Edit Procedural Texture

[jc4d]

Hi all,

I'm trying to figure out how to add new parameters to the Live Procedural Texture but I can't get my head around it.

Basically I would like to use the Smoothed bars preset and add a rotation parameter and a way to control the thickness of the black bars and white bars independently, is this possible?

Thanks in advance,
Juan

[Dan C]

Hi jc4d

Please check out the help page for procedural textures, as this details which functions can be used and to what effect -

https://affinity.help/photo/en-US.lproj/index.html?page=pages/Filters/filter_proceduraltexture.html?title=Procedural Texture

I hope this helps!

[gdenby]

I've just started to use Photo regularly, and this procedural texture feature looks amazing. The help files show me a ton of stuff, and I don't quite know where to start. The help examples are good, but he help leaves me wondering. Has anyone out there done a tute, or a more extensive explanation? For instance, does "vec2(rx, ry)" accept values for rx and ry?

 

[jc4d]

13 hours ago, Dan C said:

Hi jc4d

Please check out the help page for procedural textures, as this details which functions can be used and to what effect -

https://affinity.help/photo/en-US.lproj/index.html?page=pages/Filters/filter_proceduraltexture.html?title=Procedural Texture

I hope this helps!

Thank you Dan C. I went through that documentation but that is like alien language for me, it is way too technical for artists if you ask me)

I agree with @gdenby that we need some tuts and more detailed explanation if we want for example to enhance the presets... do we need to add a new line or we just extend the formula?

My wish is that Affinity team makes a revision of it and make user friendly for those who has no math skills (like me) and need more UI driven solution.

Cheers,
Juan

[Dan C]

@James Ritson Could you weigh in here?

7 hours ago, jc4d said:

I went through that documentation but that is like alien language for me

Me too unfortunately, procedural textures are somewhat over my head... AFAIK we've got plans to create tutorials for this, but they're still in the works currently!

[R C-R]

On 6/11/2019 at 3:20 PM, gdenby said:

For instance, does "vec2(rx, ry)" accept values for rx and ry?

That much is one of the (very few!) things I know the answer to ... I think. The answer is "no, not directly" but there is a way to do that, which I explain as best as I can below:

You have to create one or more variables that include the "vec2(rx, ry)" expression. In the help topic, refer to the Using the filter > Variables subtopic. One of the examples sets variable "v" to vec2(rx, ry) by including var v=vec2(rx, ry) in the filter. The Examples section also uses a modified form of this variable (dividing by w snd/or h).

To include a variable in an equation (& it must be included in each equation that uses it), the syntax is simple if not well explained. First, type the text "var" (without the quotes), then a space, then the name of the variable (like v or vignetteh), then the equal sign, then the expression for the variable (like vec2(rx, ry)/w), & finally a semicolon to denote the end of the variable definition.

To make the variable adjustable (variable, as it were?) you can include a custom input in it. Below is a screenshot of my rather lame "MarBL" custom preset, that demonstrates how to use the custom input I named "cn" (short for count), based on the built-in Marble preset (click for a larger view):

I did not bother to add a description to the cn input, which is why the field next to it is empty. If you want to try this, the complete equation is:

var v=vec2(rx,ry)/(200-cn*195); (perlinsc(v,7,0.55)*vec3(0.4,0.15,0.2))+(smoothstepsc(0.4,0.5,0.5,0.6,perlinsc(v/2,5,0.6))*0.5)

As you can see, I have expanded the Procedural texture window wide enough to show the whole thing, but that isn't practical for longer ones, or on smaller screens. As a workaround, what I have doing is copying the equation text into a text editor (for me Apple's TextEdit or the BBEdit app works well), so I don't have to constantly move the text cursor around to get to some part of it, & then pasting back into the proc texture window when I (hopefully) have an equation that will work.

Sorry for the length of this but maybe some of you will find it marginally helpful.

[Petar Petrenko]

I don't have these presets. This is a screenshot from a video tutorial.

[Dan C]

Sorry to hear it Petar, do you have any presets, or are you missing a certain few?

Please see my below video, this shows how you can restore to 'Master Presets', please try this and let me know if it helps. If not please provide a screenshot of the presets you can see in the manager

[gdenby]

12 hours ago, R C-R said:

That much is one of the (very few!) things I know the answer to ... I think. The answer is "no, not directly" but there is a way to do that, which I explain as best as I can below:

You have to create one or more variables that include the "vec2(rx, ry)" expression. In the help topic, refer to the Using the filter > Variables subtopic. One of the examples sets variable "v" to vec2(rx, ry) by including var v=vec2(rx, ry) in the filter. The Examples section also uses a modified form of this variable (dividing by w snd/or h).

To include a variable in an equation (& it must be included in each equation that uses it), the syntax is simple if not well explained. First, type the text "var" (without the quotes), then a space, then the name of the variable (like v or vignetteh), then the equal sign, then the expression for the variable (like vec2(rx, ry)/w), & finally a semicolon to denote the end of the variable definition.

