============================== The Photoshop Plugin Manager ============================== Version 1.0b, Febuary 25, 1997 ======================================= WARNING: Before you start using this program, back-up your plugin directory!!! ======================================= This program is FREE. Use it at your own risk. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Topics: 1) Requirements 2) What's new in Version 1.0b? 3) Installation 4) ZIP contents 5) Why do I need a plugin manager? 6) How does it work? 7) How about Filter Factory plugins? 8) FILTERS.INI 9) Features 10) Configuring Plugin Manager 11) Note on Paintshop Pro 4.x users 12) Why is it FREE? 13) Known problems ------------------------------------------------------------------------ 1) Requirements: ------------------------------------------------------------------------ - Photoshop 2.5, 3.0.x, 4.0 - Windows 95, Windows NT 4.0, Win32S - at leat 800x600 video mode (The main window does not fit in a screen size of 640 x 480 or less) ------------------------------------------------------------------------ 2) What's new in Version 1.0b? ------------------------------------------------------------------------ - Photoshop 4.0 compatible! This means, PM scans subdirectories of your plugin directory for filters on startup. Note: Only the first subdirectory level is scanned! e.g. "c:\plugins\alienskin\" will be scanned "c:\plugins\alienskin\others\" will NOT be scanned I don't have Photoshop 4.0 and don't know how PS behaves on this point - You can launch Photoshop from within Plugin Manager - Shows the filename of a selected plugin in the main window - Allows physical deletion of plugins - "Auto Apply" Option: Applies filter changes immediately to disk. This is the easiest and fastest way to work with the Plugin Manager. - some minor enhancements and bugfixes ------------------------------------------------------------------------ 3) Installation: ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Extract all ZIP content in a directory of your choice. If you create a shortcut to the executable, make sure you type the correct working directory. Otherwise you will get a warning message on startup and you can't save ff plugins (error message: "template.bin not found") On startup, the Plugin Manager will register a new shell file type '.pmf' - this is the extension for filter setups you create on "Save" or "Save As". ------------------------------------------------------------------------ 4) ZIP contents: ------------------------------------------------------------------------ - pmanager.exe (executable) - readme.txt (this document) - history.txt (list of bugs and changes) - template.bin (empty filter factory file) - ffactory.bin (empty filter factory file) - filters.ini (list of non-Filter Factory plug-ins) ------------------------------------------------------------------------ 5) Why do I need a plugin manager? ------------------------------------------------------------------------ If you have MANY plugins, you will notice, that some of them are not listed in the Photoshop menu the more it gets filled up. They are still there, but you can't see them because Photoshop is not able to add more menu entries. The Plugin Manager will help you to enable or disable plugins, which means that some plugins will renamed, so that Photoshop won't find them on startup. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ 6) How does it work? ------------------------------------------------------------------------ The Plugin Manager will change the *.8bf file extension to read *._bf which effectively disables the plugin so Photoshop can't find the file and load it. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ 7) How about Filter Factory plugins? ------------------------------------------------------------------------ The Plugin Manager will let you reorganize Filter Factory plugins by allowing you to: 1. Rename the Filter menu name that shows up in the Filter menu. 2. Rename the filename itself of the filter so it becomes easier to manage and to avoid duplicate filenames. 3. Move the Filter to another existing menu category, or you can create a whole new menu category. 4. Sort out those unknown ones or less used ones by disabling the Filter. The buttons at the bottom of the Plugin Manager dialog box are used to reorganize the filters. Under the Category window is New and Rename. Selecting New will bring up a small box where you can type in your new Category name of your choosing. Selecting Rename will allow you to change the name of an existing category. Under the Plugins window are 'Move To...', 'Enable' and 'Disable'. When you highlight a plugin listed, select 'Move To' and a dialog box containing categories listed in the Category window will be displayed. Some proprietary categories may not be shown, such as KPT or Photoshop's built in filters in version 4. Pick a category to move the plugin to, and choose OK. You can also do batch changes by selecting all plugins shown and choosing a single category for them to be moved to. Choosing 'Disable' will change the '8bf' extension to '_bf' and 'Enable' will change it back. Photoshop on startup will ignore the '_bf' extension and not load the filter. Using 'Enable' and 'Disable' will work on all filters. When you are satisfied with your "filter setup", you can save this setup to '.pmf' files, where the filename, title, category and state (enabled/disbled) are stored in by choosing File>Save or Save As and naming the *.PMF filter information file. NOTE: Plugin Manager has not modified your plugin directory at this step. To have your setup take effect, you have to press the "!"