
                      ==============================
                       The Photoshop Plugin Manager
                      ==============================

                      Version 1.0b, Febuary 25, 1997

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                                WARNING:
                    Before you start using this program,
                      back-up your plugin directory!!!
                  =======================================

              This program is FREE. Use it at your own risk.

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Topics:

1)  Requirements
2)  What's new in Version 1.0b?
3)  Installation
4)  ZIP contents
5)  Why do I need a plugin manager?
6)  How does it work?
7)  How about Filter Factory plugins?
8)  FILTERS.INI
9)  Features
10) Configuring Plugin Manager
11) Note on Paintshop Pro 4.x users
12) Why is it FREE?
13) Known problems


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1) Requirements:
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- Photoshop 2.5, 3.0.x, 4.0
- Windows 95, Windows NT 4.0, Win32S
- at leat 800x600 video mode
  (The main window does not fit in a screen size of 640 x 480 or less)


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2) What's new in Version 1.0b?
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- Photoshop 4.0 compatible!
  This means, PM scans subdirectories of your plugin directory for
  filters on startup. 
  Note: Only the first subdirectory level is scanned!
  e.g. "c:\plugins\alienskin\" will be scanned
       "c:\plugins\alienskin\others\" will NOT be scanned
  I don't have Photoshop 4.0 and don't know how PS behaves on this point

- You can launch Photoshop from within Plugin Manager 

- Shows the filename of a selected plugin in the main window

- Allows physical deletion of plugins

- "Auto Apply" Option:
  Applies filter changes immediately to disk. This is the easiest and 
  fastest way to work with the Plugin Manager.

- some minor enhancements and bugfixes


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3) Installation:
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Extract all ZIP content in a directory of your choice. If you create 
a shortcut to the executable, make sure you type the correct working
directory. Otherwise you will get a warning message on startup and you
can't save ff plugins (error message: "template.bin not found")

On startup, the Plugin Manager will register a new shell file type 
'.pmf' - this is the extension for filter setups you create on "Save"
or "Save As".


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4) ZIP contents:
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- pmanager.exe (executable)
- readme.txt (this document)
- history.txt (list of bugs and changes)
- template.bin (empty filter factory file)
- ffactory.bin (empty filter factory file)
- filters.ini (list of non-Filter Factory plug-ins)


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5) Why do I need a plugin manager?
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If you have MANY plugins, you will notice, that some of them are not
listed in the Photoshop menu the more it gets filled up. They are still
there, but you can't see them because Photoshop is not able to add more
menu entries.

The Plugin Manager will help you to enable or disable plugins, which
means that some plugins will renamed, so that Photoshop won't find them
on startup.


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6) How does it work?
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The Plugin Manager will change the *.8bf file extension to read *._bf
which effectively disables the plugin so Photoshop can't find the file
and load it.


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7) How about Filter Factory plugins?
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The Plugin Manager will let you reorganize Filter Factory plugins by
allowing you to:

1. Rename the Filter menu name that shows up in the Filter menu.

2. Rename the filename itself of the filter so it becomes easier to 
   manage and to avoid duplicate filenames.

3. Move the Filter to another existing menu category, or you can create
   a whole new menu category.

4. Sort out those unknown ones or less used ones by disabling the 
   Filter.

The buttons at the bottom of the Plugin Manager dialog box are used to
reorganize the filters. Under the Category window is New and Rename.
Selecting New will bring up a small box where you can type in your new
Category name of your choosing. Selecting Rename will allow you to 
change the name of an existing category.

Under the Plugins window are 'Move To...', 'Enable' and 'Disable'. When
you highlight a plugin listed, select 'Move To' and a dialog box 
containing categories listed in the Category window will be displayed.
Some proprietary categories may not be shown, such as KPT or Photoshop's
built in filters in version 4.  Pick a category to move the plugin to,
and choose OK. You can also do batch changes by selecting all plugins 
shown and choosing a single category for them to be moved to.
Choosing 'Disable' will change the '8bf' extension to '_bf' and 'Enable'
will change it back. Photoshop on startup will ignore the '_bf' 
extension and not load the filter.  Using 'Enable' and 'Disable' will
work on all filters.

When you are satisfied with your "filter setup", you can save this setup
to '.pmf' files, where the filename, title, category and state 
(enabled/disbled) are stored in by choosing File>Save or Save As and 
naming the *.PMF filter information file.

