Plugin Newsletter - May/June 2013

 

 

CONTENTS

EDITORIAL

HYPERTYLE 2.0 FOR WINDOWS: Improved UI and support for smart filtering and action recording

ELEMENTSXXL 1.01 FOR WINDOWS: Ten new features and many fixes

POLL RESULT: Will you upgrade to Photoshop CS7 when it comes out?

NEW POLL: Will you join the Creative Cloud for Photoshop CC? Which features of Photoshop CC would you like to see as a plugin for older Photoshop versions?

REVIEW: Retrographer reviewed by Kay Michael Kuhnlein

THE DISCUSSION FORUMS: Solution for ElementsXXL Problem

FREE PLUGINS AND TOOLS: Curves 2, Fine Touch 3, Xara Xtreme 5

GRAPHICS NEWS: ContrastMaster Sweepstakes, Photoshop CC, Piccure, Creative Market Extension

 

 

Dear Reader,

As you can read below Photoshop CS7 was renamed to Photoshop CC and will only be available through a Creative Cloud subscription. It will certainly make even more non-professionals turn away from Photoshop than the previous announcement of only allowing upgrading from the last version. I do not believe that it will pay out in the end and that the dropped upgrade fees will be compensated by new cloud subscriptions. So I would not be surprised if Adobe was forced to offer retail versions of its CC applications later this year in order to avoid losing too much money.

Professionals who use more than two or three Adobe applications and buy every upgrade, save quite some money with the Creative Cloud offer. Adobe is actually losing money from them. So to make it worthwhile, it seems that Adobe has to get more money from users who did not buy every upgrade in the past or use only one or two Adobe applications.

As our poll below and the official number of 500,000 members suggests, only about 10% of all Photoshop users favor the cloud subscription. Trying to push the remaining 90% of the customers into the cloud - although most of these people do not seem to be convinced of the subscription model after 12 months - will heavily backfire on Adobe.

With shit storms breaking loose on many forums, web sites and even Photoshop's Facebook page last week, with up to 2000 complaints on each of them, various polls with up to 5000 people voting against the new policy, and even a Hitler satire video with 85,000 views so far, maybe the marketing geniuses at Adobe should start worrying about their jobs.

In any case, if you are one of the people who are now looking for an alternative to Photoshop, I recommend that you take a look at Photoshop Elements 11 and ElementsXXL. As our ElementsXXL product is quite demanded and received several rave reviews, there are already plans for ElementsXXL 2, which will include at least 200 features (70 new ones). Additionally as the poll below shows we are contemplating on producing a plugin that offers some features of the latest Photoshop version to earlier versions of Photoshop.

More than 10 years after its first release, it was time to put out a major upgrade of HyperTyle, including a 64-bit version and a much improved UI. This ensures that it will be usable for at least another decade. If there is a larger than expected interest in HyperTyle 2, it will be improved even more in some free updates.

Kind regards,
Harald Heim

The Plugin Site

 

 

 

HYPERTYLE 2.0 FOR WINDOWS

Improved UI and support for smart filtering and action recording

HyperTyle is a sophisticated filter plugin for generating texture, surface, paint, erosion, transparency, edge, frame and shadow effects. These main effects are based on seamless textures, so there are unlimited variations possible. Additionally there are also zoom, rotation, metal, chrome, pop-art, warp, mirror, blur, noise, blending and other secondary effects which can be simultaneously applied to the seamless texture which is used for the main effect.

 
 

Version 2 of HyperTyle now includes a 64-bit plugin, a resizable window and a new skin feature that imitates the user interface of Lightroom, Photoshop, Photoshop Elements and PaintShop Pro. Additionally HyperTyle 2 is scriptable, which means that its settings can be recorded in action, e.g. for batch processing, and it can be applied as a smart filter. The new Instant Sliders check box makes its sliders update the preview without delay. Apart from these improvements it also includes several bug fixes.

If you are a registered user of HyperTyle 1, you will receive an upgrade email within the next 48 hours.

For more information and a demo version with a Freeware effect see
HyperTyle Product Page

 

 

ELEMENTSXXL 1.01 FOR WINDOWS

Ten new features and many fixes

ElementsXXL adds up to 130 powerful features to Photoshop Elements for Windows that were previously only available in Photoshop. These features are included as new menu items, icons, buttons, key shortcuts and dialogs, so they seamlessly integrate into the user interface of Photoshop Elements. ElementsXXL bridges the gap between Photoshop Elements and Photoshop and greatly enhances the image editing experience in Photoshop Elements.

Version 1.01 supplies nine new key shortcuts for Quick Mask Mode, channel switching and selection creation plus a new Select > Selection From > Luminosity menu item. In addition to some UI fixes, various bugs have been fixed, which produced crashes or blocked some features. The ElementsXXL key shortcuts are now displayed on the menus.

You will receive the update via email within 48 hours if you are a registered customer.

For more information and a 14-day trial see
ElementsXXL Product Page

 

 

POLL RESULT

Will you upgrade to Photoshop CS7 when it comes out?

