What it does
How to install
Controls
Things to try
Versions
How to Purchase
Questions
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Swerve
What it does
Swerve warps images by stretching them in a smooth or jagged way.
How to install
Illustrated installation instructions are online.
To use this software, you need a paint program which accepts standard
Photoshop 3.0 plugins.
Just put the plug-in filter into the folder where your paint program
expects to find it. If you have Photoshop, the folder is Photoshop:Plugins:Filters or Photoshop:Plug-ins. You must restart
Photoshop before it will notice the new plug-in. It will appear
in the menus as Filters->Flaming Pear->Swerve.
Most other paint programs follow a similar scheme.
If you have Paint Shop Pro: you have to create a new folder, put the plug-in filter into it, and then tell PSP to look there.
PSP 7:
Choose the menu File-> Preferences-> File Locations... and choose the Plug-in Filters tab. Use one of the "Browse" buttons to choose the folder that contains the plug-in.
The plugin is now installed. To use it, open any image and select an area. From the menus, choose Effects->Plug-in Filters->Flaming Pear->Swerve.
PSP 8, 9, and X:
Choose the menu File-> Preferences-> File Locations... In the dialog box that appears, choose Plug-ins from the list. Click "Add." If you are using PSP 8 or 9, click "Browse". Now choose the folder that contains the plug-in.
The plugin is now installed. To use it, open any image and select an area. From the menus, choose Effects->Plugins->Flaming Pear->Swerve.
Controls
When you invoke Swerve, a dialog box will appear:


Quick start
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If you just want to see some effects quickly, click the dice button
until you see something you like; then click OK.
Using the dice is the easiest way to use Swerve. If you want to hand-tune your own effects, it helps to learn the controls, which are explained below. |
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Settings
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Swerve offers controls for basic warping and for adding extra distortion.
Warping is the strength of the distortion, ranging from 0 (no distortion) to 100 (maximum).
Warp size is the scale of the distortion features. Low values give many small wiggles, and high values give fewer, larger wiggles.
Chop makes the distortion more jagged.
The Chop Mode popup menu determines what kind of distruption is added by the Chop slider. There are four settings: normal, sawteeth, triangle, stairsteps, and wiggle. To remove all chopping, choose the normal mode and set the Chop slider to zero.
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Things to try
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Try loading the settings files that come with Swerve to see what it can do, or click the dice until you see something you like.
Here are some example effects that you can do. Open a favorite picture for these examples -- you won't see anything if you start with a blank canvas. Select part of the picture, and invoke Swerve.
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1. Basic warping.
Try these settings:
Warping 20
Warp size 50
Chop 0
Chop mode 0
This is a basic smooth warp with no chopping. To change the look of the warp, try different settings for Warping and Warp size.
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2. Chopping.
Use the same settings as for the first example, but increase Warping to 50, Chop to to 50, and choose the V-shaped item from the Chomp Mode popup menu.
When Warp size is small, the individual distortion features in the picture become small too.
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3. Wobbles.
Use a small warp, a large warp size, and any chop mode you like. Set the glue mode to "exclusion."
The small warp creates a new image barely different from the image you started with. When combined with the original, a visual echo is created.
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4. Graphics hash.
Use a very high Warp, a small Warp Size, high Chop and the normal Chop Mode.
With settings this strong, an image can be turned into an abstract swirl of color.
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Other controls
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Dice The dice choose a random effect. Click as much as you want to
see different effects.
Reset Gives you the "factory settings."
Export to PSD Renders the result to a a .psd image file, which can have custom dimensions.
Glue mode popup menu Lets you combine the result with the underlying image in various ways. Modes other than "normal" produce special effects. The next-glue button advances to the next glue mode.
Info Briefly explains of the controls.
Make Gallery Builds a web page showing all the presets in a folder that you choose.
Send to photo manager Sends the result to iPhoto (on Macintosh).
Plus, % and minus buttons: These zoom the preview in and out. Drag the preview to move it.
Load preset Boss Emboss comes with some presets, which are files containing settings. To load one, click this button and browse for a preset file.
Save preset When you make an effect you like, click this button to save the settings in a file.
Undo backs up one step.
OK Applies the effect to your image.
Cancel Dismisses the filter, and leaves the image unchanged.
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dice

reset

export to PSD

next glue

info

make gallery

send to photo manager

load preset

save preset

undo
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Versions
Version 1.7 June 2008
The Swerve effect now changes to suit the scale of the input image.Changes the calibration of the Chop slider.Works with 32-bit-per-channel images. Adds the wiggle mode. Adds convenience features to the interface. The Mac version is faster on multicore machines and is resizable.
Version 1.6 June 2007
Fixes a Macintosh problem where the plug-in could have bad settings or crash when installed on a machine for the first time.
Version 1.55 April 2007
Universal binary for Macintosh. Works as a Smart Filter in Adobe Photoshop CS3 Macintosh. Fixes a Windows problem where the plug-in wouldn't remember its registration when it was installed in one user account but activated in another.
Version 1.4 July 2004
Works in 16-bit color.
Version 1.3 December 2003
Recordable as a Photoshop action.
Version 1.25 September 2003
Adds more glue modes and the next-glue button.
Version 1.22 February 2003
Adds more glue modes and fixes a crash that could happen when using the menus under Windows XP.
Version 1.21 December 2002
Adds new glue modes: Color, Luminance, Linear Light, and Pin Light. Fixes the appearance of text in the interface when running under Mac OS X 10.2.3 .
Version 1.2 February 2002
Adds previews in the preset browser.
Version 1.1 September 2001
Adds an Undo button.
Version 1.0 September 1999
First release.
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How to Purchase
You can place an order online here. A secure server for transactions is available.
Questions
Answers to common technical questions appear on the support page.
For bug reports and technical questions about the software, please
write to support@flamingpear.com .
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