Cloak Mode

In Cloak Mode FocalBlade doesn't display its dialog and immediately starts rendering a predefined setting to the image. Cloak mode is useful if you want to quickly apply the same settings to a series of photos.

Activating Cloak Mode

To activate Cloak Mode please hold down the CTRL key and click on the Cancel button. You will get a message with some information and for confirming Cloak Mode. After pressing YES, the current settings are saved and FocalBlade is exited without rendering an effect to the image. Now when you run FocalBlade again by choosing it from the Filter menu of your image application, the dialog of FocalBlade won't show up and the previous settings will be rendered immediately to the image.

If you want to apply FocalBlade in Cloak Mode to a series of photos with basically the same softness or sharpness, you can test FocalBlade on one or more of them and adjust the settings to match all or most of the photos. If you create a sample area and switch to Cloak Mode, only the sharpness value that was sampled will be applied in Cloak Mode. The same area won't be sampled for each photo, because that would lead to bad results in most cases.

If you want to apply FocalBlade in Cloak Mode to photos with different softness or sharpness, please make sure that the Auto features are activated before CTRL-clicking on the Cancel button. This will make FocalBlade automatically sharpen during Cloak Mode.

Leaving Cloak Mode

After you processed your series of photos in Cloak Mode you can uncloak FocalBlade again. To do that hold down the Shift key when selecting FocalBlade from the filter menu in your image application. This will display the FocalBlade dialog again and exit Cloak Mode. Alternatively you can also delete the file Cloakfb.ini in the FocalBlade folder. But this is just an emergency strategy.

Batch Processing in Cloak Mode in Photoshop

Photoshop offers a Batch feature on its File > Automate menu. This feature lets you batch process a series of images with the help of a Photoshop Action. So if you want to batch process images in Photoshop you only need to record an action that contains FocalBlade.

To record an action with FocalBlade, please do the following:

1. Open an image in Photoshop.

2. Switch to the Actions palette at the right and create a new action by using the New Action button or the pop-up palette menu.

3. Choose FocalBlade from the Filter menu and press OK. You don't need to adjust any setting or enter Cloak mode yet.

4. Press the Stop button on the Action palette. Now you have your FocalBlade action that you can use with File > Automate > Batch.

To batch process a series of images with FocalBlade please do the following:

1. Open one of the images from the image series.

2. Run FocalBlade and adjust its settings.

3. Enter Cloak Mode by holding the CTRL key and clicking on the Cancel button.

4. Select File > Automate > Batch.

5. In the Batch dialog make sure that your FocalBlade action is selected.

6. Set the other batch options and click on OK to run it.

If you want to batch process another series of images with other FocalBlade settings, please uncloak FocalBlade as mentioned above, adjust the settings and return to Cloak Mode again. You don't need to create another action for that purpose as you would need to do for other plugins.

If you want to apply individual FocalBlade settings to each image during batch processing, don't activate Cloak mode and run the action nevertheless. Then for each image the FocalBlade dialog will pop up for adjusting the settings. To apply them just click on OK.

Batch Processing in Cloak Mode in Paint Shop Pro 8 and higher

Paint Shop Pro 8 and higher offer a Process feature on the File >Batch menu for batch process a series of images with the help of a PSP script. Recording such a script is quite easy.

To record a PSP script with FocalBlade, please do the following:

1. Open an image in PSP.

2. Select File > Script > Start Recording.

3. Choose FocalBlade from the Filter menu and press OK. You don't need to adjust any setting or enter Cloak mode yet.

4. Select File > Script > Start Recording and save the script. Now you have your FocalBlade action that you can use with File > Batch > Process.

To batch process a series of images with FocalBlade please do the following:

1. Open one of the images from the image series.

2. Run FocalBlade and adjust its settings.

3. Enter Cloak Mode by holding the CTRL key and clicking on the Cancel button.

4. Select File > Batch > Process.

5. In the Batch Process dialog choose your FocalBlade script with the Browse button from the Script frame.

6. Set the other batch options and click on the Start button to run it.

If you want to batch process another series of images with other FocalBlade settings, please uncloak FocalBlade as mentioned above, adjust the settings and return to Cloak Mode again. You don't need to create another script for that purpose as you would need to do for other plugins. If you want to apply individual FocalBlade settings to each image during batch processing, don't activate Cloak mode and run the script nevertheless. Then for each image the FocalBlade dialog will pop up for adjusting the settings. To apply them just click on OK.

Batch Processing in Cloak Mode in other applications

There are some other applications that support batch processing with the help of plugins. For example, Equilibrium Debabilizer supports it and some other applications like Plugin Commander Pro may support it in future. Basically batch processing in other applications works the same as in Photoshop. You have to activate Cloak Mode in FocalBlade and select the FocalBlade plugin for batch processing in the batch feature of these applications.