To make the variable adjustable (variable, as it were?) you can include a custom input in it. Below is a screenshot of my rather lame "MarBL" custom preset, that demonstrates how to use the custom input I named "cn" (short for count), based on the built-in Marble preset (click for a larger view):

I did not bother to add a description to the cn input, which is why the field next to it is empty. If you want to try this, the complete equation is:

var v=vec2(rx,ry)/(200-cn*195); (perlinsc(v,7,0.55)*vec3(0.4,0.15,0.2))+(smoothstepsc(0.4,0.5,0.5,0.6,perlinsc(v/2,5,0.6))*0.5)

As you can see, I have expanded the Procedural texture window wide enough to show the whole thing, but that isn't practical for longer ones, or on smaller screens. As a workaround, what I have doing is copying the equation text into a text editor (for me Apple's TextEdit or the BBEdit app works well), so I don't have to constantly move the text cursor around to get to some part of it, & then pasting back into the proc texture window when I (hopefully) have an equation that will work.

Sorry for the length of this but maybe some of you will find it marginally helpful.

Thanks. Its been about 10 years since I did coding (other than learning to write some regular expressions last year), and at least 20 since I did do a couple hours a week. So that knocked some cob-webs loose.

[Petar Petrenko]

10 minutes ago, Dan C said:

Sorry to hear it Petar, do you have any presets, or are you missing a certain few?

yes, I can find it there, but they are missing on the main window, just next to "Equations". I saw on a video tutorial from Olivio Sarkas there are a lot of presets, but I don't have them. Here is the link of the video. It is on 29:05:

 

[Dan C]

I'm sorry to hear this hasn't helped, could you please provide a screenshot of your Procedural Texture adjustment open with the Preset list dropped down?

[Petar Petrenko]

Did you watch the video?

Hre are my presets. Same in Photo Beta and retail version and in Filters and Live filters:

[Dan C]

2 minutes ago, Petar Petrenko said:

Did you watch the video?

I did, this shows the correct list of presets which is the same on my PC here -

I'm going to have to investigate this further with one of our developers as I'm not certain how the presets can be showing in the master but not in the adjustment window, please bare with me here! 

[Petar Petrenko]

Hi Dan,

I preinstalled both retail and beta and now it is OK. The presets are here. One more question:
Why those filters in "Filter" menu which are added as non-destructive in "Layer > New Live Filter Layer", are still there? When all filters will become non-desstructive, this menu should be removed. Or even better -- it could be renamed as "Live Filters" and all live filters should be moved there.

[Petar Petrenko]

Unfortunatelly, when I updated to 1.7.1.390 they dissapeard again on Photo Beta.

[R C-R]

33 minutes ago, Petar Petrenko said:

Unfortunatelly, when I updated to 1.7.1.390 they dissapeard again on Photo Beta.

I'm on a Mac so the particulars may be different, but I just checked this in the current 1.7.1.140 Mac beta. Initially, I saw the same thing: the Live Procedural Texture panel showed no presets at all, just "Reset to empty," but the Preset Manager showed all of them -- both the default ones & the custom ones I had I had created & imported into a previous beta.

I clicked the "Restore Master Presets" button, closed the manager window, but nothing changed in the proc texture one. Then I tried the regular destructive Procedural Texture from the Filers menu & I was a bit surprised to see that they were all there. I then quit & restarted the app & the presets were there in both live & destructive versions of the filter.

I have since quit & restarted the app several times & all the presets are still there. Maybe a variant of what I tried will work for you?

[Petar Petrenko]

They are missing from both, destructive and live filters.

Yesterday, to bring them back, I had to:

1. restart Photo with CTRL,
2. reset ALL settings,
3. uninstall it,
4. install it again.

No other way.

[Petar Petrenko]

Hey, they are back again, after step 2. No need of steps 3 and 4. Just reseting. But, of course, this is not a way to use the app. It must be corrected.

[Dan C]

Thanks for confirming that, I've moved this to our bugs section for our QA team to investigate as I'm not certain what's happening here currently!

[Chris B]

Hey Petar Petrenko,

Sorry about the delay getting back to you.

Can you try this in the current beta? None of us can reproduce which usually makes diagnosing and fixing an issue difficult. I haven't seen any other reports of this either.

[Petar Petrenko]

28 minutes ago, Chris B said:

Hey Petar Petrenko,

Sorry about the delay getting back to you.

Can you try this in the current beta? None of us can reproduce which usually makes diagnosing and fixing an issue difficult. I haven't seen any other reports of this either.

Yes, they are here now. In "Filters > Color" and in "Layer > New Live Filter Layer > Colors".

I can't find "Procedural Texture" in "Layer" Palette under "Live Filters"? Is it OK or not?

[R C-R]

1 hour ago, Petar Petrenko said:

I can't find "Procedural Texture" in "Layer" Palette under "Live Filters"?

You don't see this in the fully expanded list in the popup at the bottom of the Layers panel?

[Petar Petrenko]

1 hour ago, R C-R said:

You don't see this in the fully expanded list in the popup at the bottom of the Layers panel?

Ohhhh! My fault. I didn't see the tiny small rectangle at the bottom of the list. So, I didn't scroll.

[Philipp R]

Hi, I have the same problem as Petar Petrenko. The Presets drop down list in "Filters -> Colours -> Procedural Texture..." is empty! I tried to restore with "Presets Manager-> Restore Master Present". Then I tried to reinstall and clear the settings. No luck! What else can I do.
 

I use Affinity Photo 1.9.0.932

Greets

[Dan C]

Hi @Philipp R,

Welcome to the forums

As I understand it, these presets are RGB presets only, and will not display if your document is in CMYK/LAB/Greyscale.

Can you please confirm for me, if you create a new RGB/8 document, then open this Filter do the presets appear for you?

Many thanks in advance!