Can anybody write Photoshop Plugins?

A little thing that has been nagging me for a while. I love rotoscoping in PhotoShop because of the control I have . . . But . . . I hate navigating that huge image.

On the other hand, I prefer the AfterEffects methods only because of the time controls.


Sooo..

Is it possible for someone to write a plugin for PhotoShop that allows frame-by-frame movement at the click of a button.


I was thinking of something where you put in the resolution of the footage, how many frames, etc. While it controls the navigator and *temporarily* crops the image so that you can concentrate on one frame at a time.

What do you guys think?

 

yeah that would be cool, i have many an FX test where i missed about 4 or 5 frames because of the filmstrip setup...

Another cool pluggy idea would be to have something that would make the saber stay still when its in one position for awhile, like how you can do it in AE...

 

I am glad that there is someone out there who likes my idea.

But I can't program . . . so we need to find someone who can and is willing to do so.

I mean it sounds simple enough, no distorting or funny colours, it shouldn't take too long at all.


?

 

It would require you to basically rewrite the program. Photoshop is designed around working on still-frames. There is no option for "frame-by-frame", Photoshop doesn't know multiple frames, it doesn't care. That's what AE is for. For the purposes of lightsabers, AE is basically Photoshop with multi-frame capability.

 

There is one way. Export the images as a series of uncompressed TGAs, a numbered sequence. Open up ten at a time (or whatever your machine will handle). Photoshop will open them and cascade them. Now you can switch between the frames with CTRL-TAB and CTRL-SHIFT-TAB.
-Lokmer

 

Another way of advancing frame by frame on a filmstrip in Photoshop is to size the window to be a little bit taller than a single frame and it's header (or footer, I guess). Basically you size the window so that when you click in the bottom of the scroll bar it will 'jump scroll' down to the next frame in the series. Or instead of using the mouse, hit the 'page down' or 'page up' keys to go through the strip frame by frame. The disadvantage of this is that once you zoom in to 200% (or more) you will have to page down twice to get to the next frame OR resize the window again to include the entire frame). However, you can use the magnifier glass to zoom up, make your change, zoom out, and see how it fits in with the other frames.

It takes a little time to get the window the exact size so that it doesn't drift up or down while advancing. If you haven't done this before I'm sure it sounds confusing, but just try it and decide for yourself.

 

i tried that, but since the filmstrip is also 4 or 5 frames across, you gotta scroll over and stuff, so it works if you got a small filmstrip pretty good...

 

I could program it. Just get me the filmstrip file specifications.

 

I dont think the whole program needs re-writing.

Photoshop does not understand frames and it doesn't have to.

All the plugin needs to do is limit the viewable area of the file to one frame or. . .

(as I will now call it)

region whilst also limiting the editable area as well (to avoid glow spillovers).

The plugin would also have to have the ability to move from frame to frame. . .as simple as changing the coordinates of the 'region'.

The controls for the plugin would probably go best in one of the pallettes.

How hard can it be?

?

 

I'd like to add to what MoffJake said.

I found a way to move exactly one frame at a time with a filmstrip, independent of zoom. I think it was something like SHIFT-PGDN or CTRL-PGDN. It only seems to work on original filmstrips from premiere.

So, if you scroll all the way to the top, then zoom in where you want, you can keep your right hand on the mouse to draw the lines, and your left hand on the 2 keys to advance the frame. This sped up my rotoing significantly.

I don't remember the details, since I haven't roto'd in a while. If I get a chance, I'll check tonight.

 

darth_kohai is exactly right. shift+pgdn will bump down exactly one frame, no matter how close you have zoomed in. ctrl+shift+pgdn will bump one frame horizontally. I usually just use shift and roto one column, then bump over and roto the next column. makes it a little hard to check the flow. I've also used an alternate keyboard with sequences of keystrokes programmed (www.xkeys.com), so i can bump forward or back or left or right with one keystroke.

EDIT: If anyone figures out a good way to write a plug-in to keep track of the current frame, make sure you post in the forum and ensure that everyone sees your wondrous invention.