Effect controls

The effect controls are split in three sections, the top one contains the layer controls; mixing mode and transparency, which are just like your graphics applications' similar controls. Below this are the filter controls, which will vary according to the filter you are currently editing. At the bottom you find the settings controls; two buttons that allow you to set the filter controls quickly.

At the top-left of the effect controls panel you'll see the name of the effect you are currently working on.

1. Layer controls

You can choose to layer the filter on top of the image it is created from by means of Mixing mode and/or Transparency, like the similarly named layer controls available in most graphics applications.

• Mixing mode
  Mixing modes control how the filter effect is combined with the image it is created from. By default the setting is "Normal", which applies the filter without any mixing.
  A large number of mixing modes are available, most will be familiar from Photoshop or the graphics application you're using and a few are unique to UnPlugged-X; the subtractive and additive mixing modes.
  The mixing modes available are: Normal, Multiply, Screen, Overlay, Soft light, Hard light, Color dodge, Color burn, Darken, Lighten, Exclusion, Difference, Hue, Saturation, Color, Luminosity, Additive and  Subtractive.

• Transparency
  Transparency combines the source image and mixed and filtered image by a percentage specified by the user. Setting transparency to 100% means only the source image is shown. 0% means only the mixed and filter image is shown. Any value in between combines the two images proportionately.
  One can also look at "transparency" as being the "strength" by which a filter is applied to the source image.

2. Filter controls

These controls will vary for each effect as each filter has it's own specific features and functionality which can be controlled.
There are four different types of controls:

• Slider
  This is the most common control, most filters have at least a few sliders.
  You control them by moving the little knob left and right. The more to the right the slider knob is, the higher the value of the slider is.
  To the right you can see a box with the current value, if you click on it you can enter a value using the numeric keys on your keyboard.
  You can also click on the little arrow buttons to increase or decrease the value by one or click on the empty space in between the slider knob and the arrow buttons to increase or decrease the value in larger steps.
  After you clicked on the knob, you can also use the cursor keys and page up and down keys on the keyboard to change the value.

• Checkbox
  This control allows you enable/disable an option by clicking on the checkbox. A checkmark in the box means the option is enabled.
  Once you've clicked on the checkbox, pressing the space bar on the keyboard will toggle the checkbox as well.

• Color
  A lot of filters require you to specify colors.
  If you click on the list button () at the right side of this control, you can select the foreground or background colors currently set in your graphics application or select custom to specify any color you want.
  You can also click on the colored box at the right of the control and specify the color you want to use in a standard color dialog.

• Combobox
  A combobox lets you pick one of a limited number of options. For instance a mode or direction.
  You can pick an option by clicking on the list button (), a list will pop up showing all possible options. Now just click on the option you want to select it and the list will disappear showing the chosen option in the combobox.
  Alternatively you can type in the option name or type the first letter(s) and press the cursor down key on the keyboard to select it. You can also use the cursor up and down keys to select the previous or next option in the list.

To find out exactly which controls are available, you'll have to look up the specific effects in the overview.

3. Setting controls

The two buttons at the bottom of the effect controls panel can be used to quickly set all the filter controls.

• Defaults
  The Defaults button resets all the filter controls to the initial settings. Use this button if you want to start over with the effect.

• Randomize
  Set all the filter controls to a random value within their possible range. With this button you can quickly find weird effects you never thought of before.

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