Lazy Nezumi Pro - mouse and pen smoothing in PhotoShop and other apps!
polycounter lvl 11
Hello Polycounters!
Many of you have probably tried my little LazyNezumi line smoothing app over the years. It attaches to your art software, and allows you to draw smooth lines in a similar way to ZBrush Lazy Mouse.
Well I'm proud to announce that a brand new version called Lazy Nezumi Pro is now available here:
https://lazynezumi.com
I have added support for more apps and tablets, and added a bunch of cool new features: presets, new smoothing algorithms, pressure smoothing, scripting, and rulers (straight, radial, ellipse, perspective, isometric, fisheye). It also now comes with a PhotoShop plugin so you don't have to worry about hooking any windows. When using this plugin, it also knows which tool you are using so it can get out of your way when you don't need it (ie. when panning, zooming, colorpicker, etc.).
The program comes with a 30 day fully functional trial period, after which some features will be disabled until you purchase a license. This is currently my full time job!
I am looking for feedback and suggestions from the community. Many of its features started out as user suggestions, so please let me know if you have an idea that you think could make it more useful!
If you are interested in having your art posted on the website, I am also looking for testimonials from users who like the program, so get in touch!
I hope you like it and that it helps you create awesome art!
cheers,
Guillaume
Many of you have probably tried my little LazyNezumi line smoothing app over the years. It attaches to your art software, and allows you to draw smooth lines in a similar way to ZBrush Lazy Mouse.
Well I'm proud to announce that a brand new version called Lazy Nezumi Pro is now available here:
https://lazynezumi.com
I have added support for more apps and tablets, and added a bunch of cool new features: presets, new smoothing algorithms, pressure smoothing, scripting, and rulers (straight, radial, ellipse, perspective, isometric, fisheye). It also now comes with a PhotoShop plugin so you don't have to worry about hooking any windows. When using this plugin, it also knows which tool you are using so it can get out of your way when you don't need it (ie. when panning, zooming, colorpicker, etc.).
The program comes with a 30 day fully functional trial period, after which some features will be disabled until you purchase a license. This is currently my full time job!
I am looking for feedback and suggestions from the community. Many of its features started out as user suggestions, so please let me know if you have an idea that you think could make it more useful!
If you are interested in having your art posted on the website, I am also looking for testimonials from users who like the program, so get in touch!
I hope you like it and that it helps you create awesome art!
cheers,
Guillaume
Replies
(And no I'm not just saying that cause kamih's my brother!)
great job, this should compensate nicely for my shaky hands
ill tell you what I think but this could be a god send and get me using some more apps.
I fixed a couple of bugs.
You can read more information about the update here:
http://lazynezumi.com/news
I havent tried this newer version you just uploaded, but I can report that the one I tried two days ago caused photoshop to drop a few strokes here and there - something like one out of 10.
(ha ! it seems like this is indeed one of the bugs that you just addressed. Trying out the latest version now, will report asap.)
That's the bug I fixed in the new version, so give it a try!
This is using the default LN settings, in Photoshop CS6, win7 pro x64, with a Cintiq set to primary screen, labelled 2 in the windows resolution options.
Hope this helps !!
Can you please go to your plugins folder, and check that the version of mouseHook.8li is 13.9.13?
If it is, then could you please send me your LNP logs? (check the README.txt for their location)
Yeah I fixed a ton of problems since the old version, including some multi-monitor bugs. I'm pretty confident it will work for many more people now.
But of course, if you run into any problems, let me know!
Now back to trying to figure out why it's eating some of Pior's strokes..
I've been using it since a few days ago, and I'm able to draw lines the way I always wanted - but couldn't. This has solved an issue I've been struggling with ever since I got a wacom (nearly 15+ years!)
So thank u very much
If I may ask for a feature -- task bar minimization!
Also, it would be nice if u could use simpler, more user-friendly terms in ur documentation / interface.
Please bear with me while I think about the best way to tackle this (remote debugging is very tricky, and I want to minimize the amount of back and forth).
Shotgun: I'm very happy you find it useful!
Regarding minimization, do you mean having LNP in the system tray on the bottom right? If so, you are the second person to ask for this, so I will implement it as soon as I can!
Regarding the UI terms; I know, exponential moving average doesn't really say a lot to many people hehe, maybe I should just rename them Average and Average2. But in the meantime, let me know if you'd like me to explain something in particular!
'Exponential' is actually the most revealing word on the logic behind the feature, and just 'Average1/2' would be too general, I believe. Shoelace filter, however, didn't make sense until I read the documentation properly. It actually works the best!
Maybe a mouse-over Tooltip would be good to have
Chuck it down the bucket list
On a related note, I have a question for you guys:
Is it obvious that you can edit the preset settings and create your own presets?
If not, I could have a Tips window open the first time you start LNP, explaining this, and other basic features.
I ask because I've had a couple users only try the 3 presets that come installed, and didn't realize they could create their own.
The interface should be self-explanatory. I think the preset title should be in bigger font (with even 'preset name' in smaller, next to it). Then u add the (hide / show) + ( save / load) + (edit / etc.) buttons.