-button, or choose the entry "Apply Changes" in the "Plugin" menu. A warning message box will appear to inform you that your plugins are to be physically changed (you can change this behaviour in the "preferences" dialog). By choosing Extra>Rescan Plugins from the menu, you can double check your changes in Plugin Manager. Next time you start Photoshop, you will notice your changes. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ 8) FILTERS.INI ------------------------------------------------------------------------ This file contains all plug-ins, the Plugin Manager can't recognize automatically. This is: all plug-ins NOT created using Filter Factory (like AlienSkin, KPT, etc.). Please note: You can't move or rename plugins listed here - there is no save way to patch them. The only thing you can do is enable or disable this kind of plugins. If you find entries in the category [Unknown] in the Plugin Manager main window, you have plugins not listed in filters.ini. You can edit the filters.ini file with any editor to add a name, category and description for this plugins. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ 9) Features: ------------------------------------------------------------------------ You can decompile Filter Factory plugins, which means, you can turn an '.8bf' file into an '.afs' file that you can load into the editor of the Photoshop Filter Factory. The Filter Factory plugin is found on the Photoshop CD-ROM in the GOODIES directory, ffactory.8bf is the filename, just copy it to the plugins directory and it will load under Filters>Synthetic>Filter Factory. An additional '.txt' file is generated where you can find the original author, copyright, slider labels, etc. If you want, you can modify ALL properties of Filter Factory plugins from within Plugin Manager without having to start Photoshop and using Filter Factory. Just double-click on the plugin title you want to edit or press the "FF"-button in the toolbar or choose the menu entry "Filter Factory Editor" under "Plugin". You can also enter a description for each Filter Factory plugin in Plugin Manager, which you can't do using Photoshop's Filter Factory. This description will be stored inside the appropriate '.8bf' file at a safe location. Photoshop and the Filter Factory ignore this description but I found it very usefull inside of the Plugin Manager. You can save Filter Factory plugins with a different filename. Also you can save them as an 'Editor-Version' which means, that if they load into Photoshop, the Filter Factory editor will be shown instead of the normal dialog. The Plugin Manager detects duplicate titles/categories of Filter Factory plugins and places duplicates in a separate category. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ 10) Configuring Plugin Manager: ------------------------------------------------------------------------ After starting Plugin Manager, choose File>Preferences and a Preference dialog box will appear. By clicking the "?" mark, select the location of the plugins you want scanned (this can be changed for each location), the location you want '*.AFS files located (AFS files contain the raw filter factory code from decompiled filters used to load in Filter Factory and Plugin Manager), and the location of where the Photoshop EXE file is. The check boxes are self-explanatory. When you close the dialog box, the changes will take effect, and the plugins directory you chose will be scanned and read into Plugin Manager. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ 11) Note on Paintshop Pro 4.x users: ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Paintshop Pro loads plugins in a different way: It looks for all files located in the plugin directory and ignores the file extension. This means that renamed (disabled) plugins nevertheless will appear in the menu. I will fix this in a later version. But you can use the Plugin Manager to organize your Filter Factory plugins anyway. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ 12) Why is it FREE? ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Hmmmm. I think the Internet lives on free information. And this is my part to support this. Dedicated to everyone who's spending time on offering information on the net you don't have to pay for. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ 13) Known problems: ------------------------------------------------------------------------ - Photoshop takes a long time to startup if there are many files in your plugin directory. A later version of the Plugin Manager will copy disabled plugins to a different location. This will speed up the Photoshop load progress. - Since the Plugin Manager tells plugins apart by filename only, it is possible that you can find wrong plugin entries. EG: CPK Designs "glass" Filter Factory filter has the filename "glass.8bf" which is exactly the same as "GE Glass" of the Adobe Gallery Effects. Workaround: Rename the Filter Factory file. ("glass.8bf" -> "glass1.8bf") - Double-klick on ".pmf" files will start up the Plugin Manager correctly, but the filters.ini file is ignored. Please don't use this feature since I corrected the behaviour in version 1.0 release. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Many thanks to Steve Fisher for his support! visit his great site PC Resources for Photoshop: http://www.netins.net/showcase/wolf359/adobepc.htm ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Look for Plug-in Manager and FILTERS.INI updates at: http://johann.simplenet.com ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Have fun! Michael.