PLUGIN COMMANDER BETA 2
=======================

Introduction
------------

PlugIn Commander (PiCo) has the following features: 

    Activation and Deactivation of  Photoshop, Premiere and Mediastudio PlugIns 

    Changing the Category of Photoshop Filter Factory (=FF) PlugIns 

    Previewing the Effect of FF PlugIns (If  filters contain the expressions "d" or "c2d" in
    their code, the preview won't be correct!!!) 

    Creating filters without the original Photoshop Filter Factory 

    Convertion of  different file formats related to Filter Factory 
        Converting FF Filter PlugIns from Photoshop to Premiere and back again
        (success rate about 90%!) 
        Converting Old Photoshop FF PlugIns to a newer Version 
        "Compressing" up to 99.999 Photoshop or Premiere FF PlugIns or TXT files into
        a small Filter Factory Library (=FFL) file and "decompressing" them to PlugIns 
        Decoding Photoshop FF PlugIns to ASF file and Premiere FF PlugIns to PFF
        files 
        Encoding TXT file created with Plugin Manager or FFWizard to Photoshop and
        Premiere PlugIns 

    Managing Filter Factory Libraries 

    File/PlugIn Organization: Copying, Moving, Killing, Creating directories, Killing
    directories, Renaming 

    Starting other programs from within PiCo or viewing files by launching the associated
    programs 

PiCo To Do List:

    Conversion from Windows to Macintosh Filter Factory PlugIns and back 

    ZIP Support 

    Premiere Transition Factory Support 

    Better Photoshop FF <-> Premiere FF Conversion 

    FFL View 
        Delete button 

    Filter View: 
        Displaying filters that are located in sub directories 
        Recognition of commercial PlugIns 

    FF Editor: 
        Copy/Paste to Clipboard 
        Code Snippet Database in FF Editor 
        Creating/Editing Premiere Filters 

    List View: Hierarchical view of all FF filters 

    Writing TXT files in the PlugIn Manager and FFWizard format and copying the text to
    the clipboard 

    Windows HELP file 
    etc. 

Minimum Requirements: 

    Hardwear: 
        486DX/66 processor (Pentium recommended) 
        640x480 screen display with 16 Colors (800x600 16bit recommended) 
        8 MB RAM for Win95 / 16 MB for NT (16 MB / 24 MB RAM recommended) 

    Software: 
        Win95 / NT 
        Adobe Photoshop or a compatible application like Paintshop Pro 4 (you'll need
        msvcrt10.dll), Picture Publisher 6/7, Corel Draw 6/7/8, Fractal Painter,
        Colorworks:Net3 etc. 
        Abobe Premiere (if you want to convert Photoshop Plugs to Premiere) 

File Extension Descriptions: 

    *.prm : Premiere (Filter Factory) PlugIn 
    *.8bf :  Photoshop (Filter Factory) PlugIn 
    *.txt :   Text file created with Michael's Plugin Manager or Mario's FFWizard 
    *.afs :   File saved with Photoshop Filter Factory 
    *.pff :   File saved with Premiere Filter Factory 
    *.ffl :    Filter Factory Library - can store up to 99.999 Premiere or Photoshop Filter
    Factory Codes while using a minimum of harddrive space 

Filter Factory Versions:

    Photoshop:

        Version 3.0 (57344 bytes): released 1994 by Adobe 
        white background 

        Version 3.0.4 (49152 bytes): released 1995 by Adobe 
        grey background 

        Alf's Power Toys Version (53760 bytes): created 1995 by Alfredo Mateus 
        white background 

        Johann's Version (49664 bytes): created 1997 by Michael Johannhanwahr 
        grey background, larger preview, copyright display

    Premiere:
        Version 2.51 (50176 bytes): released 1996 by Adobe 
        smaller preview 

        Version 4.2 (50176 bytes): released 1997 by Adobe 
        larger preview, but slider values overlap preview

Filter Sources:

    ffl file source: 
        214 Freeware Filters created by Andrew Buckle : Download AndrewsFilters.zip
        (17K) 
    8bf files source: 
        i/us -- The Plugin Head - Good overview, many filters 
        PC Resources for Photoshop - Main Page - Contents - Hundreds of filters 
    Txt and afs files source: 
        Jan's Premiere Page - there's a 500 K zip with 740 Filters as txt and afs files 

 
Basic Concept
-------------

As you see the centre of PiCo are those two tab sheets that contain the tabs "File View", "Filter View"
and "FFL View". One of the tab sheets is always active the other always passive. When you click on one
it becomes active and the other becomes passive. The background (of the right list box) of the passive tab
sheet becomes grey. As you can see in the picture above the left tab sheet is the passive one. 

All commands are related to the active tab sheet. Some commands use the left list box of the passive tab
sheet e.g FileCopy, Move, Extract, Add, Create Lib, List to File and Convert to. For example selecting
files in the active sheet and pressing Filecopy will copy those files to the directory that is displayed in the
passive sheet. 

