PLUG-INS and FILTERS:

I know that many of you are frustrated that you cannot do some tutorials because you cannot get plugins/filters to work. I hope to help some of you with that.

First off – what I will show you works for me, I cannot guarantee it will for everyone. You should know that I am running Windows 10 – but before the update I had Windows 7 and my psp was working fine and I didn’t need to do anything when I upgraded my OS.

Also I use PSP X – I have used PSP 9 and 12 – everything I have set up worked with all 3 versions.

NOTE: I can NOT provide links to plugins – as this would jeopardize the group and I certainly don’t want that to happen. However there are many free to use filters – you can simply google the filter you want and see where to get it. There are many sites that offer an array of plugins to download. Should you choose to get them from there – please run your anti-virus protection of that particular file before unzipping it or installing it. Safety first !!!!

Let’s Begin:

I suggest you make a folder on your desktop where you can easily locate things.

DLL’s:

Most of the plugins created are made for Adobe Photoshop programs – not Corel (Jasc in older versions) PSP. Therefore in order to work they need to be converted. I know some people have never had to use these – but for some it helps resolve issues. I installed them because they are a Microsoft product and I felt there was no risk to having them. I suggest you google DLL’s for PSP – and choose where you wish to get them from. Place these in the file you created on your desktop.

TO INSTALL:

Before you can do anything – you need to establish whether you have a 32- or 64-bit computer. The easy way to do this is click your C: Drive. Then scroll down to PROGRAM FILES.

32-bit --- you will only have a folder titled Program Files

64-bit --- you will have 2 folders – 1 labelled Program Files and another labelled Program Files (x86)

With an 64-bit computer you should be able to run every plugin – with the 32-bit you are limited as to which you can use. Unfortunately, there is no way of knowing with the 32-bit until you try to install them and they don’t work.

Open the folder where you saved your DLL’s. Below shows where you need to install them depending on the bit amount you have.

32-bit ---

C: Drive --- WINDOWS --- System

AND

C: Drive --- WINDOWS --- System 32

64-bit ---

C: Drive --- WINDOWS --- System 32

We need to do just one more thing – if you need to take a break, do so. I know that messing around with computer things can be a little intimidating sometimes.

When you installed PSP it created a folder that has all the elements that come with it – such as brushes, textures, colors, and all the various effects such as drop shadow. I was taught that instead of uploading all the different plugins and brushes and textures etc. into the PSP folder actually slows it down. So locate your DOCUMENTS folder – mine is under THIS PC – but again depending on your version you may have to look for it.

Once located – click NEW FOLDER and create a folder labelled so that you will know what it is – mine is called MY PSP FILES. Now open that folder and create sub-folders within it – One for PLUGINS (or FILTERS, whichever you prefer). Later on you can make folders for brushes, textures, selections or anything else you add to PSP.

OK, we now have everything set up as needed.

If you have plugins already installed on your PC and they are in the original PSP folder – please move them to your newly created PSP folder, into the subfolder PLUGINS. If you have nothing installed yet, anything you purchase or download should be placed in the new subfolder you created.

So unzip all the files (please make sure you keep each plugin in its own folder – i.e. if you unzip Eye Candy 4.0 when you click to unzip – make sure you have it saved to its own individual folder) – when you are done unzipping you should have subfolders within the Plugins subfolder of all your plugins. That’s a bit of a tongue twister isn’t it??? LOL

Here is to show you how my folder looks:

Now we can load the plugins into PSP – (yes I heard you sigh *finally*) - the good news is all that prep work we did we never have to do it again. Just remember, any plugins you add in the future MUST go into that subfolder.

IMPORTANT:

If you have the plugins folder on your desktop or any place you don’t want it to be – now is the time to move it. If you do it after the following steps you will lose all the plugins being exported into PSP and have to do it again.

Let’s open PSP. Go to FILE – PREFERENCES – FILE LOCATIONS

A new window will open – you will see on the left side a scroll window with all the various items – scroll until you locate PLUGINS – click on it so it is highlighted

On the right hand side you will see something like this. If you don’t have any plugins installed you will just have the top line. If you do have other lines then these are ones you installed – if they are working – leave them alone. If you moved them to your folder we created earlier – then highlight each line and remove. DO NOT delete the top line or you will lose all the pre-installed filters!!!!!!

Make sure to click ENABLE PLUG-INS and ENABLE and USE SUBFOLDERS at the bottom.

Click the ADD button. Locate where you placed your created plugins folder – hopefully you followed the instructions and it is in your Documents folder – My PSP Files (or whatever you named it). Once you have found it – activate the PLUGINS folder (you do not need to open it and install each plugin separately).

Now click OK.

Close PSP. Reopen PSP. It may take a few moments depending on how many filters you installed for them all to load up. There is a lot of information that it has to sort through. When everything is installed – you will see something like this:

Notice the bottom area now lists plugins. If you click on Plugins 1 – it shows your plugins in alphabetical order

In the future – should add more plugins – place them in your created folder (Plugins) in Documents – write down the folder name – so that you know which it is, this time you will only need to look for that folder and add it – not the entire folder. I always close and reopen PSP after installing a new plugin. It’s just like rebooting your PC and cleans everything up.

NOTE: Certain PTU plugins like EYE CANDY require a license number – the first time you click on this filter it will ask you to fill in the required information – so make sure you have the document open with that information so you can easily install it.

I have my fingers crossed that this worked for you and you understand better the steps to installing plugins. I would encourage you to get Filters Unlimited if possible. The nice thing about this program is it comes with about 100 filters – plus you can quickly install others into it.

As you can see I have Filter Factory and others installed – a total of 781 filters to be exact – and with Filters Unlimited you do not have to move the plugins into your created folder – you simple choose import and locate the plugin and install directly into Filters Unlimited. However this program only accepts certain file types – but it will tell you if you can or cannot install it here. Unfortunately many commonly used FTU filters are no longer available from the original creators. Again I stress – should you download from another site – PLEASE make sure you run your virus protection. Most of the files are safe – but always best to make sure before you install something bad!!!!