Plugins for Photoshop, Elements, Lightroom, PSP & others
Plugins for Photoshop, Elements, Lightroom, PSP & others
Plugin Newsletter - July/August 2015
CONTENTS
SUMMER DEALS: Special Offers
for various Products and Bundles with up to 50% price reduction
ELEMENTSXXL 2.54 UPDATE: Trial version works another 14 days, Improved Render feature, Path Panel Improvements, Many Bug Fixes
LAYERSXXL 1.03 FOR WINDOWS: Highly improved noise reduction, Unicode support, New Layer Comps Panel Look
METARAW 1.14 UPDATE: Support for DNG Converter 9.1.1 and new cameras
POLL RESULTS: What resolution does your
main monitor have?
NEW POLL: Which new features of Photoshop CC 2015 do you consider useful?
FREE PLUGINS AND TOOLS: Coolorus 2, Velositey
2, S.O.Linker, HitFilm Express, Strata Design 3D SE
GRAPHICS NEWS: No More Photoshop CS6 Camera Raw Updates, Photoshop CC 2015, PS Custom Tools, Auto FX AutoMagic, Thumbs Plus 10
Dear Reader,
The latest ElementsXXL 2.54 version will very likely be the last version of ElementsXXL 2. It includes a lot of fixes, which we did not want to keep until ElementsXXL 3. Thanks to all users who reported the bugs! Version 3 of ElementsXXL is planned to be released at the end of September or beginning October. So far 175 new features are in the pipeline (and may easily increase to 200 or more), which will take Photoshop Elements even closer to Photoshop. In any case, new users do not have to wait for ElementsXXL 3, because they can buy ElementsXXL 2 now and will get ElementsXXL 3 for free later.
Photoshop CC 2015 was released last month. Please see below for the new poll about its features. The new artboards are probably useful for designers and the new Dehaze feature in Camera Raw 9.1 should be nice for landscape photographers. Apart from that there are no really exciting new features for me. Our plugins were successfully tested under Photoshop CC 2015 for Windows and Mac. So there is no update necessary to use them with Photoshop CC 2015.
After two years of continued Camera Raw updates for Photoshop CS6, Adobe now decided to cease them. On the other hand Photoshop CS6 can still be bought on the Adobe web site, which is a paradox. Adobe recommends using DNG Converter instead. However, if you want to keep up the same workflow and convenience, we recommend using our MetaRaw plugin in Photoshop CS6. See below for the full news!
To make this summer even hotter we are offering some special summer deals. See below!
Kind regards,
Harald Heim
SUMMER DEALS
Special Offers for various Products and Bundles with up to 50% price reduction
Most workflow plugins and all PhotoWiz plugins are reduced in price from 20% up to 50% until the end of August 2015. The highest price reductions are for FilterHub (50%), ColorWasher and LightMachine (40%). Also noteworthy is the 35% discount on the PhotoWiz Bundle, the 20% reduction on the Elements Bundle and the 25% on LayersXXL. All of them have never been offered at such a low price before.
For more details see the
Order Page
ELEMENTSXXL 2.54 UPDATE
Trial version works another 14 days, Improved Render feature, Path Panel Improvements, Many Bug Fixes
ElementsXXL supplies 230 professional features for Photoshop Elements
and greatly enhances the image editing experience in Photoshop Elements.
Version 2.54 of ElementsXXL includes more than 20 bug fixes and several other improvements: The Path panel offers a new look and has some problems fixed, including a crash bug, Grayscale images editing problems were removed, several bugs of the Render features fixed and Quick Mask Mode was also fixed. Additionally some menu items on the Layers menu were rearranged to match Photoshop. All in all, it is a highly recommended update.
The ElementsXXL 2.54 trial version now works for another 14 days, so you can test it again even if it expired before.
For more information and a 14-day trial version visit
the
ElementsXXL
Product Page
LAYERSXXL 1.03 FOR WINDOWS
Highly improved noise reduction, Unicode support, New Layer Comps Panel Look
LayersXXL 1.03 includes a highly improved Denoise feature, which is located
the Auto-Expose Layers dialog. LayersXXL now supports unicode language,
so its dialogs are now available in Russian, Japanese, Korean, Chinese
and Taiwanese language. The look of the Layer Comps panel was improved
by using a smaller title bar, a light gray list background and icons instead
of checkmarks. A crash problem of the Layer Comps window was fixed and
the Open as Layers file dialog now lists .arw raw files.
In case you never heard of LayersXXL before: It adds up to 180 photo and design features to Photoshop Elements for Windows. LayersXXL performs the following tasks with multiple image files: Denoising high ISO shots, Depth of Field Increase, HDR creation, combining Light Trail photos, preparing a manual composition, multiple exposure effects and panorama stitching. LayersXXL also includes a Layer Comps panel for creating and managing layer compositions like in Photoshop. Even more, there is a new Style Settings dialog similar to Photoshop's Layer Styles dialog with 5 new layer effects and 105 new options.
For more information and a 14-day trial version visit
the
LayersXXL Product
Page
METARAW 1.14 UPDATE
Support for DNG Converter 9.1.1 and new cameras
MetaRaw extends the functionality of the Adobe Camera Raw plugin in Photoshop and Photoshop Elements by opening unsupported raw files and providing several other features. The latest version 1.14 supports Adobe DNG Converter 9.1.1 and offers an improved raw conversion for the following cameras: Canon G3 X, Nikon 1 J5, Nikon D810A, Olympus AIR A01, Panasonic FZ300, Panasonic G7, Panasonic GX8, Pentax K-S2, Sony A7R II.
