Plugins for Photoshop, Elements, Lightroom, PSP & others
Plugins for Photoshop, Elements, Lightroom, PSP & others
Plugin Newsletter - March 2005
Contents
========
EDITORIAL
LIGHTMACHINE 1.0b RELEASED
THE PLUGIN SITE UPDATE: PhotoWiz Contest, Polls 2004, Plugin Pages
PLUG-TALK: Interview with Andrew Buckle from GraphicXtras.com
DIGITAL PHOTO EFFECTS: Red-Eye Removal Plugins Reviewed
POLL RESULTS: Commercial Sharpening Plugins
NEW POLL: Commercial Color Correction Plugins
THE DISCUSSION FORUMS: SHV Files, Stitches, Removing Plugins, Dot Effect,
GIMP, PSP Patterns
FREE PLUGINS AND TOOLS: Photo Plugins, Xero Plugins, Filter Foundry, ConGo
Import, PhotoPlus 6, Inkscape
GRAPHICS NEWS: inCamera, Xara3D, Color Theory, Path Styler, Mok3, IconLab
PRODUCTS FROM THE PLUGIN SITE
ABOUT THE PLUGIN SITE
Dear Reader,
Sometimes it is hard to concentrate on important things, because so many other different things come in between and distract you. Nevertheless, we managed to get a lor of things done: We release a new update of LightMachine, got the final PhotoWiz Contest results ready, updated The Plugin Site, conducted an interview for the new Plug-Talk column and some other things.
From time to time get emails from people who thank me for this newsletter. Sometimes I don't have the time to reply, so I want to express my appreciation for those people who take the time for small positive and constructive comment. Often you only get emails if something doesn't work or can't be found, but these few emails in between are always refreshing.
Sincerely,
Harald Heim
www.thepluginsite.com
LIGHTMACHINE 1.0b RELEASED
------------------------------------------------
LightMachine, our latest shadow/highlight and virtual lighting plugin,
turned out to be similarly popular like ColorWasher and FocalBlade. So
we have just finished the first update after the initial release two months
ago. It is primarily meant to be a bug fix release, but also includes
two new features.
LightMachine 1.0b lets you view the corrected image and the mask side by side, which makes it easier to tailor the mask to the image. If your mouse has a wheel, you can now adjust sliders with it instead of dragging the slider knob or clicking on the slider bar. LightMachine 1.0b also doesn't cause any problems in Serif PhotoPlus and ACDSystems Canvas anymore. Among several other bugs, some problems concerning the split view have been fixed, too. The updated manual contains new passages about using LightMachine as a masking tool, local contrast and mode changes.
Registered users will receive the update by email within the next 24 hours.
For more information and downloading a demo version,
please visit
http://thepluginsite.com/products/photowiz/
THE PLUGIN SITE UPDATES
------------------------------------------------
The winners of the "Best Correction" topic have finally been
chosen. There are a lot of amazing corrections among the winning images
that impressively demonstrate what is possible with digital image processing.
Additionally the overall contest winners have been calculated. These 16
people have been selected because they won in at least two contest topics
and demonstrated that they are talented in more than just one area. Especially
noteworthy is Mr. Don Roberts, who made it into the Top 6 of all three
contest topics. Congratulations to all winners!
http://thepluginsite.com/gallery/photowiz2004/
Polls 2004 Page has been updated with poll results from last year. Want
to know what are people's favorite free plugins, image applications, RAW
Converters and noise reduction tools? Want to know about people's photography
and image processing habits and equipment? Then have a look at
http://thepluginsite.com/knowhow/polls2004.htm
The Commercial Plugins page was updated with links to new Photoshop plugins
and now contains descriptions of hundreds of plugins from more than 130
plugin companies. Freeware plugins that have been announced in the previous
Plugin Newsletter issues were also added to the Free Plugins page, which
now features almost 100 plugin collections.
http://thepluginsite.com/resources/
PLUG-TALK: Interview with Andrew Buckle from GraphicsXtras.com
------------------------------------------------
Plug-Talk is a series of interviews that give you a better idea about
the people behind the scenes of the Photoshop plugin business. Plug-Talk
kicked off with an interview with Andrew Buckle, the man behind GraphicXtras.