PiCo has three differnt views: 

    In the File View directories and files are displayed. 
        From the combo box you can choose which files should be displayes: All FF Formats (files
        with the extension 8bf,prm,txt,asf,pff,vfx,vft), all files (*.*), all Filter Factory Libraries (*.ffl),
        all Photoshop PlugIns(*.8bf), all Premiere PlugIns (*.prm), all Text files (*.txt) and all
        MediaStudio PlugIns (*.vf*). 
        By clicking on those two icons at the buttom of the sheet, you can switch to Premiere's or
        Photoshop's PlugIn directory. If you are using PSP 4 for example and want to use this
        feature, put all your PlugIns in to a sub directory called Plugins in your PSP directory. 
        If you have selected "All Files" in the combo box, you can launch files by double clicking on
        them. By doing that the program that is associated with this file type will showup and display
        the file contens. 

    In the Filter View Filter Factory PlugIns that are in the current directory are displayed by their
    category and name. 
        By double clicking on a category in the left list box all filters of this category are displayed in
        the right list box 
        a "+" infront of the filter name means that the filters is enabled, a "-" means that
        Photoshop/PSP 4 etc. will ignore it. This is achieved by renaming the file extension from "8bf"
        to "8b-", "prm" to "pr-", "vfx" to "-fx" or "vft" to "-ft". With the Enable/Disable button you
        can enable disabled PlugIns and disable enabled PlugIns. 
        To change the category of filters simply select the filters, select the category you want to
        move them to (or create a new category and select it) and finally click on the Change Cat
        button or press <Str +H> or choose Change Category from the Operations menu. 

    Finally there is a FFL (=Filter Factory Library) View which displays the contens of FFL files. 
        You can get in this View by double clicking on a FFL file or hitting <Return> over a FFL File
        or selecting a FFL file and clicking the FFL View tab. If no FFL file is selected, when clicking
        on the FFL View tab the first FFL file in the file list box is automatically selected. If there is no
        FFL file in the file list box the FFL View won't show up. 
        You can add new filters to the displayed FFL file or create a new FFL file from the selected
        entries of the displayed FFL. 

A essential part of PiCo is the Filter Factory Editor. 

    With it you can look at a picture preview of a Photoshop FF PlugIn and edit its file name, filter
    name, category, author, copyright, slider/map names, slider values, filter code and save it by
    pressing Save Plug. 
    You can also write new Photoshop filters and save them without using the original Filter Factory. 
    Furthermore, you are can apply a filter to a loadabel BMP file and save the result. 

Hope these comments helped to have a good start with PlugIn Commander. Maybe not all possibilities
are mentioned, so keep on playing with PiCo's features ... 


FILE VIEW
---------

Convert:

    Converts selected files to the format chosen in the frame beneath this button 

FileCopy

    Copies selected files 

Move

    Move selected files 

Kill

    Wipes selected files off your hard disc and doesn't put them in the trashcan 

Kill Dir

    Wipes a selected directory or the current 

Make Dir

    Creates a new directory 

Rename

    Renames a clicked file 

Create Lib

    Creates a Filter Factory Library from the selected files 

En/Diable:

    Will deactivate the selected Photoshop, Premiere and Mediastudio PlugIns or activate them if they
    are deactivated. If PlugIns are deactivated Photoshop, Premiere or Mediastudio won't recognize
    them and won't display them in the Filter menu or Filter dialog. 

"Photoshop/Premiere Icon"

    By clicking on them the Photoshop or Premiere PlugIn Folder will show up. 

"Combo box"

    Lets you select which file types will be displayed 

Preview:

    Activates the Filter Factory Editor window and displays the name, category, author, copyright,
    sliders, the filter code and a picture preview of selected Filter Factory PlugIn. 

Add:

    You can add Premiere or Photoshop FF Plugs or TXT files to a FFL file. 

Refresh:

    Refreshes the directory and file list. 


Filter View
-----------

FileCopy:

    Copies selected files 

Move:

    Move selected files 

Kill:

    Wipes selected files off your hard disc and doesn't put them in the trashcan 

En/Diable:

    Will deactivate the selected Photoshop, Premiere and Mediastudio PlugIns or activate them if they
    are deactivated. If PlugIns are deactivated Photoshop, Premiere or Mediastudio won't recognize
    them and won't display them in the Filter menu or Filter dialog. 

Change Category:

    Choose the filters you want to put into another category from the right list, choose the category to
    put them to from the left list and then press this button. 

New Cat:

     Create a new Category to put filters into. 

 Preview

    Activates the Filter Factory Editor window and displays the name, category, author, copyright,
    sliders, the filter code and a picture preview of selected Filter Factory PlugIn. 

