Hue and Cry

What it does

Hue and Cry is a color noise generator. It creates areas of semi-random abstract color which are useful for making backgrounds or for reducing the uniformity of an illustration. You can also use the output of Hue and Cry as a picture base or as an element for textures and tiles for surfacing 3D models.

How to install

To use this software, you need a paint program which accepts standard Photoshop 3.0 plugins.

Just put the plug-in filter into the folder where your paint program expects to find it. If you have Photoshop, the folder is Photoshop:Plugins:Filters or Photoshop:Plug-ins. You must restart Photoshop before it will notice the new plug-in. It will appear in the menus as Filters->Flaming Pear->Hue and Cry.

Most other paint programs follow a similar scheme.

If you have Paint Shop Pro: you have to create a new folder, put the plug-in filter into it, and then tell PSP to look there. In PSP's menus, choose File-> Preferences->General Program Preferences (PSP versions 5 and 6) or File->Preferences->File Locations (PSP version 7). Next, click the Plug-in Filters tab. Use a "Browse" button to choose the folder. The plugin will appear in the menus as Image->Plug-in Filters->Flaming Pear->Hue and Cry.

Controls

When you invoke Hue and Cry, a dialog box will appear:

Quick start
If you just want to make some color quickly, click the dice buttons until you see an effect you like; then click OK. Using the dice is the easiest way to use Hue and cry. If you want to hand-tune your own effects, it helps to learn the controls, which are arranged into two groups: Form Color ...and a few other controls that affect the whole image.

1. Form
Hue and Cry works by filling the image with many overlapping blotches of color. The "form" controls influence the size and shape of these blotches. Shape chooses one of six blotch shapes: circles, diamonds, squares, octagons, TVs, fleurons, or points.		seven different shapes

Overlap makes the blotches larger and smaller. Large blotches wll overlap each other, producing interesting color effects.

smaller and larger overlap

Softness controls how crisp or soft the blotches' edges are.

harder and softer

Warping deforms the result, disguising the shapes.

warped diamonds

Complexity lets you draw extra shapes, creating a more complicated result. Zoom makes the entire pattern larger or smaller.

simple and complex diamonds

2. Color
The "color" controls influence the colors in each blotch, and also what new colors appear where blotches overlap. Color, when set to zero, yields totally grey output. Higher settings produce more vivid colors.. Hue lets you rotate only the hues without changing anything else. Hues get shifted around the color wheel in this order: red -> yellow -> green -> cyan -> blue -> magenta -> red.		original more color, different hue

Stripes produces concentric rings of color in the blotches. Doublure creates an indescribable variation. Stripe Kind lets you choose from four different styles of stripes. Merge lets you choose from four different ways of overlapping the blotches.

different stripes and doublure   different stripe kind and mergemode

3. Other controls
Dice There are three different dice buttons. The small-dice button randomly adjusts your current settings a little bit. The medium-dice button changes your settings more. The big-die button discards your settings entirely and replaces them with random new ones. Click these buttons as much as you want to see different effects. Random seed Think of this as the "same-but-different" button. Clicking it changes only the random pattern of the blotches and leaves everything else the same. Glue mode popup menu Lets you combine the result with the underlying image in various ways. Modes other than "normal" produce special effects. Plus, % and minus buttons: If the selected image area is larger than the preview are, these buttons will let you zoom in and out. You can also reposition the preview by dragging it around; your cursor will turn into a hand. Load preset Hue and Cry comes with some presets, which are files containing settings. To load one, click this button and browse for a preset file. Save preset When you make an effect you like, click this button to save the settings in a file.  Undo backs up one step. Three more buttons: OK  Applies the effect to your image. Cancel  Dismisses the filter, and leaves the image unchanged. Register Allows you to type in a registration code.		small, medium, and large dice   random seed   load preset (top) and save preset   undo

Hints Because Hue and Cry has so many controls, the easiest way to use it is to click the dice buttons until you see what you like, and the fine-tune that result a little.

Version History Version 1.0 November 2000 The first public release.

How to Purchase

You can place an order online here. A secure server for transactions is available.

Questions

Answers to common technical questions appear on the support page, and free upgrades appear periodically on the download page.

Trouble with your order? Orders are handled by Kagi; please contact them at admin@kagi.com .

For bug reports and technical questions about the software, please write to support@flamingpear.com .