Plugins for Photoshop, Elements, Lightroom, PSP & others
Plugins for Photoshop, Elements, Lightroom, PSP & others
Plugin Newsletter - December 2007
Contents
========
EDITORIAL
HYPERTYLE 1.03 WAS RELEASED: Enhanced Compatibility and new Freeware main
effect
NEW PLUGIN GALAXY 2 TUTORIALS: Creating Rainbows, Christmas Balls, Text Effects and more
POLL RESULTS: Which of the following features do you consider essential
for filter plugins?
NEW POLL: How large are the images that you usually process?
THE DISCUSSION FORUMS: Auto FX Updates, Crisp Edges Wanted, Mac Plugin Problems
FREE PLUGINS AND TOOLS: Xero XL, FlickrShop, Black and White Works, Mezzoforce
Ice 2.0 Lite, Image Analyzer, FotoSketcher
GRAPHICS NEWS: Adobe Updates, Lightroom Export SDK, FaceShop, Image Doctor 2, ComparePSD, Design Tools Monthly
PRODUCTS FROM THE PLUGIN SITE
ABOUT THE PLUGIN SITE
Dear Reader,
With the new HyperTyle 1.03 update all of our Photoshop plugins support Windows Vista. But HyperTyle 1.03 also includes several more fixes, which will be introduced to our other plugins, too. This includes fixing problems with DEP, write access restrictions in Vista and the ESC key, supporting Photoshop memory management and XP/Vista visual styles as well as fixing problems with less compatible image applications. There will also be an improved (un)installation and several other improvements, which will make our plugins even more reliable.
Wishing you Happy Christmas Holidays
Harald Heim
www.thepluginsite.com
HYPERTYLE 1.03 WAS RELEASED: Enhanced Compatibility
and new Freeware main effect
------------------------------------------------
HyperTyle is a filter plugin for Windows, which lets you create various
effects with the help of textures. Version 1.03 of HyperTyle now adds
support for Windows Vista, Data Execution Prevention and Photoshop memory
management as well as enhanced compatibility with graphics applications
like GIMP, PhotoBrush, Image Analyzer and SignLab. It also offers new
installation and uninstallation options like the Plugin Installer tool
which supports more than 25 graphics applications. Moreover, Version 1.03
fixes a lot of bugs.
The demo version of HyperTyle now offers all textures and presets and can be applied to the image. It applies a watermark unless you use the new Freeware main effect, which is free. The Freeware main effect lets you fill and blend images with a texture. For example you can use the Overlay blend mode to make your photo look like it was printed on canvas.
If you are a registered user of HyperTyle you will receive the update for free. You will be informed by email within the next 24 hours.
For more information about HyperTyle and getting a
demo version please visit
http://www.thepluginsite.com/products/hypertyle/
NEW PLUGIN GALAXY 2 TUTORIALS: Creating Rainbows,
Christmas Balls, Text Effects and more
------------------------------------------------
Robin Rowlands, who inspired many effects in Plugin Galaxy and created
many presets for Plugin Galaxy 2, has written several tutorials for Plugin
Galaxy 2. The tutorials tell you how to create spheres, 3D balls, bubbles,
rainbows, flowers, text effects, picture frames and various other things.
44 presets for Plugin Galaxy 2 are also available for download on the
tutorial pages.
For these new tutorials please go to
http://www.thepluginsite.com/products/plugingalaxy/win/Tutorials/robin/
You can find Plugin Galaxy 2 here:
http://www.thepluginsite.com/products/plugingalaxy/win/
POLL RESULTS: Which of the following features do you consider essential
for filter plugins?
------------------------------------------------
More than 1300 votes were recorded in the previous poll about essential
plugin features. Here are the results:
1. Large preview 10% 135
2. Option for saving preset 9% 111
3. Fast preview update 8% 102
4. Multiple Undo steps 7% 94
5. Fast rendering after pressing OK 7% 93
6. Support for layer masks 6% 81
7. Resizable window 5% 66
8. Brush tool for selectively drawing effects 5% 65
9. Blend modes and blend slider 5% 63
10. Simple as well as advanced modes 5% 62
11. Descriptive tool tips or help box 4% 55
12. Transparency/Alpha Channel support 4% 54
13. Option for random effect settings 4% 52
14. Usable as a smart filter in Photoshop CS3 4% 52
15. Many included presets 4% 49
16. 200% and higher preview zoom 3% 41
17. Layers of filter stack for applying multiple effects 3% 41
18. Tab sheets if there are many controls 2% 32
19. Histogram display 2% 27
20. Recording of filter parameters in Actions/Macros 2% 27
It is surprising to see that "multiple undo steps" and "layer mask support" are so high on the list, although very few plugins offer such features. On the other hand "action/macros support" and "higher than 100% zoom" are not very much needed, even if many plugins offer them. Offering a brush tool within a plugin is high on the list, although it is quite easy to selectively apply a plugin effect with the history brush or brush on a layer mask. Using a brush within a plugin is probably more convenient.
For more poll results, please visit the Know-How section
at
http://thepluginsite.com/knowhow/
NEW POLL: How large are the images that you usually
process?
------------------------------------------------
The new poll asks you about the size of the images that you usually process
and edit. You have various choices from smaller than 0.1 Megapixel to
more than 50 Megapixel. Please vote for the size that comes closest. Thanks
for your participation!
