Batch GUI Tool for Windows

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Skybase You don't have to tell me about emulation options, I know them, I own Parallels

Good to know and you are lucky and fortunate to have it, so if you wanted you could use any Windows software, but this does not mean that you have to use it, and of course you are free to use it or not, and no one will force you.

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Skybase Now I'm unable to spare further resources for emulation in general. Since I'm very prolific on these forums, I thought I'd just let aba know that I'm just unavailable

Oh, I see and understand, is not that you can´t use and test it because it is a windows software, is because in this moment you are very busy with other things and you do not want to use the emulation, which is of course respectable and good, and I agree.

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Skybase Which is why I stated "I can't". I don't think it was clear enough.

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Skybase ... psst I'm a mac user, I just can't test anything.

If you right this that you can´t test anything because you are a mac user, for me it means that you can´t use it because this is a Windows software only, and maybe you do not have any Windows emulator and do not want to use it.

But as you have explained it now, is clear

HAVE FOUND A NEW BUG

Code

System.ArgumentOutOfRangeException: Index was out of range. Must be non-negative and less than the size of the collection. Parameter name: index    at System.ThrowHelper.ThrowArgumentOutOfRangeException()    at FFBatchGUI.FFBatchGUI.Run(FilterStack runFilterStack)    at FFBatchGUI.FFBatchGUI.CreateAndExecuteBatchButton_Click(Object sender, EventArgs e)    at System.Windows.Forms.Control.OnClick(EventArgs e)

This is what I have done to get this error - 1 Source image with 6 filters applied to the same image with default preset

1 - Sel ect the first filter fr om Effects --->Photo -->Angel
2 - Select only the default preset
3 - Use a single image as source
4 - Go to stack control and click on add filter
5 - Select second filter fr om Effects --->Photo -->Glow
6 - Select only the default preset
7 - On source image select "same input as previous filter" and then choose previous filter "Angel"
8 - Go to stack control and click on add filter
9 - Repeat steps 5 until 8 until you have a stack control with six different filters (change the filter on step 5)
10 - Go to Run Batch and choose output images as .JPG to a defined source directory output
11 Click on "Create and execute Batch"

You will get the message shown above and here below too

I have tested this 4 times, and all the four times gave me the same error.

I am testing many different possible combinations, specially the ones I have already suggested on page 1 of this thread, and see if they work right and well, then I will make a list with them and put it here.

I have seen also that the tool overwrites any result that has the same name, and does not check if there is already a file saved with the same name.

ABOUT SHOWING THE TIME TAKEN TO RENDER

I have already suggested above to show the time that it takes to render each one, and now instead of using only one, I have made 5 presets from a filter and I got each one of the render time result for each task, although I do not know yet how to make that this is written to a log file

5 presets of 1 filter render times

Hi SpaceRay & Sharandra Thanks for testing!

I solved the bugs you found, hope I didn't miss one.

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SUGGESTION TO BE ABLE TO SHOW THE RENDERING TIME IN SOME WAY OR HAVE A LOG TEXT WITH THEM

I tried it, it was possible but somehow it slowed down the rendering-process, so I won't implement it, sorry. You already found a work-around, can't make it better.

Thumbnails are difficult to decode for me, I would like to implement them but it has to wait (if ever).

I was very disappointed to hear from the filter forge team that they don't even consider to give me a discount on upgrading to FF4 for this tool.

But I won't let you down. I changed the tool so that it can work on FF3 also, I made it possible to use ColorMapControls as extra image inputs, animation now over IntSlider-, Slider-, Angle-, Color- and ColorMap-Controls.
A few changes in the interface (you can see which controls are used for animation and some other slight changes)

I changed the name from FFBatchGUI into FFBatchTool (Filter Forge Batch Tool). I also changed the way how you can download it, you now have to push a button on a simple web page.

I hope that I didn't introduce new bugs, but I had little time to test it all.

After a week or so, if we don't find any bugs, I will start a new thread, so the proper way to download will be at the first message and I can give the message a more compelling title.

