Plugin Newsletter - July 2000

CONTENTS
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INTRODUCTION

PLUGIN GALAXY FOR MACINTOSH RELEASED

LATEST POLL RESULTS: YOUR FAVOURITE TEXTURE APPLICATION

NEW POLL: YOUR FAVOURITE VIDEO EDITING TOOL

NEW FREE & COMMERCIAL PLUGINS

NEW REVIEWS

FREEWARE OF THE MONTH: 3D GIF ANIMATOR

Dear Subscribers,

welcome to the new issue of the Plugin Newsletter. It took me again four weeks to release it. Most of the time I'm working on my dissertation about software-ergonomics which grows to 400 pages. I try to get it finished by July 20. So that's why I haven't got much time to write for this newsletter, do cool new stuff or enjoy the nice weather outside. I hope you're better off.

Have a nice time,
Harald Heim

PLUGIN GALAXY FOR MACINTOSH RELEASED

The Macintosh version of Plugin Galaxy was finally released. It can be used with Photoshop 5 and higher. I produced it in cooperation with Panopticum LLC which already created many nice plugins. The Windows version is still available.

Plugin Galaxy is a set of 20 plugins which includes an incredible amount of over 120 basic effects. The product has frequently needed functions like transparency manipulation, blurring, texture and pattern generation, noise creation, mirroring and warping. It also includes amazing metal, chrome, neon, pop art, glass, rainbow, sunshine and star effects. Additionally you can enhance, colorize, add edges to your photos or even encrypt them. Last but not least, there are some effects that can be rarely found like feedbacks, grids or zooming.

http://pico.i-us.com/products/plugingalaxy/plugingalaxy.htm

LATEST POLL RESULTS: YOUR FAVOURITE TEXTURE APPLICATION

The latest poll was run four weeks and got over 200 votes. Here are the Top 5:

1. Reptile 28%
2. Other 15%
3. Illusionae 10%
4. Teralogic Texture Maker 8%
Infinity Textures 8%
5. Harm's Tile 7%
Texture Creator 7%

Reptile can be downloaded from http://www.sausage.com/reptile/
s far as I can remember, you have to register it for free before you can use it.

For other poll results, visit the Know How/Poll Results page at
http://pico.i-us.com

NEW POLL: YOUR FAVOURITE VIDEO EDITING TOOL

The new poll is about video editing software. You can vote for one of 24 applications at http://thepluginsite.com or http://pico.i-us.com. There's also an "Other" category that lets you enter the name of your application.

Suggestion for new polls can be emailed to me.

NEW FREE & COMMERCIAL PLUGINS

The Boris Fire plugin (Win/Mac) is a part of the Boris Continuum set and can be downloaded for free. Boris Fire plugin can be used in Adobe After Effects. It is an auto-animated procedural fire effect which provides control over flame width and height, color and movement, and allows you to generate smoke.

http://www.artelsoft.com/home/index.htm

Panopticum Lens Pro II (Win/Mac) allows you to quickly and effectively create a variety of lenses and crystals forms with a standard set of six lense and three crystal types. The new Array function quickly builds amazing textures and backgrounds that consist of lenses. Universal Lens can transform a selection into a lens object and with Gradient Lens you can use a gradient image in bmp format to build a lens or glass relief. Get a trial version from

http://pico.i-us.com/store/panopticum/Panopticum.htm

OldMovie (Win only) from Van Der Lee is a plugin that can be used with many PhotoShop plug-in compatible applications. With OldMovie you can recreate the old days of movie making and photography using current techniques. It enables you to render a plethora of effects to an image, making it look as if made decades ago. Scratches, hairs of any shape and size, dust clouds, fat, all types of film degradations and lens effects are at your disposal.

http://www.v-d-l.com

For more free plugins or tools visit http://thepluginsite.com

NEW REVIEWS

Two new reviews are available in the Plugin Guide: Old Movie from Van der Lee, a plugin for creating the old movie look, and Xenofex from Alienskin, a collection of 16 cool effect plugins. Both are highly recommendable.

http://pico.i-us.com/guide/guide.htm

FREEWARE OF THE MONTH: 3D GIF ANIMATOR

This month freeware tools are quite impressive. It offers many features you won't even find in commercial gif animators. It's almost unbelievable that this tool is really offered for free. It looks a bit complex at the first look, so you need some time to fully use its power. Here's a comprehensive description of it:

3D GIF Designer (Win only) produces animated high-quality 3D pictures, titles, banner ads and buttons for your Web page or for a presentation.
You can create animations from your own pictures and easily add 3D text and shapes. The sprites technology enables to control over placement, size, motion, appearance, soft-edged shadows and opacity. You can add an unlimited number of 3D text strings with own color, font, size, extrusion, texture, rotation and lightening. There are also 30 professional templates included to get started quickly.

http://www.pysoft.com

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