The whole thing (the hidden / shown parameters, sliders etc.) should be surrounded by another rectangular border (how do u call that?), and that whole border should have the enable / disable checkbox on it
Then to save changes, Save/Discard buttons appear at the bottom only when you change something, to save screen space.
This is also why I want to avoid adding frames unless they are really necessary: they take up a lot of space, and I think the user would prefer seeing his art program.
Same with adding 'preset: ' in front of the combo box, it will make the window wider. What do you think?
But for sure I will do this:
1) change New Preset so that it creates a preset with default/off values
2) add Save As that takes whatever you currently have and saves it as a new preset
Thanks again for the great feedback!
ps. I really should have asked for beta testers from here before releasing
I've only now noticed the Tooltip popup which says Presets list. No need to add 'preset' text then. However, to make it immediately clear that it's the title / head of the presetn, u can just make it bigger in size and make the Edit button as big as the load / save / show / hide buttons, they could all go just underneath a balder combo box (that's the presets list drop-down menu, I take it?)
Maybe an illustration will be easier to understand...
Don't worry about beta-testers and flaws. If u make a good program - everybody will know
if anyone is use to the stabilizing features in clipart/manga studio its just like that.
I've added a system tray icon like requested, and updated menus for saving presets.
I also made the preset list box text a little bigger, and changed some other minor UI style elements.
Download it from the same place as usual: http://lazynezumi.com
Let me know what you think!
I'm one of those who had problems with multi-monitor setup when using the old version.
Multi-monitor support and the photoshop plug-in are enough reasons for a buy from me, not to mention the curve and processing settings look really good.
The enlarged preset list box works better.
What I meant by system-tray minimization was in-lieu of the taskbar window. Just keep it there, minimized as an icon
shotgun: You mean you never want to see it in the taskbar at all, even when it's open?
But I'll see what I can do.
I'm just waiting to hear back from someone who has a strange bug where the trial period expires right away.
By the way Pior, did you get a chance to try those test versions I sent you?
I have fixed the trial period bug, added the system tray minimize function, and added better pen support for the Twisted Brush art software!
I noticed a bug (in this version), where every now and then I'll get 1 stroke that is pure 100% opaque, I believe without any curvature either. Like a mistake stroke that doesn't get any opacity/ pen pressure/ etc. effects going on
I'm using CS6 13.0 64bit & win7, latest Wacom drivers on Intuos 4
And it's hard to reproduce too, so I'm not sure what I can do about it. But I'll keep on the lookout and keep thinking about what could be causing it.
This version fixes a couple bugs, and adds back the Guide Line and Circle that were in the old LazyNezumi, since so many people asked.
http://lazynezumi.com/news
Enjoy!
Just wanted to let you know that I've added a payment option with Amazon Payments, for those of you who would like to buy a license but can't or won't use PayPal!
On the coding front, I'm currently working on an auto-hook feature. I want users to be able to configure LNP to auto-hook windows of their selected art programs (since right now this only works with the PhotoShop plugin). The old LazyNezumi could do this but it was buggy and hard to use, so I'm redesigning it completely. I'll let you guys know when it's ready!
Oh yea. Totally buying this.
As always, download here: http://lazynezumi.com
This version adds a new setting to check for updates at startup. You can enable this so you'll be notified as soon as a new version is available!
I've also added a quick tutorial that should help first time users figure out how to use the software.
Many of you have provided some great feedback and ideas, keep it coming!
Here are some of the things I plan on working on next:
Pior's issue is similar, but so far he's the only one to report it (and I can't reproduce it on my test machines). I've sent him a couple different test versions but he's been away so I don't know if the issue is resolved for him yet.
Give it a try and let me know, it will probably work fine for you!
I also managed to solve Pior's issue with the disappearing lines, but unfortunately he now has way more full-pressure lines instead
If anyone has this issue, I'd be interested in knowing how fast your CPU is, and how many cores it has.
*Works well....:)
Speaking of which, I'm thinking of maybe doing some advertising eventually.
I hate ads, but at the same time I'd love for more people to know about LNP.
Do you guys know of any cool/popular art magazines (print or web) that sometimes feature PhotoShop plugins?
In other news, I've just released a new version: 13.10.9.
This only has a couple minor fixes, nothing major but I wanted to get it out of the way before I started working on bigger stuff (this doesn't have the changes I did for Pior, I'm still testing that code branch).
http://www.2dartistmag.com/
Now you can start working on a dynamic symmetry plugin! That would make millions!
Thanks for the ref nyx! I'll check them out.
You're not the first to mention symmetry. This was actually another thing Bal asked me to do. I'm afraid in PhotoShop it's impossible though, nothing will make PhotoShop render multiple lines at the same time, unless they rewrite their code.
In response to the symmetry thing: I wonder if you could someone have a symmetry brush, since a brush with spacing (imagine these two circles as one brush: o o ) could draw two things at once?
Maybe some way to have a dynamic brush that updates in real time, and those circles move closer or further away from each other depending on your cursor's position relative to a symmetry split/pivot? Food for though, I have no idea if that is possible, just throwing it out there.
Thanks for the idea Rex, I will look into it!
If the brush being used has a tight enough spacing value, the two alternating "dashed" strokes would probably look like continuous lines ...