Please download the current version at: FFBatchTool Downloadpage

I hope you can keep up the good work testing & commenting.

I am trying it now and now the following works well as before was not possible

1 source image - 5 filters - 1 Preset each one - YES
9 source images - 5 filters - 1 Preset each one - YES
9 source image - 5 filters - All presets for each one - YES

Also before when choosing a Texture filter and choosing in source image "texture (no input image)" and writing the resolution you want, it was ignoring the size, and now it works well, so is fixed also.

Will keep making more tests and put them here, but until now all works very well without problem.

Hi, sooner as expected again a new version.. (0.85 beta)

Now with thumbnails !!!

@ SpaceRay: glad to hear that you like my batch-tool. Thanks for testing! & I hope you will test some more...

Creating the thumbnails will slowdown the startup of the tool. I have a very fast PC, if you think it's too slow, let me know (can make it optional)

Sorry, please try again...

WOW!! You have added already the thumbnails !! I was not expecting that you could do it so fast, it seems that you are a professional programmer and really know much how to do things, and I admire your skills and knowledge about this.

I have tried it and works very well and like very much how you have added the thumbnails, and as Sharandra have said, now is so MUCH better and easier to choose any filter and the presets now, and it makes really a big difference, so now you do not have to remember and/or write somewhere which filter and what presets you wanted, just and simply go to your amazing FFBatchTool and select easily and visually what you want. GREAT!!!

You deserve a prize for making this excellent and very well done tool with so many features and lots of possible things that you can do with it.

Again Thanks a million for making this awesome, amazing and very useful, timesaving and well done tool that changes much the way Filter Forge can be used and opens a big wide new door for things that was not possible before, and knowing that they would not be possible either in the final version of FF 4.0

THE LITTLE BAD THING

When I started version 0.85 it told me that it was missing the path to Filter Forge 4 FFXCmdRenderer-x86.exe, which is true because I do not have it in the default place, and is not wrong, BUT when I went to the preferences to configure and choose the real path for it, it KEEPS telling me that it could not find Filter Forge 4 FFXCmdRenderer-x86.exe and then it forces me to use Filter Forge 3 as it seems to be the first default value, and then if I choose the Filter Forge 3 FFXCmdRenderer-x86.exe it works right

I have to say that I have FF 4.0 in the same exactly same place as before, and FFBatch Tool 0.8 could find without any problem, and I do not know why now it says that it cant find it.

STEPS I DO TO REPRODUCE IT

When starting FFBatchTool it starts with the FF 3.0 configuration and if I try to change this to FF 4.0 it does not work

1 - After starting go to preference tab and choose and change to the right path to Filter Forge 4 FFXCmdRenderer-x86.exe

2 - Then I go to Filter Forge Version menu above and then choose Filter Forge 4 Beta 2

3 - It shows the message that it does not find Filter Forge 4 FFXCmdRenderer-x86.exe, BUT not in the path I have given, it tries to find it in the original default path, and not in the new one.

4 - Goes back to the original Filter Forge 3 version BUT keeping the FF 4.0 path I have put so I have to change it back to the FF 3.0 path if I want to use it

Thanks aba for this new version, I have been making some different test and without any problem.

I have not tried animation yet, and will do it.

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aba filename too long (path + filneame > 255

I suposse that you mean that using a source image that is stored inside "deep" in the hard drive, I mean inside many folders and/or having a long filename that is more than 255 characters.

Well I have not thought about this, and will try this also, as I have some of this images that have a very long name inside many subfloders, so will tell you if it works with them or not, although the solution for this problem is simple also, just move the files closer to a new folder near the root of the hard drive, so it will have a much shorter path.

USING DIFFERENT ANTIALIAS CONFIGURATIONS WITH FFBATCHTOOL

It seems that there is no way to change the antialias settings when you use FF Command Line Renderer, but does not mean that you can´t do it, as I have found a way to do it as alternative

I know that you can store many settings inside the FF filter preset as you can see in this thread here, and the Antialias (AA) setting is one of them inside the preset, so when using FF with your chosen filter, you can choose the level of antialiasing you want to have and then click on "upd ate preset" or make a new preset for this value, so when using the FF Command Line Renderer it will render and use it with that antialias se tting you have choosen.