Andrew is also well-known for his Andrew's Filters series of more than
1000 freeware plugins and from his former company Sapphire Innovations.
Please read what he has to say about his work and the plugin business
in general at
http://thepluginsite.com/reviews/plug-talk/AndrewBuckle.htm
or
http://www.graphics.com/modules.php?name=Sections&op=viewarticle&artid=191
DIGITAL PHOTO EFFECTS
------------------------------------------------
As usual Issue 22 of Digital Photo Effects contains dozens of tutorials.
It shows you how to transform your photos into oil, sketch, and watercolor
paintings in Photoshop, reveals how to turn someone to stone, demonstrates
how eye color can be changed in Photoshop, spills romantic lighting secrets
and how to cast light through blinds. Other tips focus on things like
monitor calibration and setting up your own photography studio. The Plugin
Essentials column reviews five plugins and tools for human as well as
animal red-eye reduction.
http://www.dcmag.co.uk/news/article/mps/UAN/558/
POLL RESULTS: Sharpening Plugins
------------------------------------------------
203 people voted in last month's poll asking for "Which ... commercial
sharpening plugins do you use?". Here are the results:
1. The Plugin Site FocalBlade 30.05%
2. Other 23.65%
3. nik Sharpener 13.30%
4. Photokit Sharpener 8.87%
5. Acclaim FocusMagic 5.91%
Extensis Intellihance 5.91%
7. Fred Miranda CSpro 5.42%
8. UltraSharpen 4.43%
9. Powerretouche Sharpness Editor 1.48%
10. The Imaging Factory Unsharp Mask Pro 0.99%
The FocalBlade item is of course not representative, because the poll
was conducted on The Plugin Site. The high "Other" item is also
not surprising, because there are so many other sharpening solutions available.
Still, there is some interesting information retrievable from this poll.
nik Sharpener, which is more orientated towards the final output format,
is quite popular. PhotoKit Sharpener, which is similar, but has some disadvantages
and a few advantages compared to nik, ranges on Nr. 3.
For more poll results, please visit the Know-How section:
http://thepluginsite.com/knowhow/
NEW POLL
------------------------------------------------
In March we are asking you to vote for your favorite commercial color
correction plugin. One of nine products or the "Other" item
can be chosen. There are certainly a lot of other tools for color correction,
but these nine should cover a relatively large field.
Please vote at the bottom of the page at
http://thepluginsite.com/
THE DISCUSSION FORUMS
------------------------------------------------
Here are the latest interesting posts from The Plugin Site Forums:
peterg asks: "Is there a file "viewer"
that will allow me to see "thumbnails" of *.shv files from my
desktop computer?"
http://www.thepluginsite.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=1440
alison wote: "I use Photoshop CS for graphic
design of embroideries. I need a plug in that would make it easier for
me to do the stitches. At the moment I am just using the line tool, and
drawing by hand on the screen. Very tedious and time consuming. Anyone
got any tips ?"
http://www.thepluginsite.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=1439
Doug Bays wrote: "I would like to know how to
safely remove an overabundance of un-needed 8bf filter/plug-ins from PhotoBrush,
Adobe 5 and Irfanview. ... so if you know of a tutorial on this subject,
or any info... I would be most appreciative."
http://www.thepluginsite.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=1416
La Dima wrote: "I like paper-base silk-screen
printing ... How to change a picture with gradation into dots which resembles
a picture in photoshop, the dots has to be fade from a full solid dots
into fewer & fewer dots in the edge of the image so it will make a
gradation-like effect. How can i do that ?"