NOTE: Plugin Manager has not modified your plugin directory at this 
step. To have your setup take effect, you have to press the "!"-button,
or choose the entry "Apply Changes" in the "Plugin" menu. A warning 
message box will appear to inform you that your plugins are to be 
physically changed (you can change this behaviour in the "preferences"
dialog).

By choosing Extra>Rescan Plugins from the menu, you can double check 
your changes in Plugin Manager.

Next time you start Photoshop, you will notice your changes.


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8) FILTERS.INI
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This file contains all plug-ins, the Plugin Manager can't recognize
automatically. This is: all plug-ins NOT created using Filter Factory 
(like AlienSkin, KPT, etc.).
Please note: You can't move or rename plugins listed here - there
is no save way to patch them. The only thing you can do is enable
or disable this kind of plugins.

If you find entries in the category [Unknown] in the Plugin Manager 
main window, you have plugins not listed in filters.ini.
You can edit the filters.ini file with any editor to add a name,
category and description for this plugins.


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9) Features:
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You can decompile Filter Factory plugins, which means, you can turn an 
'.8bf' file into an '.afs' file that you can load into the editor of 
the Photoshop Filter Factory.  The Filter Factory plugin is found on
the Photoshop CD-ROM in the GOODIES directory, ffactory.8bf is the
filename, just copy it to the plugins directory and it will load under
Filters>Synthetic>Filter Factory. An additional '.txt' file is generated
where you can find the original author, copyright, slider labels, etc.

If you want, you can modify ALL properties of Filter Factory plugins
from within Plugin Manager without having to start Photoshop and using
Filter Factory. Just double-click on the plugin title you want to edit
or press the "FF"-button in the toolbar or choose the menu entry 
"Filter Factory Editor" under "Plugin".

You can also enter a description for each Filter Factory plugin in
Plugin Manager, which you can't do using Photoshop's Filter Factory. 
This description will be stored inside the appropriate '.8bf' file at 
a safe location. Photoshop and the Filter Factory ignore this description
but I found it very usefull inside of the Plugin Manager.

You can save Filter Factory plugins with a different filename. Also you
can save them as an 'Editor-Version' which means, that if they load into
Photoshop, the Filter Factory editor will be shown instead of the normal
dialog.

The Plugin Manager detects duplicate titles/categories of Filter Factory
plugins and places duplicates in a separate category.


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10) Configuring Plugin Manager:
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After starting Plugin Manager, choose File>Preferences and a Preference
dialog box will appear. By clicking the "?" mark, select the location of
the plugins you want scanned (this can be changed for each location), the
location you want '*.AFS files located (AFS files contain the raw filter
factory code from decompiled filters used to load in Filter Factory and
Plugin Manager), and the location of where the Photoshop EXE file is.
The check boxes are self-explanatory. When you close the dialog box, the
changes will take effect, and the plugins directory you chose will be
scanned and read into Plugin Manager.


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11) Note on Paintshop Pro 4.x users:
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Paintshop Pro loads plugins in a different way:
It looks for all files located in the plugin directory and ignores the 
file extension. This means that renamed (disabled) plugins nevertheless
will appear in the menu. I will fix this in a later version. But you can
use the Plugin Manager to organize your Filter Factory plugins anyway.


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12) Why is it FREE?
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Hmmmm. I think the Internet lives on free information. And this is my 
part to support this. Dedicated to everyone who's spending time on 
offering information on the net you don't have to pay for.


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13) Known problems:
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- Photoshop takes a long time to startup if there are many files in your
  plugin directory. A later version of the Plugin Manager will copy 
  disabled plugins to a different location. This will speed up the 
  Photoshop load progress.

- Since the Plugin Manager tells plugins apart by filename only, it is 
  possible that you can find wrong plugin entries. EG: CPK Designs 
  "glass" Filter Factory filter has the filename "glass.8bf" which is
  exactly the same as "GE Glass" of the Adobe Gallery Effects.
  Workaround: Rename the Filter Factory file.
  ("glass.8bf" -> "glass1.8bf")

- Double-klick on ".pmf" files will start up the Plugin Manager
  correctly, but the filters.ini file is ignored. Please don't use this
  feature since I corrected the behaviour in version 1.0 release.


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              Many thanks to Steve Fisher for his support!
                         visit his great site
                     PC Resources for Photoshop:
           http://www.netins.net/showcase/wolf359/adobepc.htm

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           Look for Plug-in Manager and FILTERS.INI updates at:
                      http://johann.simplenet.com

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Have fun!
Michael.