And to avoid having to go back and forth with the AA settings, you can make a preset for each one of the AA settings that you want to test and as you can choose many different presets inside the FFBatchTool, you can batch process the result with all the AA setting that you want and then without waiting, you can review each one and see wich one gives you a better result

You could let the user decide on the naming and what prefixes to use. Also, wether they should be prefixes or suffixes. Dunno if that would be complicated to implement, but it would be quite nice, saves renaming time. I guess everyone has their own naming conventions

SUGGESTION TO HAVE AN OPTION TO ACTIVATE/DEACTIVATE A PAUSE

As said, I continue thinking about using this great FFBatchTool, also as a FF Benchmark tool to measure the render time, and as you have said that making a log list of the time taken to render each filter is not possible to make, as it would slow down, there is an alternative, I have thought that it could be possible to put a checkbox in the "Run Batch" tab wh ere it could include a "pause" command inside the batch file, so it could wait until you press any key to close.

This would help much to to copy the inside text or make a screenshot

Knowing that there is already shown the time taken for the render inside the DOS windows that it is open when processing the batch, so I could be able to sel ect all the the text and copy it or make a screenshot of that window, BUT the main problem is that this window closes automatically very fast after it finishes all the tasks of the batch, so it is impossible to make a screenshot of that window, so I would suggest to be able to have a pause option.

I have added the pause command manually to the batch file but when you run it, then it opens two windows instead of one, and does not stop`and pause the one that has the batch running

Thanks very much

NOTES:

1 - If you do not now how to sel ect and copy text fr om inside a DOS windows there is a very helpful guide here

To copy text fr om a command prompt window

It seems that you can´t just use the mouse over any part of the DOS windows as it can be seen in this other tutorial

How to Copy Text from Command Prompt or Paste text to Command Prompt in Windows 7
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2 - Also when I say a "DOS window", I am refering to a "command prompt window"

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You could let the user decide on the naming and what prefixes to use

Yes this is possible but I don't know if I'm going to implement this because it will not be easy to make that "user-friendly". But I'll put it on the list.

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Do you mean that you could put the menu of Filter-->Antialias menu options inside the FFBatchTool so you could choose yourself the Antialias setting inside FFbatchTool without doing it on the preset inside Filter Forge?

Yes, I think it could be useful too. I will make a AA-override checkbox to switch the AA completely off for the complete filter-stack. My goal will only be a faster testdrive of bigger images.

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This would be really good and very useful to have, because to test some filters where the AA is important and they are slow, it takes much time waiting for "actual" size preview to see how the Antialias is applied, so if you could choose to have different settings of AA to test, it would render different versions of the same result with different AA settings as it would happen if you had different presets each one with a defined AA setting.

I'm sorry but it would only use one setting. Could make it variable for animation though. You would have to make one preference with no AA and one with max (no other differences), choose the right kind of steps in between (I will let you know that number when I've tried it) and it will render the results. So it could be done. It's on my list.

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what would happen with the built-in AA preset already inside the preset? I think that then the AA setting in FFBatchTool would override and be applied instead of the one inside the preset.

Don't worry, the batchtool makes its own presets for every filter in the stack.

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I have thought that it could be possible to put a checkbox in the "Run Batch" tab where it could include a "pause" command inside the batch file, so it could wait until you press any key to close.

No, I'm sorry that is not possible. I've tried it and it slows down the render process. The way to do that is to copy the complete text that appears after the "Create and execute batch" button and to paste (Ctrl v) that directly in a "command promt window". Don't use the bat file. If run it directly this wat the window will not close. Don't forget to shut-down the render-window that is started by the batch-tool first.

