Blocs Plus still has no B&W option?!

How can this be at Blocs 6? At least the saturation should go all the way to no color. Is this actually hard to make Blocs do this? Seems like the simplest thing. I would say it would be the #1 feature for Blocs Plus. Is there a way to achieve this? I STILL have to edit with an external editor just to get B&W? Nothing works to get B&W. I tied like 8 saturators in a row and it still won’t go to B&W. Vibrance doesn’t help either. :frowning:

Hi @BigJD,

I was able to achieve this using the class editor (see example). I have it set to Grayscale under the filter section in the drop down menu but there is also a saturation option.

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That’s awesome… I am looking into that right now. Still say a B&W option would be welcomed for Blocs Plus and ’should’ be there. Great workaround though.Thanks!

Success. Works like a charm. Why is that not in the Blocs Plus I pay extra for? :slight_smile: Thanks again.

Do you want a black and white option for the Image Editor filters? I’m not aware of any requests for it.

Right, where there are options for posterize, sepia, etc. I’m surprised no requests for B&W / grayscale within the image editor.
The ‘class manager’ filters are way better than the image editor. In the image editor I find saturation, vibrance and sepia really do not work well or have a great useable range. While the class manager sepia and saturation work as you would expect from an image editor, perfectly. Saturation there even goes right down to grayscale as it should. But in the image editor, which costs extra, I feel the tools (filters) could be improved. The ones I mention should work as perfect there as they do in the class editor. Well, minus vibrance, which is not in the class editor. Not sure why they wouldn’t since the proper functionality is obviously there as seen in the class editor… Wouldn’t even need an option for B&W if saturation worked right. Even without any requests I would expect a vibrance tool, saturation tool and sepia tool to work as they would in any other image editor and as they do in the class manager. My thoughts. Thanks Norm.

Hi @BigJD

I do as been posted above - and works nice, I just create a class and add the grey scale in there and adjust the make it black and white. I much prefer this as I can add some extra styles to the images like a grey drop shadow around the images if on white - or a lighter grey shadow if on black to make the image pop out a little.

I am happy where it is to be fair, think that is where it should be as If my client wants to change it in the future, I have a global change in the class.

Being its in the class editor, so I would say its already there for everyone …the argument to me would be if its not there at all! - but I guess its up to @Norm if he wants to duplicate this again, but please keep it in class editor!

I get that and it’s needed for classes, but there’s an actual Image Editor in the app, it should should function at least as good as the class editor really, and especially if someone is paying for Blocs Plus. I’m glad there’s a way to achieve this but technically as good as it is, it’s a workaround. For the price of Blocs and especially with the Plus version, it shouldn’t be a ‘workaround.’

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not trying to find fault in the app, I’m pointing out an issue (well, let’s say functionality) that could be improved, and frankly should be.

I double checked this as I was sure there was an option in the Image Editor for Black and White. When I went to investigate the source code, it looks like I was correct it’s there, but it was never enabled. I found a few other filters I had been working on and have enabled them too. So it looks like Future Norm saved the day here :crystal_ball::man_mage:t2:

They will be included in the Blocs v6.0.3 release today.

The newly enabled filters are:

Black and White: Classic Black and White

Noir: Stylish Black and White

Pixelate: My favourite (turn your images into SNES Graphics)

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^ Nice

Keep digging and enabling all hidden features you have already worked on in the future throughout the app source. Please consult Dr. Emmett Brown if needed. :joy:

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Great stuff!! And with a bonus B&W flavour to boot :slight_smile:
Thanks Norm. Great news!

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It’s likely I wrote them but disabled as I though no one would use them, there is actually a few more, but I’m not sure they are that useful, things like invert.

You can look at it this way, consider from the already decades long test pool and usage of …

Adobe Photoshop, Apple Pixelmator ( :crazy_face: ), Affinity Photo, and many others – usually have a multitude available and allow the users to decide how and when to utilize them creatively.

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I’d say any additional filters would be welcomed, and sounds easy if they are already to go. Someone may find them useful for a purpose they hadn’t thought about. And they still add more value to the image editor. I’m a big PS user, but I find the convenience of these things in the image editor great, especially for web design. It’s usually these quicker edits that need to be made and on the fly. It’s so useful and glad you have it in the app. Also a timesaver.

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I concur. Letting folks decide what is useful out of what’s there is a goof analogy

I’m certainly not saying to put in the hundreds that are available, but Apple’s Core Image > CIFilter has a lot of nifty filters / effects people would probably enjoy creatively. :shushing_face: :wink:

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You’ve been around the blocks a few times. I admire your knowledge, and wisdom. Thank you for being here for us. :smiley: