Filter Forge is on sale. 70% off
Lissa_xyz
Posts: 6,116
Just a heads up, FF is on sale, $44 for basic, $74 for Standard, and $119 for Pro. Their FF4 pre-order upgrade is also on sale.
I'm up in the air, personally. I have no desire to create filters atm. All I'm really looking for are ways of creating seamless textures from scratch (not via photos). I've seen this can do seamless textures, but I'm not sure if it does it the way I'm looking for. The seamless texture program I was looking at, Seamless Studio, was pulled due to conflicts with the recent version of Adobe Air, and I don't own Illustrator. =/
I've got the trial downloaded, so we'll see.
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The beauty of the Pro version is you can go in and tweak someone else's filter. :)
This is good to know. I have been thinking about it
I was actually looking at it partially to decompose how the various filters were created so I could translate some of that knowledge to other shader trees.
I love filter forge, use it all the time.
Well 70% is the big sale and is somewhat rare. It also means they are probably getting ready to release 4.0 soon.
On the topic of 4.0, it looks like there are only two features iteration (recursion & loops) and nesting. Both look like good features, but I'm wondering how much the upgrade price would be for the two features.... For people that create filters, they could be very valuable features, especially if creating filters from snippits of other filters. For people who mostly consume filters, it would only be for using 4.0 filters, which would depend on how much and how fast filter developers take it up.... or so it would appear to me at this juncture.
I highly recommend Filter Forge. One of my favorite tools for making textures.
Rawn
I wonder if it is possible to buy the basic version and later "upgrade" to either Standard or Professional? I don´t have much money right now, and I guess the sale will be over quickly.
It appears you can and that's the route I'll probably take.
For version 3 (the current one that has the 70% off):
- Basic is: $44
- Standard is: $74
- Pro is: $119
To upgrade to the upcoming 4.0 version (picking the Pro version here):
- Basic 3.0 to Pro 4.0 is: $154 (total cost is: $198)
- Standard 3.0 to Pro 4.0 is: $124 (total cost is: $198)
- Pro 3.0 to Pro 4.0 is: $79 (total cost is: $198)
That's just one pricing, however. It appears you can upgrade from an earlier version to a later version (except from 1.0) and you can upgrade from a "lower" package to a "higher" package (e.g., Basic 3.0 to Basic 4.0 or Basic 3.0 to Pro 3.0).
The nice thing is that the upgrade pricing is equal - so if you buy something now and upgrade to Pro 4.0 later, you'll spend the same amount of money no matter which route you take.
I already have Genetica, but I've used FF in the past to make some pretty cool effects... I'll need to think about this. I have a working copy of Photoshop now...
You dont need PS to use FF. Filter Forge runs as a stand alone program.
Thank you, that information is very helpful and saves everyone from having to look it up who's considering this :)
...looks like I picked the wrong time to get laid off from work. That price on the Pro version is so tempting, just that my once meager income has been reduced to about two thirds of what it was making such decisions even harder.
Don't have PS but I understand FilterForge can be used as a standalone.
That's correct, though I do use it standalone even though I also have Photoshop. I originally bought FF 1, upgraded to FF 2, and finally upgraded to FF 3. I doubt I'll upgraded any further as I find I don't use it as often as I thought I would, so I just can't see continuing the upgrade path at this point.
For those who have never had it, this is good pricing, so if you can spare the cash, go for it.
...have to check my account later today (as it is in effect, "payday") to see if I can manage it. At 199$ the pro version is just too good to pass on since it lets me create new filters and will let me use all the cores of my CPU for processing.
Been wanting this for some time now.
Getting more into playing with textures & surfaces and just DL'd the latest update to Marvelous Designer. In the long run I can see this paying itself back as I will be able to create my own custom texture and surface effects.
Well the current price is only $119 for the pro version. It's the renewal 'eventually' to 4.0 that will kick in the extra amount.
The 4.0 pre-order upgrade is $79 atm.
http://filterforge.com/buy/upgrades.html
Select FF3 in the list to see the upgrade options. You do not need to fill in your info to see the options.