  
FFL View
--------
  
Extract:

    will turn the selected filters into Photoshop or Premiere Plugs depending in which format they
    where added to the FFL file 

Create Lib:

    Creates another .ffl file using the selected filters 

Search for:

     Enter a seach string and hit <Enter> or click "Search for" and the filters that fit to your search
    string will be selected. 
     PlugIn Commander does a CASE SENSITIVE search and only supports one or two key words!!! 
     Search Operators: 
          && means logical AND 
          ! mean logical NOT 
          | (use Alt + Str + <) means logical OR 
     Search Examples: 
          "Gallery" searches for the string gallery in the filters name,category, author and copyright 
          "Gallery N" searches for all filters with the category <Filter Factory Gallery N> 
          "Gallery&&Mario" searches for filters created by <Mario> and that have the category
        <Filter Factory Gallery> 
          "Gallery N&&Mario" searches for filters created by  <Mario> and with the category
        <Filter Factory Gallery N> 
          "Gallery!Werner Streidt" searches for all filters with the category <Filter Factory
        Gallery>, but excludes those that are written by <Werner Streidt> 
          "(c)|Copyright" searches for all filter that have a copyright 

List to File:

    Exports selected list entries to a text file. 

  
General Commands
----------------

Toggle Select:

      If you press this one, all files/filters already selected will be deselected and those that aren't will be
    selected. So if no file/filter is selected, pressing this button will select all files displayed. 

Run Premiere / Run Photoshop:

    Will start Adobe Premiere or Adobe Photoshop/PSP 4/PicturePublisher, if you have choosen their
    location in the Preferences dialog. 

About:

    Copyright and program information 

Help:

    Display this HTML Help text or a TXT Version 

  
Filter Factory Editor
---------------------

Load Pic

    Load a BMP picture as a preview source 

Save Pic

    Save the filtered picture as a BMP file. 

Save Plug

    Compile a Photoshop PlugIn from the settings in the FF Editor 

Reset

    Reset everything by eraseing the settings 

Update Preview

    Refresh the preview, if "Auto Preview" is deactivated or you edited the filter code. You can achieve
    the same effect by double clicking on the preview box. 

Auto Preview

    Doesn't recalculate the preview when you change a slider value 

"Combobox"

    Is stuffed with all Filter Factory Functions. Choose one and it will be inserted in the code text box at
    the current cursor position. 


Preferences window
------------------

Premiere / Photoshop (or compatible app) Location:

    Lets you select the Premiere and Photoshop/PSP 4/PicturePublisher executables. 

Exit 8bf2prm when running ... :

    Choose wheather you like PiCo to exit when you started one of the mentioned applications. 

Location of PkZip for MSDOS:

    Function not ready yet 


Photoshop FF Conversion:

    Determines which format will be used to write .8bf files when using "Convert", "Extract" and "Save
    Plug". 


Place ?  in front of prm/8bf filename:

    Enter a sign like !,@ or # to be placed in front of  the original file names when using "Convert",
    "Extract" or "Save Plug". This makes it easier to remove unwanted plugins from the Premiere or
    Photoshop PlugIn Folder!!! 

Include sub directories in Filter View:

    Function not ready yet 


Ok

    Your settings will be used and written to the registry after exiting the program. 

Cancel

    Change in the Preference window aren't saved. 


Keyboard Shortcuts
------------------
  
 A - Z
           In a list box: Jump to the first entry beginning with this letter
 Esc 
           Interrupt a command
 Return/Enter
           In a file list: Preview Photoshop PlugIn, look at FFL file or launch associated program
  
 F 1
           Launch Help file
 F 2
           Switch to File View
 F 3
           Switch to Filter View
 F 4
           Switch to FFL View
 F 5 
           Copy a file
 F 6
           Move a file
 F 7 
           Preview a Photoshop PlugIn
 F 8
           Kill a file
  
 Str + F 1
           Display Filter Factory Editor window
 Str + F 2
           Launch Premiere
 Str + F 3
           Launch Photoshop or compatible application
 Str + F 5
           Convert selected files to Photoshop FF PlugIns
 Str + F 6
           Convert selected files to Premiere FF PlugIns
 Str + F 7
           Convert selected files to Photoshop AFS file
 Str + F 8
           Convert selected files to Premiere PFF file
  
 Str + A
           Add a file/filter to a Filter Factory Library (FFL) file
 Str + E
           Enable or Disable a Photoshop, Premiere or Mediastudio PlugIn
 Str + H
           Change the category of Photoshop PlugIn in the Filter View
 Str + O
           Display Options window
 Str + S
           Toggle Select
 Str + T
           Extract a filter from a FFL file in the FFL View
 Str + Z
           (Function not ready yet)
  
 Str + C
           In text boxes: Copy to clipboard
 Str + X
           In text boxes: Cut to clipboard
 Str + V
           In text boxes: Paste from clipboard
  
 F 1
           In Filter Factory Editor: Update Preview
 Str + O
           In Filter Factory Editor: Open new Picture as Preview Source
 Str + P
           In Filter Factory Editor: Save filtered picture
 Str + S
           In Filter Factory Editor: Save Settings as Photoshop PlugIn
 Str + R
           In Filter Factory Editor: Reset all Settings

  

Copyright and Distribution
--------------------------

PlugIn Commander:

(c) 1997 by Raverspassion@hotmail.com 
Distribution of Beta 2 prohibited! 


FFTools.dll and FFactory.dll

(c) 1997 by Michael Johannhanwahr 
Both DLLs are not allowed to be used with other programs than PlugIn Commander or distributed
seperatly without the permission of the author. 
  

Photoshop Filter Factory

(c) 1994/1995 by Adobe Inc. 



