Using the preview

The preview will show you what the final effect will look like, scaled to fit the display.

Preview

FilterOptix' preview (1) is primarily meant to see what the filter will look like after being applied to the image, it is not intended to show the absolute result.
Although the preview result will be mostly indistinguishable from the final result there are some differences.

• The preview will be rendered in multiple passes, resulting in the preview looking "pixelated" or "jaggy" during preview. The preview will become gradually better if you wait for it to finish. When the progress bar (at the bottom of the window) disappears, the preview is shown at the best quality.
  By using multiple passes, FilterOptix responds better to user interaction, allowing you to preview the changes you make immediately, whilst not having to sacrifice accuracy.
• The color depth of the final result will match that of the image color depth, in the preview it will be displayed in only 8-bit color depth.
• The close-up effect uses a faster and less accurate method whilst previewing. This is done to increase performance.

Optionally, a crosshair line can be drawn on the preview to better help position the filter in situations where the effect is smooth or highly blurred. The crosshair will not be drawn on the final image.

Zooming

Zooming in too much will make the preview slower. It's best to keep the entire picture visible at all times.

The preview can be changed in scale. By default, the preview will scale to the biggest size that will fit the window, but you can change the zoom by using any of the zoom controls;

• +/- buttons (2). Click on the "+" button to zoom in or the "-" button to zoom out.
• The scrollbar (3) does the same thing as the +/- buttons, but with a simple slider that you can quickly drag around using the mouse.
• The "Auto" button (4) automatically scales the preview to the biggest size that will fit the window.

When zooming in, you may have a preview that is bigger than can be shown inside the window. If this happens, you can see different parts of the preview by dragging it around. To drag the preview, simply click and hold the mousebutton and move the mouse around.

Window size

If you want a larger preview area, you can resize the window by clicking and dragging the size grip at the bottom-right of the window.
You can also resize the window by clicking and dragging any of the borders and move the window by clicking and dragging the title bar of the window.
FilterOptix will remember the window position and size the next time you use it.

FilterOptix v1.0 manual - Copyright © 2008 VanDerLee. All rights reserved.