Using Filters Unlimited

• Manages an unlimited amount of Filter Factory Filters
• Imports Filters in FFL, AFS and 8BF format
• Comes with more than 150 built-in filters
• Integrated editor for your own filter creations
• Supports RGB, CMYK and Grayscale image modes

Here are some of the filters that you can import into FilUn; Visual Manipulations, Andrews Filter Collections, Color Rave, Crescent Moon, DC Layer and DC Special, Edge Works, Emboss Works, Filter Factory Galleries, Gregs Factory, Johanns Filters, Kang, Plugins AB, Simple, Two Moon, and UNplugged.

Here are some of the filters that you can NOT import into FilUn; Eye Candy, Flaming Pear filters, Almathera, DragonFly (Sinedots), dsbFlux, Fantastic Machines, FM Tile Tools, Filter Attacks, KPT, NVR Bordermania, Ulead Art Texture, Universe, and Xenoflex.

When you execute your Filters Unlimited program it will put a folder into the plugin folder that you designate. I have 2 harddrives, one of them is for my PSP goodies only. Yes, Larry spoils me horribly LOL. On that drive I have a separate plugin folder and I point PSP to that folder for accessing my plugins. This is the folder that FilUn will add to your plugin folder.

Let's get started shall we? The first thing you need to do is open a graphic in PSP. Go to Effects-->Plugins--><I.C.Net Software>-->Filters Unlimited and you will see a screen open that has tons of filters for you. This is my opening screen.

As you can see I have thousands of filters in my Filters Unlimited.
If you are anything like the way I was then you have plugin filters scattered throughout your Plugins folder. I did start to put these plugins into separate folders though, I do like neatness and conformity. *smiles*.

You cannot just drop and drag your plugin filters into ICNET Filters database. You need to import them as FilUn converts them to an .ffx extension. So let's import some filters shall we?

At the bottom of your opening screen there is an Import Button. Press the import button.

When you press import it will bring up a screen for you to navigate to where you have your plugin filters.

Now you can either load them in one at a time, but I don't think the majority of us have THAT much time *winks*. Or you can do what I did and place your cursor on one of the plugins and holding down the shift key click on the last of your filters in that folder. If you have several filters you may have to do this a few times as Windows will only allow so many at a time. I have already imported all of my filters so the ones you see above will not work, it is just a visual to show you how to do it. Press Open and it will start converting and entering them into Filters Unlimited. If you have hilighted a filter that cannot be converted you will receive this pop-up:

Click on yes. It won't import that particular filter but it will continue importing the others that you want.

Okay, now we have all of your filters converted BUT, they are going to show up in both your Effects-->Plugins and in your ICNET-->Filters Unlimited so we need to remove the filters that you have imported into FilUn. This is what I did. I have a zip drive, got a blank zip disk and moved all of the filters to the zip disk. That way I still have them as a backup if I ever should need them and they aren't cluttering up my hard drive. You can also put them on a CD if you choose to. If you have neither then make a separate folder outside of your Plugins folder and call it Not Used Filters and move everything to that folder.

Depending on how many filters you had, importing them all and then moving them again can be quite a chore, but the end result by having the majority of your filters in one place is well worth the initial work.

There are a few other options that you have in Filters Unlimited, one of them being the Randomize button.
Instead of just playing with the sliders press the Randomize and you will see all kinds of different effects.

If you want to go back to the default setting just press Reset.

You can also create your own filters by going into the Editor. This is something that I haven't tried out yet, but I did want you to be aware of it in case you are one of the more adventurous user. *grin*.

If you do make your own filters you can enter the filter information, such as copyright and author.

And Filters Unlimited does provide a Language Reference for you. Although it is still under development, it does give you the general idea of what you need to enter for your results. I am not a programmer nor a filter creator so it's basically Greek to me.

I hope this tutorial has given you a better understanding of Filters Unlimited and its potential.

If you have any comments or questions please do not hesitate to E-mail me.

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