Expand a plug-in? and other questions

[jackengott]

Hi,
does anybody know if it's possible to expand an existing plugin whose code I do not have? In my eyes it's a silly question (I think it is impossible), but I need good reasons for my boss...

I'm completely new to the area of developing photoshop plugins - just worked throught the pile of pdfs delivered with the SDK. So here some more questions:

- Do I need a Mac and a MAC-IDE like CodeWarrior to develope a plugin which also runs under Mac?
- the well written Automation Tutorial is (on Win) for Visual C++ Version 6.0. I'm using Visual Studio .net and the differences are huge. Has anybody got migration information especially for chapter Project Workspace?
- How about other resources and links as a help to start... any usergroups / newsgroups /mailing lists...?

Thanx for any comments,
jackengott

[HaraldHeim]

Hi,
does anybody know if it's possible to expand an existing plugin whose code I do not have? In my eyes it's a silly question (I think it is impossible), but I need good reasons for my boss...

You need the source code of a plugin to be able to enhance it and add additional features. You could disassemble it, but that is usually much more work then simply starting from scratch. Moreover, it is illegal to use existing plugins and reverse engineer them or add your own features without the permission of the author.

I'm completely new to the area of developing photoshop plugins - just worked throught the pile of pdfs delivered with the SDK. So here some more questions:

- Do I need a Mac and a MAC-IDE like CodeWarrior to develope a plugin which also runs under Mac?

You can also MPW (freeware from www.apple.com) or Interface Builder to do that. But if you want to develop Mac plugin under Windows or cross-platform plugins, there is no way around CodeWarrior.

- the well written Automation Tutorial is (on Win) for Visual C++ Version 6.0. I'm using Visual Studio .net and the differences are huge. Has anybody got migration information especially for chapter Project Workspace?

I'm not sure if it is at all possbile to develop plugins with VisualStudio .net, but as I'm no .net expert, don't trust my word.

- How about other resources and links as a help to start... any usergroups / newsgroups /mailing lists...?

There is a mailing list for discussing Photoshop SDK releated problems. You can subscribe somewhere at www.adobe.com. But they ask a lot of stuff until you are subscribed. I didn't subscribe because for my taste it was too much effort to get subscribed.

You can also try the newsgroup comp.graphics.applications.photoshop. Some SDK related questions have been discussed there, but it is more about general topics.

You can also have a look at the FilterMeister mailing list at www.filtermeister.com. It is a about the FilterMeister plugin creation tool and not about the SDK, but questions about image algorithms are welcome, too.

There is also a newsgroup about image algorithms, but I don't remember where.

[jackengott]

That was fast! Thanx for your help, Harald!

I just subscribed to sdk-requests@adobe.com. Let's see how busy that list is...

BTW: How do you develope plugins nowadays? Are you still using the photoshop 6 SDK from the time when everything was free for download at adobe? Which IDE do you use? Could an Xemacs probably be sufficient...?

You're apparently not part of the ASN because that's REAL EFFORT to become a member of!

Thanx,
jackengott

[HaraldHeim]

I just subscribed to sdk-requests@adobe.com. Let's see how busy that list is...

Please let me know if you got on it easily. I might try, too.

BTW: How do you develope plugins nowadays? Are you still using the photoshop 6 SDK from the time when everything was free for download at adobe? Which IDE do you use? Could an Xemacs probably be sufficient...?

If you want to limit your market to Photoshop, you can use the Photoshop 7 SDK. But by doing that you loose at least 50% of your revenue when selling plugins. So anyone who isn't just doing it for fun, is strongly adviced to use an older SDK. Best that of Version 3 or 4.

I currently use MS VC++5, but not to work with the SDK. I enhance FilterMeister with it. Then I use FilterMeister to create my plugins. This is much more conveniant. But I'm thinking of migrating to CodeWarrior in the near future.

CodeWarrior is the best solution for creating cross-platform plugins. Much easier to use than MSVC++ or other Mac develpoment tools. And it makes it really easy to create Win and Mac versions of your plugins from one project.

You're apparently not part of the ASN because that's REAL EFFORT to become a member of!

I don't see any need to become a member, so why should I? Just to give Adobe $195 every year? I'm already paying too many taxes, I don't need an Adobe tax additionally


By the way, are you located in Germany? "jackengott" is German and means "pocket god". Please drop me a private email.

[jackengott]

Hi Harald,
please have a look into your private messages!
Bye,
Taschengott

[Golloween]

Harald, is it possible to port a Windows plugin using the SDK 6.0 to Mac OS X without the new SDK 7.0?

I'm also concerned about the new Adobe SDK policy -- I read somewhere that Adobe denied to give the new SDK to some companies (don't know the names, but most likely they are competitors of Adobe). Do you know the reasons why their requests were denied?

[HaraldHeim]

You can create MacOS X Photoshop plugins with any previous SDK. You just need to make the plugin use the Carbon library and you have to add a new code descriptor in the pipl resource. Without this code descriptor Photoshop is simply ignoring your plugin under OS X.

There has been a detailed post in a newsgroup some time ago on how to use the PS 6 SDK to create OS X plugins. Just go to http://www.google.com/grphp and query for the PS7 SDK.

Well, Adobe doesn't seem to give the new SDK to companies that develop image editing applications that compete with Photoshop. So these companies have no choice than to support the Photoshop 6 SDK until it is totally outdated or unusable with future operating systems. Then they will be forced to release their own SDKs. This might split up the plugin community which is a big step backward.

However, I expect that someone will come up with a new open SDK that will be backward-compatible with the Photoshop SDK, but offer much more features and flexibility. With Adobe's restricting policy such a new SDK will surely be welcomed by many graphics software companies. So in the end Adobe will nevertheless lose control over their unflexible plugin standard and their reputation will suffer even more.

[Golloween]

Harald, thank you for the explanation -- I was affraid that their new SDK policy would block me from making a plugin that works under OS X.