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aba Quote SpaceRay Do you mean that you could put the menu of Filter-->Antialias menu options inside the FFBatchTool so you could choose yourself the Antialias setting inside FFbatchTool without doing it on the preset inside Filter Forge? Yes, I think it could be useful too. I will make a AA-override checkbox to switch the AA completely off for the complete filter-stack. My goal will only be a faster testdrive of bigger images.

Oh, good that would be possible and is good to have it. YES, as you said, it is useful to have it when render a high resolution that could take much time and is better to render it with this tool than with FF itself.

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aba Quote SpaceRay This would be really good and very useful to have, because to test some filters where the AA is important and they are slow, it takes much time waiting for "actual" size preview to see how the Antialias is applied, so if you could choose to have different settings of AA to test, it would render different versions of the same result with different AA settings as it would happen if you had different presets each one with a defined AA setting. I'm sorry but it would only use one setting. Could make it variable for animation though. You would have to make one preference with no AA and one with max (no other differences), choose the right kind of steps in between (I will let you know that number when I've tried it) and it will render the results. So it could be done. It's on my list.

I see that it will be like in FF that you can only use one AA setting each time, when I asked this I had the idea that maybe this AA setting could be applied separately to each stack, and so each stack ciould have a different AA setting, but does not matter if this is not possible it can be done very easily as I said, saving the presets with the stored AA settings in FF itself and then use FFBatchTool.

Sorry that I do not understand what you mean with selecting the minimun and maximum AA. Probably will have to wait until next version that may include this so I can see it and can understand what you mean.

DO NOT NEED ANYMORE TO HAVE A PAUSE IN DOS WINDOWS

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aba Quote SpaceRay I have thought that it could be possible to put a checkbox in the "Run Batch" tab where it could include a "pause" command inside the batch file, so it could wait until you press any key to close. No, I'm sorry that is not possible. I've tried it and it slows down the render process. The way to do that is to copy the complete text that appears after the "Create and execute batch" button and to paste (Ctrl v) that directly in a "command promt window". Don't use the bat file. If run it directly this wat the window will not close. Don't forget to shut-down the render-window that is started by the batch-tool first.

OH, YES, YES !!! This is a very good way, very easy to do and it works very well, and the DOS windows does not close after finishing all the tasks, so is not needed at all any pause option. And also using it this way you can use the mouse to sel ect text, something not possible if done automatically with the batch.

I agree that you have to close the window started by the batch tool and open a new one and paste the batch path and run fr om there, and it works smoothly and very well this way.

If you are reading this first, I have already put two others post above of this one.

SUGGESTION TO GIVE MORE INFORMATION ABOUT SOURCE IMAGE FILES

This below is just and only a suggestion, and something I have though but do not know if it would be possible and easy to include, you of course can know much better than me, and decide if you can and want to include this or not, and you are free to do what you consider best.

After you have included a new feature in version 0.9

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aba under stack control there is a button to show information about your stack (handy if it's complex)

I have had an idea that perhaps it would be useful when having many source images and you do not know really all the ones you have selected and the size resolution they may have.

So I have thought to give the suggestion and ask if there could be an easy way to include more information about the source images files you have selected in the "Source Images" tab.

The only information I think is more important to have is just the filename (without the path and, even perhaps without the extension) and the size resolution in pixels

3 Options I have thought

1 - Considering how you have done for the information about the stack control content, it could be also a button in "Source Images" tab that you click and give you a list of the selected source image files names and the resolution they have.

2 - Instead of adding another button to the source images tab, you could also use the "stack control" button to include in the text that opens also the filename and size resolution of the images that are going to be used

3 - Put a new text block inside the "Source Image" tab in the right side and it could include a list (scrolling if there were to many to fit inside it ) showing the filename and size resolution of the selected images.

