What it does

How to install

Controls

Versions

Questions

Web Graphics Primer

 

Web Scrubber

 

What it does

Web Scrubber improves your control over the dithering of 256-color web images.

 

How to install

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->Web Scrubber.

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. In PSP's menus, choose File-> Preferences->General Program Preferences (PSP versions 5 and 6) or File->Preferences->File Locations (PSP version 7). Next, click the Plug-in Filters tab. Use a "Browse" button to choose the folder. The plugin will appear in the menus as Image->Plug-in Filters->Flaming Pear->Web Scrubber.

 

Controls

Sometimes a little dithering in the browser can improve the quality of your image. But how do you control which areas get dithered and which areas don't?

Try scrubbing your image. Colors that are nearly Web Safe are shifted so that they use one of the 216 colors. Colors that aren't close to being Web Safe are left alone to dither when displayed in the browser.

There are several implementations of this basic algorithm, but this filter does all the steps at once. It works well in conjunction with Browser Preview.

When you invoke Web Scrubber, a dialog box will appear:


Quick start

   
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 Web Scrubber. If you want to hand-tune your own effects, it helps to learn the controls, which are explained below.

 

dice
 


Main controls

   
Colors

The Colors pop-up lets you select the number of colors for the image. The smaller the numbers, the smaller the file. But don't get too carried away; the quality will suffer.

The
Wide checkbox allows you to select the colors using two different methods. When it is selected, the colors are chosen by the intensity at which your eye sees them. Otherwise, the numerical values of the colors are used.
 
original image


32 colors


 
Red, Green and Blue

The sliders for Red, Green and Blue adjust the amount of scrubbing (in other versions of this algorithm it is called "grit"). The higher the number, the closer the image will be to a pure Web Safe palette. If the number is low, then there will be more dithering of the image.

The color ramps are adjusted to show how the current settings affect the range of colors.

When the
Lock checkbox is set, the controls stay synchronized.

The Reset button restores Red, Green, and Blue sliders to normal.


32 web-safe colors



color ramps



reset


Brightness & Contrast

These controls work just as you'd expect them to. You can use them to improve the overall quality of the graphic.
.

more brightness & contrast





Other controls

 
Dice The dice choose a random effect. Click as much as you want to see different effects.

Glue mode popup menu Lets you combine the result with the underlying image in various ways. Modes other than "normal" produce special effects.

Only the Normal glue mode produces a web-safe result.

Plus, % and minus buttons: These zoom the preview in and out. Drag the preview to move it.

Load preset Web Scrubber 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.

 

dice




load preset (top)
and save preset

 



undo

 



Version History

Version 1.04 December 2003

Recordable as a Photoshop action.

Version 1.0 March 2003

The first release in this form.

The Furbo Filters were orginally developed by Craig Hockenberry.

 



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 .