301 people voted in the latest poll about upgrading to Photoshop CS7. This poll has partially been outdated by the latest news that Photoshop CS7, now called Photoshop CC, will only be available with a Creative Cloud subscription. Still, the poll results provide a lot of data to speculate about.

Here are the results:

1. I plan to use my current Photoshop version for a long time. 36%
2. I will upgrade to the retail version of Photoshop CS7. 16%
3. I am not sure yet. 13%
4. I do not use Photoshop and do not plan to use it in future. 11%
5. I am a member of the Adobe Creative Cloud, so I will get Photoshop CS7 automatically. 10%
6. I plan to "downgrade" to a less expensive application like Photoshop Elements or Paint Shop Pro. 8%
7. I will wait for Photoshop CS8. 5%
8. I plan to join the Adobe Creative Cloud in order to get Photoshop CS7. 1%

36% of all voters plan to not update to a new Photoshop version for a longer time. This is not surprising considering the maturity of Photoshop and the changes in Adobe's upgrade policy.

21% plan to upgrade to the retail version of Photoshop CS7 or CS8, but as Adobe does not allow that anymore, these people now have to decide on one of the other options in this poll. Together with the 13% uncertain voters, 34% remain to still make a decision.

Merely 10% of all voters are already members of the Creative Cloud (CC), which seems to correspond to the official 500,000 CC members and an estimated number of 5 million Photoshop users world wide. And only 1% plan to join the CC in future.

Interestingly, 8% of all voters plan to abandon Photoshop and get another tool like Photoshop Elements or Paint Shop Pro. 11% do not use Photoshop and do not plan to use it in future.

As some options of this poll do not exist anymore, the poll was reissued. See below to cast your vote again to reflect the changed situation. Thanks!

For more poll results please visit the
Resources section

 

 

NEW POLL

Will you join the Creative Cloud for Photoshop CC?
Which features of Photoshop CC would you like to see as a plugin for older Photoshop versions?

This time there are two polls. First of all, a revised version of last month's poll that asks if you will join the Creative Cloud in order to get Photoshop CC. Then we would like to know which new features of Photoshop CC you would like to see as a plugin for older Photoshop versions.

Please participate in this poll by visiting the
Main page...

 

 

REVIEW

Retrographer reviewed by Kay Michael Kuhnlein

Kay Michael Kuhnlein takes a look at the Retrographer plugin and recommends it for giving photos a retro touch or grunge look. He also applies it to clip art and achieves a nice result with it.

You can read the review at the
Retrographer Review Page

For more reviews see the
Reviews Section

 

 

THE DISCUSSION FORUMS

Solution for ElementsXXL Problem

Here is the latest interesting post from The Plugin Site Forums:

HaraldHeim wrote: "In rare cases a conflict with an Alienskin plugin causes Photoshop Elements to crash at start up. Here is how to fix this problem:
1. Move the Alienskin sub folder of the Plug-Ins folder of Photoshop Elements to the desktop.
2. Move the Alienskin folder back to its original location.
3. Start Photoshop Elements again. The crash should not occur anymore.
Alternatively reinstall the last installed Alienskin product."
Read More...

Feel free to post comments or start a discussion topic at
The Plugin Site Forum

 

 

FREE PLUGINS AND TOOLS

Curves 2, Fine Touch 3, Xara Xtreme 5

The Curves 2 plugin (for Windows) was released by Mehdi. It offers three new sliders for controlling the curve as well as an Invert button and Preserve Hue option.
Visit website...

The Fine Touch plugin (for Windows) from Redfield was updated to version 3. It lets you convert photos into paintings with even more options now.
Visit website...

Xara now offers the old version 5 of its Xara Xtreme (for Windows) for free. Xara Xtreme is a vector graphics and illustration program, which also offers various DTP and image editing features.
Visit website...

For more free plugins and tool, please visit the
Resources section

 

 

GRAPHICS NEWS

ContrastMaster Sweepstakes, Photoshop CC, Piccure, Creative Market Extension

ContrastMaster Sweepstakes
Graphics.com is offering our ContrastMaster product as prize in this month's sweepstakes on Facebook. Everyone who "likes" the Graphics.com Facebook page can win.
Visit website...

Photoshop CC
Adobe announced the release of Photoshop CC (previously known as Photoshop CS7) for mid June. Photoshop CC offers the following new features: Improved Smart Sharpen, Intelligent upsampling, Camera Raw 8 as a filter, Camera Shake Reduction, Blur Gallery and Liquify as smart filters, conditional actions and more. Photoshop CC can only be acquired by subscribing to the Adobe Creative Cloud, whose fee start at $20 per month. Photoshop CS6 will still be sold and receive small updates for some time.
Visit website...

Piccure
Piccure is a camera shake reduction plugin for Photoshop (for Win/Mac). It is still in beta stage and not finished yet, but a free beta version can be downloaded. Deshaking an image with Piccure takes up to 30 seconds.
Visit website...

Creative Market Extension
Creative Market offers an extension for Photoshop CS5 and higher, which is similar to Adobe's own Exchange extension. It lets you purchase and download graphics material directly in Photoshop.
Visit website...

 

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