.) - More Patterns & Tilings. (Planned, low priority) - Multiblend component with blend modes. (Not going to happen!) - NGon/Star shape and geometric primitives generator. (Planned, likely to be introduced alongside bombers) - Per-pixel Switch. (Considered) - Polar Coordinates. (Considered) - Rotate. (Considered, issues with Seamlessness) - Radial Blur. (?) - Radial Gradient. (Considered, issues with Seamlessness) - Reflection component. (Considered early on, but has been scrapped due to usability/learnability design decisions) - Repeat. (Considered, speed issues) - Scale. (Considered, issues with Seamlessness & bitmap based components) - Script component. (Considered) - Selection of color ranges. (Considered) - Shadow component. (See 'Lighting & Shadows' above) - Smart Blur (egde preserving). (Considered) - Text. (Considered, likely to be introduced alongside bombers) Curve Components - Bezier Curve (i.e. user editable curve type). (Planned, but requires serious architectural redesign) Controls - Math for controls. (Planned) - Slider with biased value distribution. (Planned, low priority) - List Control/Dropdown selector for dropdown menues. (put on hold, possibly scrapped? Suggest again and you'll definitely get no cushions!) - Ability to customize value ranges of sliders appearing on the Filter Control Tab. (?) Misc. - Ability to load more than one source image into a filter. (Planned) FILTER LIBRARY - Redesign of categories into a tag-based system. (Considered, categories WILL get redesign eventually) - Quality Coefficients for authors i.e. ratio of submitted filters to popular filters and editor's picks. (Considered) - Rendering Speed Classification for Library Filter showing on filter details page. (Considered, but unlikely) - Include author name along with filter title. (Considered) WEB-RELATED - Community collaborative knowledge-base, wiki-style, holding tips, tricks and tutorials. (Considered) Puh! Additions/corrections are welcome...