Here below I show a mockup screenshot for option 3

Following with the above post about using FFBatch Tool for benchmark, now here is the test that would be very difficult, boring and tiresome to make by hand if it was not done with this great tool

I wanted to have the beautiful and great default preset of Random Bezier Shape by ThreeDee in all the different resolutions to be able to make a collage with them, and so I have made the batch test from 1000x1000 up to 12.500 x 12.500 pixels. Considering that this last one takes 8008 seconds = 2,22 hours I could not be waiting to be finishing until I could make the next one, but thanks to this awesome tool, this text has been VERY EASY to make and just configure once and let it run and that´s all

I know it would be much better to just render one very high resolution and then after use Smart objects for the lower resolutions but for the purpose of using this batch tool, and have already the images made directly at fixed resolutions, and also to use it as a benchmark, I do not use it

Random Bezier Shape by ThreeDee Default preset

1000 x 1000 = 1 minutes 15 seconds
2000 x 2000 = 4 minutes 8 seconds
3000 x 3000 = 8 minutes 47 seconds
4000 x 4000 = 15 minutes 25 seconds
5000 x 5000 = 23 minutes
6000 x 6000 = 32 minutes 48 seconds
7000 x 7000 = 44 minutes 16 seconds
8000 x 8000 = 57 minutes
9000 x 9000 = 1 Hour 19 minutes
10.000 x 10.000 = 1 Hour 45 minutes
12.500 x 12.500 = 2 Hours 22 minutes

The conversion form seconds to minutes and hours has been done with this online tool

Here is the graph chart that I have made thanks to the free http://infogr.am/

Hi ThreeDee that is good te hear
There is one thing puzzeling me though, that's the size value (used in Comic Book by Vladimir Golovin). The new version will hopefully also animate over that, but the value (size_factor in the filter-xml) is a mystery to me.

@SpaceRay I'm very glad that you like and use my tool. I will implement:

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3 - Put a new text block inside the "Source Image" tab in the right side and it could include a list (scrolling if there were to many to fit inside it ) showing the filename and size resolution of the selected images.

I will wait with uploading the new version until somebody finds a bug

@SpaceRay: nice bug
When you stack a filter with the Sperical Displacement filter, you can reduce those steps even more: just load the saved stack, replace input of first filter and hit run...
But you better can wait a week with saving complex stacks because I'm trying to make that more visual. (with nodes just like in FF, no garantee but trying).

@ThreeDee: Awesome filter!!!

Hi SpaceRay, again thanks for testing.
I'm rewriting the tab where you can stack the filters. If it works out there will be a tab where you can see all the filters in the stack as symbols. Then you can "draw" lines between outputs and inputs. No, you won't be able to see previews, it is a batch-tool . This will be useful if you have complex stacks as I do (7 - 9 filters to combine 3d bump maps etc). I think I need a week to reprogram that bit. What I meant is that since I'm rewriting that part, it's useless to test filterstacking now. Just wait and see..

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Mardar If I make a load of tiles in someones filter and then batch render them, will the filter author get credit for it? I wasn't sure if it is directly connected to Filter Forge counter yet as it is in beta. I hope the author is getting credit.

As far as I know when you use FF Command Line Renderer, is the same as if you are using FF itself, as it is using the same core engine and same FF software although not using the FF interface.

Also I have seen that after using much this FFBatchTool when I start the FF software, it puts me the message "may I send the usage...", so I think that is true that the credit is still given when you use FF Command Line Renderer.

Thanks aba, Maybe GMM or someone else can find out about the usage stats. Thanks for trying to answer me anyway.

Thanks GMM I appreciate your response and will be waiting for the answer.

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Kraellin file cant be downloaded and/or 404 error. doesnt seem to be a file with that link any more

Well, I have just tested it and I do not have any problem downloading the file and it is still available without any error

Are you using this download page?

Filter Forge Batch Tool Download Page

Have you tried with another browser?

Hi

I uploaded a new version with a completely different GUI. Hope you like it and I hope that I didn't introduce new bugs ...

Stacking of filters should be very easy now.

Please don't use the older version anymore and try/test/use this one.

Comments / suggestions are welcome...

@SpaceRay I'm glad you like the tool

You can find it at: Filter Forge Batch Tool Download Page