http://www.thepluginsite.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=1459
Two_Dawgs wrote: "I've been getting the news
letter for some time now and I never see any mention of the Gimp. Doesn't
anybody use it? Why not? Sincerely :-{]}"
http://www.thepluginsite.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=1418
truthnet wrote: "Hello All, When I put pattern
files in the pattern folder, the files don't show up on the pattern list
in PSP7. The files are bmp types. ... Any ideas, anyone?"
http://www.thepluginsite.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=1420
For more interesting discussions please visit
http://www.thepluginsite.com/forum/
FREE PLUGINS AND TOOLS
------------------------------------------------
George Fournaris offers five filter plugins (for Windows) called B/W Conversion,
Local Contrast Enhancement, Soft Focus, Contrast Mask and Gradient Blur
for free. The most interesting one is probably the B/W Conversion plugin
which offers a lot of options for creating B/W images. The author asks
for a donation via Paypal if you like and use his plugins.
http://www.photo-plugins.com/
Xero released three new freeware plugins (for Windows). Caravaggio is
a simple oil-painting plugin, Make-a-Flake renders snowflakes as well
as mandalas and Sparkles adds sparkles, twinkles, blobs and dings to your
image. Additionally set 3 of the Xero Plugins was updated. There is also
a poll there, which asks you to vote for the best Xero plugin.
http://www.xero-graphics.co.uk/xero/plugins.htm
Filter Foundry (for Win/Mac), the plugin development tool in the style
of Filter Factory, is now scriptable and can be used conveniently in Photoshop
actions and PSP scripts. Standalone plugins made by the user are also
scriptable.
http://www.telegraphics.com.au/sw/#filterfoundry
The ConGo import/export/filter plugins (for Windows) allow you to open
old C64 images in your image application. The C64 was the world's favorite
home computer in the mid 80s and had a maximum color resolution of 160x240
pixel, 64K RAM and a 8bit processor.
http://www.editorix.org/congo/html/congo_plugins.html
Serif Photo Plus 6 is yet another free graphics application that lets
you run Photoshop plugins. It is certainly a tool that is worth using
if you can't afford Photoshop Elements, Paint Shop Pro or similar commercial
products. It has some rough edges, but it also offers professional features
like layers and layer effects. Serif also offers Version 9 of PhotoPlus
for purchase.
http://www.freeserifsoftware.com/
Inkscape is an open source vector graphics tool (for Windows/Linux). Features
include basic shapes, paths, text, alpha blending, transforms, gradients,
node editing, svg-to-png export, grouping and more. A Mac version is in
work.
http://www.inkscape.org/
GRAPHICS NEWS
------------------------------------------------
PictoColor inCamera 4.0 ICC Profile Plugin Released
The new version of this Mac/Win plugin, which creates custom ICC profiles
for digital cameras and scanners, adds support for a new ColorChecker
Chart.
http://www.graphics.com/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=2838
Xara Launches Xara3D 6
Everyone's favorite little Windows 3D app is back, with some compelling
new functionality. Demo available.
http://www.graphics.com/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=2830
Digital Anarchy Releases Color Theory 1.5.3 for Windows
Released four years ago for Macintosh, the Windows version of this digital
color wheel can run as a Photoshop-compatible plugin or standalone application.
http://www.graphics.com/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=2827
Path Styler Pro Plugin Released for Bevel Creation
Shinycore's plugin for Photoshop and Illustrator uses paths to create
images with sharp bevels that can be enhanced with textures, procedural
maps and reflections. Mac/Win demos available.
http://www.graphics.com/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=2825
Mok3 Introduces Perspective Clone Brush Plugin
Designed to take the guesswork out of cloning architectural elements in
perspective, the Perspective Clone Brush is initially available for Windows.
Demo available.
http://www.graphics.com/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=2807
Zonic Releases IconLab 1.0 Icon Creation Plugin
The IconLab 1.0 plugin adds full support for the Mac OS X native icon
format to Adobe Photoshop. Free trial available.
http://www.graphics.com/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=2806
For daily graphics news updates, visit
http://www.Graphics.com