You can cast your vote at the bottom of the page at
http://www.thepluginsite.com/
THE DISCUSSION FORUMS: Auto FX Updates, Crisp Edges Wanted, Mac Plugin
Problems
------------------------------------------------
Here are some of the latest interesting posts on The Plugin Site Discussion
Forums:
Auto FX Updates
plugsnpixels wrote: "I totally missed this back in late July, but
Auto FX ... updated their entire plug-in suite for the first time since
2003! It used to be that the plug-ins were RAM hungry and difficult to
use from within Photoshop (as opposed to standalone), but they seem to
have been optimized for speed and resource usage and are compatible with
Photoshop CS3 now. ... If you are a registered user, just download all
the updates and uninstall/reinstall."
http://www.thepluginsite.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=2807
Crisp Edges Wanted
Oedhel wrote: "... I'm having trouble filling a shape entirely with
the paint brush [in Photoshop]... Even the fill option doesn't work right...
If try to fill a circle the edges are blended out ward so that its not
a sharp edge... It just fades out from the edge... It didn't do this the
other day ago... Can someone please tell me how to fix it? I want my crisp
edges back...."
http://www.thepluginsite.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=2808
Mac Plugin Problems
scooter wrote: "I have just downloaded my first plugins off of the
net for Photoshop CS2 [for MacOS X]. After un-stuffing them, I placed
them in my filters folder where all my plugins are located. Then I launched
Photoshop. They didn't work. Then I read that I also need "Plugin
Commander" to convert the plugins to a usable form. The only problem
is, I am mac based and only found "Plugin Commander" for Windows...
What do mac people do?"
http://www.thepluginsite.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=2810
For more interesting discussions and posting your
own comments or questions please visit
http://www.thepluginsite.com/forum/
FREE PLUGINS AND TOOLS: Xero XL, FlickrShop, Black
and White Works, Mezzoforce Ice 2.0 Lite, Image Analyzer, FotoSketcher
------------------------------------------------
Five popular Xero plugins (for Windows) were face-lifted by adding a larger
preview, faster processing and some new features. These new Xero XL plugins
are called Bad Dream, Caravaggio, Nostalgia, Porcelain and Soft Mood.
http://www.xero-graphics.co.uk/xl/info.htm
FlickrShop (for MacOS X) is an automation plugin for Photoshop CS2 and
CS3 that allows you to upload images to the Flickr photo sharing website
from within Photoshop.
http://www.pixelnovel.com/flickrshop.html
Rudolf's Black and White Works (for Windows) is a free filter plugin for
converting color images to B&W. The conversion is done with the help
of a hue and saturation slider. There is also an option for toning the
images and a preset feature.
http://www.rudolf.it.pl/bw_works.html
Mezzoforce Ice 2.0 Lite (for Windows) is now available. It is a plugin
for creating ice-like structures. Unlike Version 1.0, which was completely
free, Version 2.0 Lite only lets you process images up to 800 x 800 pixel.
The commercial full version does not have this limitation.
http://www.mezzoforce.com/mezzoforce_ice_2.0_lite.php
Image Analyzer (for Windows) is a graphics application designed for scientific
imaging, but can also be used for photo editing. It offers many features
not found in other packages, so it is definitely worth a look. Now it
also offers a 8fb Interface plugin that lets you use Photoshop plugins
within Image Analyzer. Even if it is not fully compatible with every Photoshop
plugin, it is certainly a good addition.
http://meesoft.logicnet.dk/
FotoSketcher (for Windows) is a free program that turns photos into images
that look like hand drawn. It lets you open only BMP and JPG files and
saves the result as JPG. It offers six parameters for sketching and lets
you blur the image. Unfortunately it does not work with very large images.
http://www.fotosketcher.com/
GRAPHICS NEWS: Adobe Updates, Lightroom Export SDK, FaceShop, Image Doctor
2, ComparePSD, Design Tools Monthly
------------------------------------------------
Adobe released various software updates. The Photoshop CS3 10.0.1 update contains various bug fixes, the Camera Raw 4.3 update offers support for new camera types and Lightroom 1.3 additionally offers support for Mac OS X v10.5 Leopard.
http://www.adobe.com/downloads/
The preview of the Lightroom Export SDK allows developers to create "plugins"
for the Lightroom 1.3 Export Dialog. Unfortunately these so called plugins
are only Lua scripts and not plugins in the normal sense. Lets hope that
Adobe will offer SDKs for other parts of Lightroom and also support real
plugins for Lightroom.
http://labs.adobe.com/technologies/lightroomsdk/
FaceShop is a Photoshop plugin that alters the angle of people’s
faces in photos. You can rotate faces as if the people on the photos looked
in a different direction when taking the photo.
http://www.abalonellc.com/faceshop-photoshop-plugin1.html
Alien Skin released Version 2 of Image Doctor, a plugin for restoring
and repairing photos. It lets you heal rips and scratches, remove moles,
tattoos, scars or other blemishes, soften skin, remove and replace unwanted
objects and repair low-quality JPEG images.
http://www.alienskin.com/imagedoctor/
ComparePSD is a tool that lets you compare two Photoshop PSD files. It
highlights the differences, layer by layer and effect by effect. It also
provides a scaled view of the files which helps to find differences easier.
http://www.pixelnovel.com/comparepsd/
Design Tools Monthly celebrates its 15th year in print. More than 180
monthly issues have been delivered to designers in 41 countries. Design
Tools Monthly consists of a printed 12-page newsletter and a hyperlinked
PDF. Each issue contains about 100
brief articles. There is also an online "Software Closet" with
the free utilities, plugins and fonts for graphic designers.
http://www.design-tools.com/