Ok... so to clarify, the upgrade price might be higher if not paid for pre-order... Anyone happen to know what the upgrade is currently for 2.0 to 3.0 pro?
[Edit] just saw it at like above, ty :)
It's much cheaper actually, but that's because 4.0 is due out I assume.
You dont need PS to use FF. Filter Forge runs as a stand alone program.
I know... I just meant I might get more use out of it now than the last time I looked at it, since now I do have Photoshop. I think I actually bought a basic license at some point, but I don't remember which version....
...I meant to say 119$, need more caffeine.
Egh.. I'm not sure if I should do the 4.0 pre-order option or not. I don't know if I'd need the upgraded tools it offers. o_O
Oooh, thanks for the heads up on this. I have version 3 pro and I want to do the preorder on the upgrade. To throw another opinion in here on if to get version 4 or not, keep in mind that while you may not need the upgraded tools it will have to make filters, you might need the 4.0 version to use the new filters created by others.
Happy texturing all!
Yes Destiny, that's true. I, myself, have never gone the pre-order route, and usually waited until I had the extra cash to upgrade to the next version. What I usually did when at the site searching through the newer filters, was bookmark those created with the newer version that I wanted, and when I finally got my copy, I went to those filters and finally downloaded them.
I think if I used it as often as I thought I would, I probably would upgrade to each new version, but at this point, I'm just not seeing it. Of course, that could change "down the road" as it were.
Yea, I thought about that, plus i took a peek in the newer posts in the Beta 4 filter gallery on their forums, so I went a head and went with the full 3.0 Pro + 4.0 preorder.
Even if just for the new grouping feature if I do create filters down the line. Some of the node systems now are HUGE and all over the place. The grouping feature will be very welcomed.
I think the only difference between Standard and Pro that I might care about is support for displacement and normal maps, but are they just based on rendered images, or is there more "smarts" to how they are generated? I already have tools to create displacement and normal maps from images. (Standard can edit and create filters-- Basic can't do either, and wouldn't be so interesting to me.)
Does anyone have both Filter Forge and Genetica who could compare the two?
Edited to add: found archived discussion here: http://forumarchive.daz3d.com/viewtopic.php?p=3310926
The big difference I see between standard and pro is the size of the texture maps.
It lists the differences on this page: http://filterforge.com/buy/
What Pro has that Standard doesn't:
Bump, diffuse, normal, and other maps
High precision file formats
Support for 16 and 32 bit image modes
Unlimited number of CPU cores
Bitmaps larger than 3000x3000 pixels
...Vaskania beat me to the punch.
Zig-it uses "smarts" so to speak, but not every filter has the ability to generate all the kinds of maps. Using this filter page as an example it tells you what maps you can get.
http://filterforge.com/filters/9691.html
This one will only do the basic diffuse.
http://filterforge.com/filters/284.html
Much depends on what options the creator put into the filter.
Here is another example for you. The default map is in the middle. Then we have ambient occlusion, diffuse only, bump and normal. I find I usually have to tweak the bump maps for the results I am looking for in DAZ Studio, but it is way easier than trying to make one from the default map which would be fairly impossible using this type of mixed tile.
I hope this helps.
cheers!
...interesting. I notice the maps are all Raster instead of Vector images. I know that PSP can handle both formats.
So one question for those who have used it, just how much can be done with Filter Forge as a standalone without having Photoshop?
A lot of filter makers have lifetime upgrades so no problem on them quickly taking up FF 4.0. (Most have earned them through the Filter High Useage Rewards Point system. ) I'm sure a quite a lot of filter creators are already working on new filters using Beta 4.0.
The other good thing about getting the Pro version is if you make and submit filters that other users of FF download and use a lot, you get high useage (HU) points that you can spend on discounts, a free version, or lifetime upgrades. FYI, your useage of your own filter doesn't count towards HU points. Alternately you can purchase lifetime Pro upgrades.