Under Windows XP/Vista MetaRaw now installs DNG Converter 8.3 instead of the latest version. This makes sure that DNG Converter works under XP and Vista.
For more information and a 14-day trial version
visit the
MetaRaw
Product Page
POLL RESULTS
Which versions of Photoshop and/or Photoshop Elements do you use?
223 people voted in the previous poll about monitor resolutions.
Here are the results when sorting all resolutions into four categories:
1. Full HD (and similar) 49.5%
2. Below Full HD 27%
3. Above Full HD 16%
4. 4K / Ultra HD and higher 6.5%
Here are the full results:
15360 × 8640 1.3%
7680 × 4320 2%
5120 × 2880 1%
3840 × 2160 2.2%
3440 × 1440 2%
2560 × 1440 10%
2560 × 1080 2%
1920 × 1440 4%
2048 × 1152 0.5%
1920 × 1200 17%
1920 × 1080 32%
1600 × 1200 6%
1600 × 900 6%
1440 × 960 4%
1280 × 1024 3%
1280 × 720 3%
1024 × 768 5%
More than 3/4 of all monitors have a resolution of Full HD or below. 4K, Ultra HD and better monitors rather seem to be the exception, but their number will certainly increase in future. So it will be even more important for software developers to support HiDPI / Retina functionality in future. The most common resolutions are 1920 x 1080, 1920 x 1200 and 2560 x 1440. Five percent of the voters still use old 1024 x 768 monitors, which is the bottom limit.
For more poll results please visit the
Resources section
NEW POLL
Which new features of Photoshop CC 2015 do you consider useful?
With the release of Photoshop CC 2015 last month we would like to ask you which of its features are useful for you. You can vote for 13 new feature groups, a None option and an Other option.
Please participate in this poll by visiting
the
Main page...
FREE PLUGINS AND TOOLS
Coolorus 2, Velositey 2, S.O.Linker, HitFilm Express, Strata Design 3D SE
Coolorus 2 is a Photoshop extension
(for Win/Mac) that adds a Corel-Painter-like color wheel panel to Photoshop
CS5 and higher. It offers 6 color spaces, affects text and shape layers,
provides Gamut Lock and Color Mixer features, a simple mode and much more.
At the moment it costs $0, so better get it as long as is still free.
Visit website...
Velositey 2 is a Photoshop extension
(for Win/Mac) allows you to create a web site prototype with the help
of 60 templates. It runs in Photoshop CS6 and higher. The downside is
that you have to post a message on Twitter or Facebook about Velositey
in order to get a download link.
Visit
website...
S.O.Linker is a utility program
(for Windows) which updates smart objects in Photoshop that are linked
to external .psd files. It is meant as a solution for the problem that
Photoshop (probably only older versions of it) does not automatically
update a smart object when an external file changes.
Visit website...
HitFilm Express is a free video
editing application (for Win/Mac), which also offers 3D compositing, 3D
object rendering, particle simulation, colour correction and grading as
well as 157 effects and presets. A Pro version of Hitfilm with even more
features is available for purchase.
Visit
website...
Strata Design 3D SE is a free application
(for Win/Mac) for 3D modeling, texturing & rendering. But you can
also import 2D elements from Photoshop and Illustrator and draw 2D objects.
There is also a commercial version of Strata Design.
Visit
website...
For more free plugins and tools, please visit the
Resources section
GRAPHICS NEWS
No More Photoshop CS6 Camera Raw Updates, Photoshop CC 2015, PS Custom Tools, Auto FX AutoMagic, Thumbs Plus 10
Adobe announced that it will no longer make Camera
Raw updates available for Photoshop CS6, because Adobe wants
to "pursue further innovations in image processing and workflow technology"
as it says. So Adobe Camera Raw 9.1.1 is the final version that supports
Photoshop CS6. The alternatives for Photoshop CS6 users are subscribing
to the Creative Cloud, running an external raw converter or using our
MetaRaw
plugin, which we currently offer at a discounted price.
Visit
website...
Photoshop CC 2015 was released in
mid June and offers the following new features: linked assets, artboards
for multiple layouts within one document, Adobe Stock marketplace, improved
image export, cumulative layer styles (up to 10 times per layer), includes
Adobe Preview CC for previews on iOS, noise effects for the Blur Gallery,
faster healing and patching, new Glyph panel, content-aware improvements,
removing/adding atmospheric haze via Camera Raw 9.1, HiDPI screen support
and various 3D improvements.
Visit
website...
Now that Adobe
Configurator does not work with Photoshop CC 2014/2015 anymore, there
is a new alternative available: PS Custom Tools lets
you build your custom panels for Photoshop CC2014/2015 (for Win/Mac) without
writing any code. You can add Photoshop tools, use existing scripts as
icons and set the size of the panel. On the same web site there is also
the "PS Tool Add-On", which is less expensive, but only supports
tools and no scripts.
Visit website...
Auto FX offers a new Photoshop plugin and standalone
program called AutoMagic, which offers 43 filters and
over 400 presets for creating digital art out of photos with one click.
The effects range from pencil sketch and oil painting to pen & ink
and charcoal drawing.
Visit
website...
Version 10 of Thumbs Plus, a sophisticated
image management and editing tool (for Windows) was released. It is a
free upgrade for users of the previous version. Thumbs Plus 10 allows
working directly on photos in your Facebook account, offers Python scripting
capabilities and many bug fixes.
Visit website...
